My sister has had her kids Enrolled with Elite Music Instruction down in South Florida for over three years and both my nephews are doing great. I go down there to see them perform in the music recital every year and they are having a blast. My daughter just turned six and we decided to put her in piano lessons and it turns out that Elite Music Instruction is up here in Gainesville too. So happy! Terrific service.
The best school in the Gainesville area. I was having a very hard time finding a music teacher to come and give lessons to my children for both piano and guitar. I live way out in Jonesville and no one would come out this way. Elite Music Instruction had one teacher that teachers both guitar and piano, so it made this whole thing even easier. I recommend Elite Music Instruction to all my fiends and to you too.
3. Guitar Center Gainesville
Address: 3210 SW 35th Blvd #203, Gainesville, FL 32608 , Archer , Florida , United States
Great place as long as you’re understanding and patient. The folks there actually give a damn and try to go above and beyond. I worked as their tech for 2 years, and now they have a great guy named Matt behind the counter. Brandon, Mark, Travis, Kyle, Devonte, etc. All wonderful people that do the best they can for their clients. Thanks guys.
I don’t live here in Gainesville but I came in here to kill time while my wife was at a doctors appointment, and the staff was super cool and friendly waaaaayyyyy better than the GC in Orlando. A guy named Ben let me try some of the high end 7 string guitars and I had a blast, great guitar center! Keep it up!
Great store, plenty to choose from!
There are always friendly staff. Some great guitars to try or buy. There isn’t a whole lot of violins, but mandolins they do have. From the cheap rogues to the better instruments. The only problem is their prices are high.
Good service, but that’s where it ends.
Great store for all musicians. Knowledgeable staff can head you to the right equipment. Only downfall is parking in this busy strip mall.
Went in and asked for the limited edition black &red electronic drum set. I also bought the recommended amp. Got the set home opened box and was not the limited edition one it was the basic set. Drove the 60 miles back to store to see about right set and to also purchase the needed wires to connect everything since wasn’t informed that it came with no cables. Was told the correct set was in another store and would ship to store for me to drive a 3rd time the 120 mile round trip to pick up. Going on over 2 weeks now and still no drum set. Have called numerous times and get told each time that they can’t track the shipment and we’re at the mercy of when other store decided to ship it.
I am disabled and waited in line for over a half hour and no one said” be with you in a few minutes”.
Having a good experience at Guitar Center in Gainesville is rare (at least from my perspective). Their guitar inventory is pretty good… i’ll give them that… but their amplifier, sound-reinforcement, and accessories inventory is severely lacking. Takes forever to do simple transactions… and help always seems to disappear when you need them, have a question, or are ready to make a purchase. Employees are inattentive and seem scattered and aloof for the most part. And it appears as if everything has to be run through management or a senior associate before it gets finalized or rung up at the register. Once walked around that store for a half hour before someone asked me if I needed any assistance (with hardly anyone in the store). The young employees are not very warm, they all seem to be predisposed, distracted, and fake friendly. So much for “customer service” in the Millennial world. I sure miss the days when Lipham’s and Sims Music thrived here in town and when Art Kubera’s Music was the place to go in Buffalo, NY (before so-called “Musician’s Friend” put the mom-and-pop music stores out of business with volume pricing). I now do the majority of my business with Sweetwater primarily because of their outstanding customer relations and product warranties. My Sweetwater rep is awesome, and greatly anticipates my needs as a working and touring musician. I’ve been playing music both professionally and semi-professionally for over 30 years, so I can speak from a lifetime of experience. A retail chain store like GC is a good place for amateurs and newbes to shop, and I guess that’s their target audience/demographic. But as far as an all-around music store, GC gets only two stars from me (and that’s generous), given their limited inventory, lack of product diversity, inflexible sticker-shock pricing, and less-than-desirable customer service.
