Samuel “Sandy” Bloomberg, who, with his cousin Michael, co-founded Boston-based Tweeter, died September 3. At its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tweeter operated 180 stores nationally, and Bloomberg’s retailing methods helped establish and continue to influence the current consumer electronics retailing business.
Bloomberg was born in Boston on June 19, 1951, and grew up on Beacon St. in Brookline as part of a family steeped in retail as far back as 1889. His father, Harvey, and his uncle were second-generation owners of a furniture store chain. His father focused on buying, advertising, merchandising, and the customer, priorities handed down to and deployed by his son.
Bloomberg soaked up retailing and honed his instincts by working occasionally for his father. After graduating from Brookline, MA, high school in 1969, the long-haired hippie attended Boston University while working full-time at the Harvard Square branch of Audio Lab, one of the first audio component specialty retailers in the country.
Founding Tweeter
After quitting college in the middle of his sophomore year, Bloomberg traveled to Europe where he saw and was encouraged by a more mainstream acceptance of high-end stereo components and a lot of high-end specialty retailers. Upon his return to the U.S., he and his cousin Michael Bloomberg put in $5,000 each and, on Valentine’s Day 1972, opened their first Tweeter Etc. near Boston University in a 1,000-square-foot space that had housed Michael’s commercial sound installation business.
Bloomberg cited the easy, extended terms offered by Japanese manufacturers, most still looking for footholds in the U.S. market, as a key to Tweeter’s early success.
Merchandise bought on 120-day terms could be sold in 30 days, supplying cash for expansion.
Which is exactly what Bloomberg did. A year and a half later, the cousins moved to a larger and more appropriate retail location near B.U. and opened a second store in the audio store-crowded Harvard Square. During this period in the post-“Sgt. Pepper’s” period when rock musicians started producing more sophisticated work in the studio, nearly all audio component audio stores were logically located near colleges where new-fangled audio gear was considered not a luxury, but a necessity.
Tweeter grew fast. Bloomberg soon created a franchise model, allowing many Tweeter’s employees to open their own outlets. Many of these stores were in the then-virgin territory of suburban Massachusetts malls, following the move of his college demographic as they graduated and started families. As the company continued to grow, Bloomberg wanted more control over merchandising and mix and began to buy back the franchises to make them company-owned.
Bloomberg’s idea about product mix focused on exclusive products not offered by other retailers. Tweeter was one the first area dealers of gear from Nakamichi, Yamaha, Boston Acoustics, and Bang & Olufsen.
In 1976, the stores started selling and installing car stereos. A few years later, Tweeter was one of the first audio dealers to expand into the new high-end video category, selling Proton TVs.
Tweeter began to earn a reputation for its exclusive products and knowledgeable and well-trained sales team. Prospective employees went through an intensive five-and-a-half-week training program to create a confident, service-oriented sales staff that often overcame big-box retailer prices. The store’s slogans stressed Tweeter’s mix of exclusive high-end products and expertise: “Audio, video, and a boatload of know-how,” “We don’t carry all the brands, only the ones that count” and “Some hi-fi salesman can sell you anything. The problem is, they do.”
Expansion and Competition
Expansion continued in the mid-1980s when Tweeter opened Media Systems, one of the first high-end custom installation showrooms, in the design center in Boston. In 1979, Tweeters had six stores in the Boston area. By the end of 1986, there were 13 Tweeters in and out of Massachusetts.
Competition, especially on price, started coming from new national retailer chains. On August 16, 1993, soon after the chain reached 20 stores, Bloomberg introduced the first and only Automatic Price Protection (APP). Tweeter hired a woman who checked the prices listed in all the local electronics’ stores newspaper ads. If a customer bought something from Tweeter, and she found that item advertised for less in the newspaper within 30 days, the company automatically – not prompted by the consumer – sent a check to the consumer for the price difference. The program was so innovative, it was reported on in the Wall Street Journal as well as the major Boston-area papers.
During the first year APP was available, Tweeter’s sales grew more than 20 percent; over the course of the program, Tweeter’s sent out more than 100,000 checks.
After a sizable investment from two venture capitalists in 1996, Tweeter went on a national buying spree. The company acquired 10 chains – Pennsylvania-based Bryn Mar Stereo & Video, which had stores in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, Georgia-based HiFi Buys, Texas-based Home Entertainment, California-based Dow Stereo, and Florida-based Sound Advice – then went about re-making them in Tweeter’s image, even if they kept their original names. After it went public in 1998, Tweeter reached a peak of more than 180 stores with more than 3,000 employees.
However, new and expanding big box retailers began to challenge Tweeter’s exclusive merchandise mix and increased their own sales staff training and service. On Dec. 2, 2008, the remaining Tweeter stores closed for good. Bloomberg then became a partner at single cabinet home theater speaker maker ZVOX Audio.
Later Years
For his work, Bloomberg received the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 1997 from the New England chapter of Deloitte Touche and was elected to the CTA Hall of Fame in 2011.
According to his official obit, Bloomberg “never paid retail his entire life. Indeed, he was the Tom Brady of coupons.” He possessed “a gregarious, charming, and witty personality and left a mark on every community he was a part of. Sandy had an abundance of lifelong friends who became part of his extended family. Being friends with Sandy meant receiving spontaneous calls with offers of last-minute concert tickets, an extra 55-inch TV he had lying around, or help in a time of need. In his later years, Sandy loved playing golf, enjoying time with his grandchildren, eating foods specifically prohibited by his doctor, rooting for Boston sports teams, and discount shopping (RIP Filene’s Basement).”
Bloomberg also supported countless charitable causes including Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly (now known as 2Life Communities), the Boys and Girls Club, the Brookline Public Library, and Beaver Country Day School.
Bloomberg leaves his loving wife of 40 years, Carolina, his daughter, Mikaela, his son, Josh and his wife, Julie, and four grandchildren, Sid, Momo, Kal, and Sunny. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that charitable gifts be made to 2Life Communities, 30 Wallingford Road, Brighton, MA 02135, or online at 2LifeCommunities.org.
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