James B. Woodford

dealer piano and organ merchandiser executive president of Schomacker Piano Company

Biography

James B. Woodford was among the most influential figures in piano merchandizing. He entered the piano trade on February 10, 1873, as accountant and general assistant for Whitney and Courier of Toledo, Ohio, later buying and managing the Loring and Blake organ business of Worcester, Massachusetts, for that firm. As cabinet organs declined, he sold the organ business in 1888 to join Hallet and Davis Company. In 1893 Steinway and Sons called on him to open and manage their Philadelphia branch store until 1899. Convinced that pianos should be merchandized like any other commodity on a one-price system, Woodford used his accountant's statistics to persuade John Wanamaker to establish piano and organ departments in his department stores, which Woodford managed from April 15, 1899, with the Philadelphia store once selling 294 instruments in a single day and the New York store nearly 1200 in a month. As president of the Schomacker Piano Company, he secured scale designer W. C. Schwamb to remodel the Schomacker piano, and he negotiated Wanamaker's purchase of Schomacker, a controlling interest in the Emerson Company of Boston, and the Lindeman and Sons Piano Company, revolutionizing piano merchandizing and inspiring imitation by other department stores.

Highlights

Entered the piano trade in 1873 as accountant for Whitney and Courier; bought and managed the Loring and Blake organ business, then joined Hallet and Davis in 1888.
Opened Steinway and Sons' Philadelphia branch store (1893-1899), then persuaded John Wanamaker to establish piano and organ departments in his department stores, which he managed from April 1899, achieving record one-day and one-month sales.
As president of Schomacker Piano Company, hired W. C. Schwamb to remodel the Schomacker piano and negotiated Wanamaker's acquisition of Schomacker, a controlling interest in Emerson Company, and the Lindeman and Sons Piano Company.

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 206, 207, 208, 209.

Public domain.

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