4. Hoggtowne Music
Address: at Thornebrook Village Shopping Center, 2441 NW 43rd St STE 26B, Gainesville, FL 32606 , Archer , Florida , United States
This is a wonderful business. We have “grown” with them from their original site, to the site next door, to the newest and largest site. They keep growing because they are so amazing with customer service and knowledgeable, practical advice about so many types of instruments and music. I highly recommend their store and especially the piano lessons with Will Johnston. They have an amazing group of people.
Very nice and attentive people.
Excellent service. Excellent customer rapoire. Had a 12 string guitar repaired perfectly . Purchased a guitar there,got home and realized the I didn’t get the gig bag. They called the next day to tell me to pickup my gig bag. Honesty rules!
I had an extremely frustrating experience with this shop. They did have a nice selection of Martins at reasonable prices and seemed like a decent shop otherwise.
I rented a trumpet for my fifth grader in a rush to get the task done. If you’re taking the time to read reviews, take the time to buy somewhere else. I wish I would have. They are overpriced. She is in 8th grade now and I am still paying on it. For my second child, I bought used outright and wish I had done so with the first child.
Overpriced!!
Went the first time and was sold the wrong book for my daughter’s class because of an incorrect order from hoggtowne. My daughter came back to exchange for the correct book and they would not exchange without original credit card . They knew it came from them. Came back a third time sent my daughter in with all the card to swap the book and of course no more books . Now they want my daughter to get my card pin for a return I came into the store and the guy continued to ask me for my pin I try to support local but they were so disorganized, agrevating and clueless that I ordered the book online and will cut my 10 loss to not waste anymore time. Bad service is bad service and they were in no way helpful I’m my experience. The first time was a mistake the second time was just rise and the third time was enough to write this .
I’m not sure what forwarding it to her instructor will help. I get that someone made a mistake. It happens. But you should have swapped her book when she came in and you had them. Instead she was told you couldn’t exchange it without the card it was purchased with. What kind of policy is that I can’t exchange a book that someone made a mistake on without the card… I appreciate the offer to credit my 10 but I will not spend a fourth trip or more more of my time in this effort. Mistakes happen but bad service is bad service .
5. Atlantic Kosher Records
Address: sw 32608, 2846 SW 62 Rd, Gainesville, FL 32608 , Archer , Florida , United States
Teacher was well organized and catered to my weaknesses for improvement.
We have recently started with Safa Music Academy for my son learning guitar.
He enjoys the online sessions and always looks forward to his weekly music lessons. He is improving and doing really great and we are so happy with his improvement.
Payman, is an outstanding teacher with great attention to details and loads of patience.
I Would recommend Safa Music Academy with a special thanks to Safa for his great management and coaching.
A few month ago I took 2 days of vocal workshop with Ali Zand Vakili via Safa music Academy. It was amazing. After that I started my solfage class with Safa. He is a dedicated, knowledgeable, talented, honest, expert and hard working musician. I am enjoying my music classes with him. The Safa Academy has music classes for kids as well. All classes can be done virtual too.
Always fresh never frozen chicken wings are awesome!!! My daughter loves the air hockey table and other games. Family friendly.
Very friendly people, staff and customers. Food was hot, fresh and delicious.
One of the top 2 restaurants in Archer, FL.
Great food and atmosphere. Service was a little slow.
Okay place for a motorcycle stop and refreshment. Fries and deep-fried mushrooms were good wait staff was friendly inattentive. Outdoor deck and picnic tables need some serious help.
Very nice bar tender, with excellent recommendations on the Prime steak.
Super chill local place. Been there quite a few times since we live super close and I have gotten sick a few times. Wait staff was less than stellar. Management gossips too much about staff.
It was good, but last couple times have ruined it. They burned onion rings to a crisp and an order of fries was barely a small handful. The last time we were served by a guy wearing a shirt with the word chiro on it, a rainbow hairband and the worst attitude ever. Rude comments about the bikes we were on and other workers. The owner seems like a decent guy but you can tell when he isn’t there watching the help. Shame it could really be a nice place.
