Where to find the best music shops in Cool? Top-14 options

Great family owned and operated small smoke shop reminiscent of my younger days in The Bay. Always friendly and attentive. 5

Always nice to everyone who walks in the door and has competitive prices on cigarettes.

Love this place, and the people who work there, the owner is respectable man, as well as the floor worker who had been there for years Ryan. you really can’t get any better in terms of people, you can ask questions and the staff actually know the details surrounding their products. Sure not the hugest product selection but a damn respectable one. Parking is also great as well as ease of entry.

Whenever I come in whoever is working is always so helpful! They know their large inventory extremely well. So if you are missing a part or looking for that something “new & different” this is the place to go.

Nice to see a small town smoke shop in the area to satisfy the “needs” of a variety of smoking practices, techniques and curiosities Always friendly service, knowledgeable staff and reasonable prices.

Nice little shop in the heart of cool, can’t miss this small little gem. Friendly staff away from all city crazyness. It’s well stock with a variety of cool products..

I went in to ask if I can refill my water bottle. The guy that works there said that his boss wouldn’t allow that. That I can buy bottled water. I just finished running and had no money with me. I would never buy anything in the shop that doesn’t let thirsty person a glass of water. Horrible experience.

They charge a dollar extra if you use your card for lotto. It’s unfortunate, I partake and was spending money here weekly. You just lost a bunch of money by being cheap to your customers. Ridiculous. There are plenty of other stores that don’t charge a dollar extra for lotto. Bye

2 elf break after 5 hits. They keep burning after hitting it. I looked at reviews but they were from years ago saying not to buy vapes because they don’t work and we’re knock offs. I only went in because it was the only shop around. I addressed these reviews before I made the purchase and said I that I would write him a good review because he told me those people just didn’t like him.

It starting burning after I hit it until I bang it on my hand. So I went right back in and it was a different man. He told me that once you leave the store there’s nothing they can do. I explained that who I think is the owner or manager the discussion I had before I made the purchase so I pretty much made him call the manager and he kindly gave me a brand new one. I was praying that I just got a faulty one but the same exact thing happened when I got home. I would normally take a loss but that was my last $30 and literally told them that. Going to try and go in tomorrow when they open praying they will at least refund me so I can go buy a real elf bar somewhere else. If they don’t I will tell everyone I know and they will lose way more money than $30. I will also delete this post if they just refund me lolllllllll smh I worked at many smoke shops I know this hustle all to well.

Excellent customer service and super friendly. Exceptional and meeting tge musicians needs!

Great experience. Staff very helpful.

Been in 3-4 times. Always nice service. Store has a good variety of instruments.

Lots of instruments

Laid back staff, old school rock n roll music store.

Very helpful. Good store. Still, nobody’s perfect.

I went here twice. I did not have a great experience the first time, being made to feel as though I wasn’t good enough to shop here, but decided to give it a second chance instead of supporting Amazon. A price I was quoted on my first visit mysteriously increased by over $10 on my second visit and with no price tags on items, the two men working there verbally discussed the price which continued to increase in front of me. Because I had left myself in a bind without enough time to order from Amazon, I paid their increased price but I will never support this store again.

Needed the nut replaced on my bass and they suggested glueing the nut and that turned out better but I’m now having the nut replaced as I wanted in the beginning due to it still having a crack in it and now there is glue everywhere. Also had him do a light setup and when I got the bass back the truss rod what so tight that I almost could not adjust it and all the strings rattled. They may have costed me a neck.

Dalton was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, and guided us well about our child’s trumpet. In general, we love the reasonable instrument rental cost and quality of the instruments.
Will recommend the store to others.

Fantastic local music shop. Solid prices, helpful people, friendly environment and great selection

Has amazing lessons from really nice and good teachers. Also sells a variety of instruments

Friendly staff and very helpful.

I rented a used violin for my son from the shop. They said the price was $199. The rental was $35 per month. after two months if you want to own the violin then they said they would deduct the rental amount from the original price. But when we want to buy the used violin they said the price is $299 which is hell more than a new violin. So would recommend not to rent or buy anything from this store.

