'Freeze-Out' Charged in Record War

A raging price war among Square phonograph record dealers yesterday forced the Hi Fi Lab, the last hold-out, to cut LP record prices 25 percent. The latest reduction gave indication that the price-war would probably become more intense within the next few days.

At the same time, Benjamin W. Corey '41, owner of the Hi Fi Lab, indicated that he would begin anti-trust suits in the near future against two large record distributors for an alleged "freeze-out." Corey charged that both Allied Appliances, the Columbia distributor, and PCA Victor were refusing to sell him records because "the Square is overcrowded." Hi Fi entered the record field just before the beginning of the new year.

The three other Square record shops are already giving discounts ranging from 20 to 50 percent. McKenna's, which began giving a 20 percent discount the first of the month, attributed the cut in prices on similar cuts by Sam Goody of New York, the country's largest LP distributor. The effects of Goody's undercutting made the reduction necessary, according to one of the officials of McKenna. Harvard Square is only one of many areas that has been hit by the price war.

Only Corey of Hi Fi objected violently to the price war, claiming that it was a deliberate attempt on the part of his competitors to drive him out of business. "If the other record shops continue to cut." Corey declared, "I'll stick with them all the way. They'll never drive me out."

Minute Man and Briggs and Briggs have since followed suit, giving discounts ranging from 25 to 50 percent.

All three of Corey's competitors, however, strongly denied any connection between the price-cutting and Corey's entrance into the Square record distribution. "The cutting is all part of business and something everyone can expect to run into at one time or another. I've got no complaints," was the comment from Minute Man's owner, John Waumb. The other two stores expressed similar sentiments.

Corey has already contacted the Massachusetts Attorney General and State Senators Leverett Saltonstall '14 and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. '24 concerning his anti-trust action. "It's not free enterprise when distributors refuse to sell products to newcomers--the distributors are breaking a lot of anti-trust laws in beating me down. Maybe I can get a square deal when the suits are begun."