Twinkling Ivories

Feature in Hutchinson Magazine

Pianos Unlimited stays in tune with customers and a changing musical market

Brad, 52, runs a quick check of his records to confirm deliveries of pianos to distant cities including Boston, Atlanta, Seattle and even the Big Apple. There was a time, in our not-too-distant past, when piano stores were common in the state's medium and larger cities. Today, barely half a dozen remain. Brad cut his teeth in the piano business as a child while working alongside his father Charles, who was initiated into the business as a Hutchinson teenager in 1956. "I took a job with a local piano store. One day the owner loaded two pianos on a truck, handed me several letters of inquiry from prospective customers, and I was on the road to western Kansas," Charles says. That evening, the elder Davison returned home behind the wheel of an empty truck after selling both units. It was a major turning point in his life. As of that moment he was, as he says, "hooked on the piano business." In 1968 Charles purchased Nelson's Music in downtown Hutchinson, and 23 years later, Brad bought the business from his father. However, at 73, Charles remains a regular in the store. Brad markets two types of pianos, grands and verticals, and his customers can see plenty of both in a showroom floor made up of about 160 units at the business on North Main Street. Brad is also happy to take trade-ins for resell, which has become a bit of a booming business.