Discover the top 5 music shops in Bolinas

Always have what I need !!!!

Local, great service, all most everything.

A+ for my hometown hardware store. Always friendly and community oriented. Great selection of gifts and has all your hardware needs.

Really cool space and shop!

Unethical practice – a loss of $200.00.
Upon returning $200.00 worth of concrete bags, we were instructed to unload the bags by the same employee who sold us the product. We phoned ahead prior to returning the product and we were told “no problem”. The employee instructed us to unload the bags and said he would talk to the owner about the return as it was now 8 days post sale. We asked him to assist us in loading the heavy bags back into our vehicle if a refund could not be provided and he said to just leave them until he spoke with the owner. He stated, “don’t worry, I am the only one here and you know me”. After waiting a few weeks, our phone calls went unanswered. We returned to the store to pick up the 22 bags of concrete. The same employee told us that all concrete had been sold and we must now wait for the owner to refund the $200.00. Today the owner phoned to inform us that he is keeping the $200.00 and the concrete bags. He complained that his overhead costs and employee costs were too high, while acknowledging that he willfully choses to keep the $200.00.

WOW
HONOR SYSTEM IS AMAZING
I LOVE IT
ALL THE VEGETABLES ARE 100% FRESH!
AND TASTE SO GOOD!

Want the best fresh veggies in Marin County? Look no further.

Wonderful veggies and free range eggs!! Absolutely love it !

Quality fresh produce

Nice selection of veggies. Pay in drop box.

Bought a wonderful fiddle at a great price. Thanks!

Best shop for stringed instruments you will ever visit.

This is a mom and pop shop that feels like a secret. The love of music, not corporate

Superb spot for the hard to find string instrument or the impossible to find.

Great local music store. Got my first guitar from their old store when I was 13. Comfortable layout and helpful service. Ask John to fix your violin or if you’re looking to take up Uke/banjo.

I purchased the Roland Fantom 08 a little over a year ago specifically because of the in-store support. It was certainly the right decision. Ian was extremely helpful, and now that he’s been promoted, Shen Hunt has taken on the role and has provided world-class support and extensive knowledge.

I’ve had an unusual issue with the keyboard, and Shen has been extremely responsive and has gone above and beyond to trouble shoot. We have a gig in just a few weeks so it’s time-sensitive. He’s been careful to back up all of my scenes, taken methodical steps to resolve, and has come up with a solution.

It’s service like this that creates loyal customers and advocates, and I’m certainly one of them. Keep up the great work, Shen and team.

They had exactly what I was looking for excellent customer service on a friendly staff.

Exemplary customer service. Staff from both stores went above and beyond to accommodate my requests and ensure my 2 hour drive to Santa Rosa was well, well worth it. Kudos to all parties involved. Way to foster brand loyalty, crew!

My initial interest in the products and services provided by Bananas At Large began with a need for a unique, specific item that was not included with a recent purchase made elsewhere. I required a particular, yet obscure type of audio cord with special connectors for a pair of headphones. The proprietor at Lavish Showroom on 4th street in Santa Rosa, CA answered my inquiry by telling me that I should try Bananas At Large because they have access to everything in the area of audio electronics. The employees I encountered were very encouraging and helpful, informing me that they no longer stocked the item needed but that they could order and have such arrive in short time. Mr Jackson was especially knowledgeable and ordered what I required with the assurance that as soon as possible he would contact me to inform that the product had arrived. The price was reasonable, the personal care was supreme, and the item provides proper utility. I am pleased with the quality of service I received at Bananas At Large and welcome any opportunity to say so with gratitude and appreciation.

As far as places that sell instruments goes they are one of the best in Marin County. They have a bigger is better approach as selling strategy, and I mean in SIZE not in units sold. Example: my other local retailer sells practice amplifiers, Banana’s does as well but also offer’s half stacks ( cabinets with 4 – 12 inch diameter speakers in them ) and full stacks ( 2 – half stacks played together by one instrument ) as well as larger items like keyboards , drum sets , complete DJ equipment, used instruments etc.
They offer selection and service , without pressure and up selling like the large chain stores seem to do nowadays.
Bananas has quality merchandise and charges a fair price. I have only been to the San Rafael location, and recommend them whole heartily.

Solid local music shop.