Greasy, mushy fish and same-ole Sysco frozen crinkle cut fries, don’t even taste like potatoes. You’ll have to do better to compete with the Mexican restaurant in Archer where they make most everything there, even the chips.
I contacted Music & Arts in need of a couple instruments to rent and received excellent customer service. Even though mine was one of the smaller orders they receive I was treated no differently than a customer with a large order. Music & Arts employees that provided me with such exemplary customer service were Mr. Andrew Little and Mr. Sean Eccles.
Clean organized store. Employees helpful and knowledgeable.
I had spoken with staff previously about a particular color of ukulele that I was looking for and left my contact information. When one came in, Katey called to let me know it was available! Excellent, personalized service; just what I love from a local music store! Both Katey and Rowan have been wonderful to work with. Will definitely be back!
I love the teachers. My son takes viola lessons from professional violinist, Marina Tucker. She is fabulous at teaching both violin and viola! She has a Masters in Violin from UF and teaches and plays with professional orchestras.
I take cello lessons from UF Music School graduate student Mattia Imponeti. He has taught me so much about the cello. I started playing in January. I have learned a lot and really enjoy his method of teaching. I am so impressed by the music school’s teachers and staff. The front receptionists are very helpful too.
A corporation called Music and the Arts bought out the family owned business a few months ago. I was told they will be moving to a new location in June. I really like this location, so I am sad about the location change. It’s next to the Oaks Mall. It’s conveniently located. The change will double my travel time.
My only complaint is that the company that bought the family owned music business keeps sending box after box of useless junk. It’s sent on autoship. The new company doesn’t ask the store what supplies it really needs.
The practice room my son and I use has gradually become 1/4 full of boxes, and excess instruments. It used to be nice and clean. Now it is stacked floor to ceiling high and several boxes deep. I am NOT exaggerating! The back wall of boxes had steadily grown, but now it’s also full of unused cellos and other instruments. It’s getting so crowded!
Seriously, how many useless giant boxes of wall hooks does a business need! I counted at least 9. What a waste of money, floor space, etc. The practice room I’ve been using since January gets more and more crowded each week with floor to ceiling boxes: toilet paper, paper towels, hooks, instrument stuff, etc. The teachers keep apologizing that it autoships and they can’t stop it. There is nowhere to put it except in the practice rooms.
I guess that’s my only gripe. The teachers are great, but I miss the family owned business. At least the local owners knew how much toilet paper to buy and didn’t fill the practice rooms with floor to ceiling boxes and stuff. The corporate Music and Arts needs to stop sending excess supplies to the store. Unfortunately, I doubt anyone in their corporate office will read this post or care if the music students practice rooms are obnoxiouly overcrowded with unnecessary stuff. Music rooms are for student lessons, not storing useless garbage.
This is possibly the worst music store I have ever seen. I’ve been lucky to rarely see good customer service from here. Almost everyone I have seen working here has no clue what they are doing. When I bought my newer clarinet, we took over an hour waiting in the store for the person to register it because we were renting to buy it. The first clarinet I used as a beginner wasn’t even in working condition, and I thought I was the problem when none of the lower notes would come out. Even after the store switched locations, the service was still awful. The first clarinet neck strap I bought online was over priced, and it was actually a saxophone neck strap. They even told us it was for clarinet when we ordered it in store. I recently took my clarinet in to get the deep cleaning we paid $60 for, and it came back exactly the same as I had left it. Everything they sell is a scam.
So disappointed with this store! I came in a Sunday when they where supposed to open at 12pm waited 30min and the store never opened. If their not going to open they should let the public know so people don’t waste their time. When I came back the next day, it was 5min till open and still no one was there, because apparently a staff member needed to handle a personal issue. Which I was told was to go to the bank before the line got too long. How is that my problem? Be at your job on time please.
Never coming back!
Customer service is God awful, pray you don’t get Karen on the line. Only one person was good and he helped greatly. They don’t tell you they open at 1 but they won’t change their online times. Worst store/place and people ever.
