Piano shop cancels grand opening

By Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Piano Planet

George Nellas, founder and president, and Douglas Saunders, co-owner

• Type of business: piano sales
• Location: Iwilei
• Started: 2001
• How they changed after 9/11: Canceled planned grand opening; increased advertising; stepped up calls to contacts in music community

For two veteran musicians, the timing was not so good.

George Nellas, foreground, and Douglas Saunders opened Piano Planet in Iwilei on July 1. Nellas says they're "holding our heads above water and paying our bills" and, for a new business, "doing pretty well." Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Piano Planet specializes in selling used pianos at prices ranging from $1,000 for a simple digital instrument to $40,000 for an elegant 7-foot Steinway grand piano built in 1895. The store, which also sells some new pianos, officially opened July 1 and was fully stocked with inventory by early August.

"September was looking pretty good until (the attacks) happened," said Nellas, 48, who has nearly 30 years experience in piano sales and sales management, including 16 years in Los Angeles and more than a decade in Hawai'i.

"Now I'd say you're looking at a 20 percent decrease, maybe more, in foot traffic and phone calls. It seems like people are waiting to see what's going to happen."

The aftermath of the terrorist attacks wreaked havoc with Piano Planet's customer base by throwing thousands of Hawai'i residents out of work and making even those with jobs think twice about the purchase of what some might consider a luxury item.

In the days after the catastrophe, Nellas and Saunders decided to cancel a planned grand opening, thinking it would be in bad taste.

"You feel a little bit self-conscious putting on your salesman's hat after a tragedy and asking someone to buy something from you," Nellas said.

But they persevered nonetheless, adding some print advertising to an already established radio campaign and stepping up their calls to a wealth of contacts they had established over the years with musicians and music teachers on O'ahu. They also continued to sponsor evening piano recitals, inviting teachers to have students perform in a spacious second-floor meeting room in the design center.

"If we were two guys who just opened up the doors and sat and waited for people to buy pianos, we would be out of business by now," said Saunders, a musician who turned to piano sales a few years ago after several years in retail management and who met Nellas when he worked for him at another piano store in the Islands.

Nellas thinks the current climate of uncertainty might actually spur some piano sales.

"During a time like this, even though there is less shopping, people want to do something for the home," he said. "Before radio and television, the piano was what people gathered around."

Nellas and Saunders, who are Piano Planet's only employees, say they remain happy about their decision to start their company, in spite of the tough circumstances.

"We're holding our heads above water and paying our bills on time, and a lot of businesses don't do that," Nellas said. "We're actually making a little bit of a profit. For a new business, I think we're doing pretty well."

And as for the effect of the terrorist attacks on Piano Planet, Nellas is determined to take something positive from the experience.

"I know a lot about the business," he said, "but this is living proof that you never know what's going to happen, and you can learn something every day."