Retailers Gear Up For Latin Grammys

Music retailers report they are gearing up to take advantage of the merchandising opportunities provided by the Latin Grammy Awards show, which will be broadcast live Sept. 18 on CBS.

Ish Cuebas, director of merchandising operations for the 890-unit Albany, N.Y.-based Trans World Entertainment chain, says, "We have 265 what we call 'core' Latin stores, and in these stores we are putting up window banners, artists' cards attachments, and hit clips [on] the appropriate titles, saying 'Latin Grammy nominees.' "

Of those 265 stores, 55 are in areas heavily populated by people of Hispanic descent, and in those outlets, Cuebas says, "we will have a Latin Grammy area presentation on our hit wall." Trans World's Latin Grammy campaign will run from Sept. 5 through Sept. 25—a week after the Grammy show.

Likewise, Len Cosimano, VP of new media at Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders Books & Music, says that while the chain won't do much nationally, "we are doing some strong regional displays, especially in South Florida, Los Angeles, Chicago, and in markets with a strong Hispanic population." Moreover, he adds, this year is serving as a test: "We will watch and look to do a more concerted effort in 2003, after we see the results of what happens [with] this Grammy Awards show."

Steve Harman, Eastern regional director of Tower Records, says Tower is participating in the National Assn. of Recording Merchandisers' display contest. "Every store will have a display for Latin music highlighting the awards show." He points out that the chain has some stores on the West Coast (which are not under his jurisdiction) that do very well in Latin product. In New York, he says, "we do good with Latin here, [although] of course it's not the same music that sells out there."

Similarly, Sue Bryan, GM of music and video at New York superstore J&R Music World, says it will have a Latin display and advertise in the appropriate newspapers to coincide with the show: "We have a separate store for world and Latin music, so this is an important show for us, and we will certainly support it."

Not all merchants are doing something special for the show. Others are offering only limited support. "We are featuring the nominees in our store and sale-pricing them," Hastings Entertainment Latin buyer Veronica Fletes says. But special promotions or advertising isn't planned to run in conjunction with the show. And the Sound Shop chain and Gallery of Sound report that their customers are not big buyers of Latin music, so they won't be trying to capitalize on the event.

On the other hand, CD World president David Lang says, "We are not a big Latin seller, although we probably should be. We usually focus in on music award shows and we haven't on this one, so I am going to bring this up at our next marketing meeting. We are probably a little bit behind the curve on Latin."