When Sherman Clay, a San Francisco establishment since Leander Sherman opened the first store on Kearny Street in 1870, announced closing its stores, pianists and even mere piano owners expressed regret. A piano teacher in Pleasanton said:
Sherman Clay's sale has been going for a while already. It's very sad, because it has done a lot for our Tri-Valley community and local MTAC branches — offering very good concerts; inviting well-known musicians and music teachers for lectures. I had a very good business going with them, referring my students to their Walnut Creek store to purchase piano. Very sad, it feels like I am loosing a good friend.
Sherman Clay is selling its San Francisco and Walnut Creek stores to Steinway & Sons, the piano manufacturer. Sherman Clay’s Sacramento-area store in Roseville, in Placer County, will be closed, and so will its Santa Clara store. The future of the company’s two other stores, in Houston and Seattle, is in doubt.
Prices in the going-out-of-business sale are reduced from very high to high. A 9-foot-long Steinway grand, for example, is marked down from $143,300 to $129,492; a Steinway baby grand, was $61,800, now on sale for $56,238; a $37,400 piano marked down to $35,156. A used Yamaha, on the other hand, originally offered at $1,995, is now $1,530.
The piano business is not particularly bad, said Sherman Clay board chair Eric Schwartz, "it’s just that in a diverse business world, selling high-end pianos demands too much corporate attention, like marketing caviar or very fine Scotch."