Gone are the days of meeting up at a music store, talking shop, testing out gear, making connections. The experience I had has turned me off to ever come back. I’ve heard that the Santa Rosa location is a bit more friendly, but I don’t know if it’s worth the drive.
Pretty cool location (although parking is terrible) with a medium-large inventory. However, the staff comes across as arrogant and elitist, which was confusing as they weren’t able to answer a few basic questions.
The biggest bummer was they had a couple of items that I would have picked up (including a cab and a boutique pedal), but the attitude of the sales staff immediately changed my mind.
Long story short, if you’re thinking of stopping by, just go to Guitar Center. You’ll get the same level of service and ineptitude.

Edit:
First off, I was the seller, not the buyer. I wanted them to feel safe with the transaction, so I told them to find a local music store. Neither of us had been to Banana’s before. I looked online, and it seemed like a cool shop, and the site said all the right things. Even looked at the inventory to see if there was anything that caught my eye. I’ve done transactions as both seller and buyer, plenty of small music stores around the Bay Area have been accommodating. Most of them know we’re there for 5-10min, and the most important part, we learn about a new shop that supports local musicians.
At the time I came in, there were at 3 staff members standing behind registers doing nothing, not to mention 2 more sitting up in what I believe was the keyboard section. When we first came in, my buyer purchased 2 cables, we had already discussed purchasing items to support Bananas. At no point did the staff recommend we come back later, The attitude from what I assume was a Manger, was uncalled-for, as was the “joke” about taking 30% of the sale. Times are incredibly rough, especially for working musicians. I don’t consign my gear because I can’t afford to lose a 30% cut to another greedy business.
You also neglect to mention that after the transaction in the parking lot, the buyer and I went back into Banana’s to take a look at the inventory. Strange move for someone who was only “here to test this amp” and “ran outside to write” my review. The fact that you say you reviewed footage, but neglect to mention that we both came back into the store, and walked around for at least 15 min. It’s weird and disturbing you’re exhausting so much energy tearing down another person.
The reason we came back in was the buyer had a few questions while we had our transaction, so I wanted to show him a few things. I did have questions about a guitar cab, and a staff member came over. It was a unique piece, I was curious. Your “professional working musicians and producers” salesman had no idea, and did not spend more than 1 min with us before just walking away. (I looked it up, and it is a pretty cool little cab, it’s a pity your staff can’t do 5 min of research) The fact that you need to gush about your “over $2.5 million in inventory”, when I stated in my review that you have a “medium-large inventory”, sounds a bit braggadocio. You have a wide variety of stuff, that’s cool. What’s not cool is shunning the musical communities that keep you in business.
The last item I pointed out to the buyer was in the used pedal display. I had just gushed over how great they were when used in a signal chain, and the only thing your staff added was “yeah, we’ve got a lot of used pedals”. Didn’t ask if we wanted to test it out, didn’t pull it out to show us, didn’t let us know if it had a cool history, or even the price. I had pushed the buyer that if he saw one, he should pick it up, but at that point the damage was done. Your response oozes of elitism and condescension, I can see where your staff gets it from.

On the parking, there were not 30 spots in the area I parked. If you have additional parking, I did not see or know about it (again first time here) but if you do, I apologize for that.

they were nice but kept pestering me if I wanted to buy the bass guitar that I was trying out, I was only playing for 10 minutes then they keep asking if I wanted to buy it, then by minute 15 they just went and decreased my volume, I dont know bout you guys but I like to hear the instrument that Im trying out to see if I really like it, if you guys cant handle noise, being it is an instrument shop with loud amps, maybe you guys should work at a library. I felt rushed to try it out and when I was on the fence about it, they politely took the bass from me, left feeling a lil bit dissapointed with the whole experience.

update: Lol. came by to respond to the store’s reply to my review. you guys should should take up fiction writing too, as how you’re good at making things up. man, so funny.

I still firmly standby to my original review.

Terrible store if you play drums. Very little stock, super disorganized. They can always order things, but might as well use Amazon at that point.

Edit: the store sends out a text if you make a transaction to leave a review. Apparently if you aren’t happy with your experience they will attack you and your own place of business. Classy guys. You solicit my opinion and then get aggressive because you didn’t like my answer. Bummer that those 5 transactions we really small, because they’ll definitely be the last ones you get from me.