Re: [Harp-L] Hohner blister pack spotted

[hashbb@xxxxxxx]

 I have purchased harps recently. They are in the mentioned display, and
the MBs and SP20's come mounted on a card which has the box
with the harp above the box in not so rugged plastic. The card has Hohner
advert with the harp key and model printed on the upper right hand corner. GC prices
for MBs and sp20's was 27.95 each. I assume this is still before the
eventual price increase scheduled for 2/08. The afore mentioned display has
the same gigantic MB that we are all familiar with. From a marketing
standpoint, I see it as a good move for Hohner. I will say I do not like
the increase on prices. It is funny how those things work. With everyone
in every industry pretty much on a wage freeze(except the top end) and 
prices increasing on everything, my buying power is down 30-50%.
HB

 


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Harpl list <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, Jan 24, 2010 7:09 pm
Subject: [Harp-L] Hohner blister pack spotted


I stopped in Guitar Center today and saw a cool floor display stand for the Hohners. 
 
You can't miss it if you go looking for harps.  There is a big Marine Band on top of the floor model stand that rotates.  The harps aren't in the hard blister packs. They are in the easy to open 
soft plastic case with a card stapled to the top. No need to use a scissors to open them from what I could tell.   And yes even the chromatics are in blister packs.  They had one 270 in stock. 
The back of the card described Hohners other chromatics and the style of music recommended for those particular chromatics.  Btw, they had the 270 listed for less then I've seen it in the past 
at GC online.  $119.  That's better then I can do. 
 
The Big Rivers were priced around $17+ with the MB and SP in the $20. All in all the prices didn't see that high compared to what they are now.  Perhaps some of the blister packs are at the older price and will remain that way until the Feb. 15 increase. The greed depends on the dealer. 
 
There are photos of different endorsees on some of the cards for the diatonics.  The only guy I recognized was John Popper on the S20 cards.   The display stand also had a shelf on one side. 
GC decided to pull the Lee Oskars out of the case and place those on the shelf.  I think pulling them out from behind the counter will be a good thing. 
 
For all the worrying we've been doing the past couple of days i think the blister packs will work if stores chose to display them the way my local GC does.  It's not that bad and not as lame as the BluesBand  blister packs.  You know exactly what key they have in stock.   The only downside I saw was too many MS harps and not enough of the HM diatonics.  They should have some 280s up there as well. 
 
Michael Easton 
www.harmonicarepair.com 
 
 
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