Those people have money and buy it anyway.'' In the upper end of the line, ''sales have held, '' adds Conn Keyboards executive Reiner. ''In the upper end you are talking a $7,000-to-$10,000 organ. Not all organ customers have dropped out of the market.''What has happened is that the lower-end and middle-range customers are pressed for funds due to the economy,'' says Gary King, assistant sales manager at Wurlitzer. ''An organ is the kind of thing most people can live happily without,'' notes Judd Taylor, merchandising manager of the Norlin Industries Inc.'s Lowrey Division, another major organ producer. So high interest rates and a sour economy mean sales of the big ticket items are harder to make. With prices ranging from $1,300 to $30,000, some 50 percent of all organs are bought on credit. Whirlpool is forecasting its Thomas division's organ sales will be $15.3 million in 1981 vs. ''Organs are a postponable discretionary item and during an economic downturn are subject to severe declines in sales,'' a Whirlpool spokesman adds. ''It is the economy and the cost of money'' says Ronald Reiner, Conn Keyboards' marketing manager. The recession has played a major role in taking the wind out of the industry's pipes. merged into Kimball International, a major organ manufacturer. 5 it is exiting from the organ business.Īlthough Thomas is the first manufactuer to leave the business recently, Wurlitzer Company closed a factory in August and last year Conn Keyboards Inc. So the Benton Harbor, Mich., firm announced Nov. In fact, Whirlpool Corporation predicted organ sales revenue at its Thomas International division would slump 13 percent below 1980's level.
Only 138,000 home organs were sold in 1980, 21 percent fewer than in 1979, and 38 percent fewer than in 1977.Īnd organmakers do not expect to sing a happier sales song in 1981. If short-term sales do not pick up, fewer organmakers will be around to worry about the long-term outlook. Another blue note for the industry is the organ's lack of a significant following among the under-40 generation. Faced with high interest rates and rising unemployment, fewer Americans are buying a home version of the king of instruments for their family room. Consumers are pulling the plug on the electronic organ industry.
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