Great place and great service. John Rocks! Cameron rocks also..!

This place is awesome! Havent been in a music store this cool in over 25 years. Not a bunch of junk, quality over quantity.
Jean

This is an excellent store with great people. The selection is quality and the repairs are top-tier. They even cleaned the inside of my case, when I was given back my guitar from a repair.

Their music selection was a bit small but they had everything I needed at a very reasonable cost.

The line was crazy long and they were extremely under staffed.

Did not have a kazoo

A finer music store cannot be found anywhere. Knowledgeable staff, and excellent at repair as they truly love their trade and the owner is a prince among men.
Not a large store but it’s filled to overflowing with Heart.

Great store for musicians. Good people!

The customer service was great, sax works like a dream, and price/paying back deal is great. My English is awful and it causes me troubles all the time due to my too sensitive nature. My bad, and the first message is deleted.

I enjoyed the experience of coffee, paired sometimes with comedy, awesome musicians to so so ones on open mike days. Fun place with friendly staff.
Wish the coffee was better than just good, or maybe I’m just spoilt. Haha.

I need a stand for tomorrow lesson because mine broke. It is closed on MONDAY the service is good but the prices for rent are high for rented items.

Nice place for music lovers

Very snooty to non music experts

The staff is very nice but the owner has very poor customer service skills. He does not know how to listen to customer needs nor he gives a choice. Even if you rent violin from him you do not have a choice. It will be whatever he gives you. He is very rude. I was trying to pick a violin for my child and he was very suspicious why we were looking for details on the violin. He sells violins with cracks for high prices. DO NOT SUGGEST BUYING OR RENTING VIOLIN from this place. VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM OWNER.

It is unfortunate that I was not able to receive the great customer service others described on this store. I went in to ask questions and buy a guitar for my son. I waited 15 minutes to be helped. There were three people working as far as I could tell, and no one came to help or even said they would be right with me. After that length of time I felt uncomfortable and left. I’m not one to stand right at the counter and demand attention. I walked around and looked at each guitar displayed, but didn’t really know what to look for. It is a small store so I should have been noticed. Yes, they were busy and helping others but there were only three other customers in the shop. I will be buying my guitar somewhere else.

Absolute best music shop around!

I love this place, friendly guy. Great amount of strings and products and things I need for my ukulele.
They have chairs and a stage on the side, where my son had a guitar recital. No need to go on and on about this one, but if you need guitar strings or stuff for your string instrument I highly recommend it.

great place for musical lessons

Cool shop for all your strumming needs!

Nice, small town feel when you are in the store. Prices are a bit on the high side, but that is to be expected for a mom and pop kind of store. Helpful service.

Had all manner of steering instruments, plus. Also they give music lessons for drums, violin, ukulele, plus more.

I originally came in to get a new nut cut for my Gibson SG. The repair took longer and cost more than originally advertised, and the repair man left several issues that I had to fix myself (buzzing on A and low E, new tuning problems due to roughness of nut slots, high action, used strings other than the ones I’d left for him and specifically asked for him to use). Fortunately, however, when I brought this up with the shop, out of the $50 that I was charged, I was refunded $40 labor cost. (Still on the hook for $10 though).

EDIT: The manager for the Strum Shop started hassling me over text message after I posted this review. LOL.

Went in and there was a class going on with 20+ people crammed into a tiny space, not one of them wearing a mask. Only one other person in the entire store had one on, none of the staff. Fully 1/3rd of Sac Co. is completely unvaccinated. I’m immune compromised [along with some 7,000,000 other American citizens] & disabled. The ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM of decency and community protection is apparently an outrageous expectation. They also had some absurd overpricing. I vastly prefer non-corporate local stores, but they can F right off if they’re not going to do even the simplest, most pitifully minor actions to do their part in not further spreading a wildly uncontrolled global pandemic that has killed nearly a million U.S. humans, and is far from over. Still averaging a quarter million cases a day, and over 2,000 deaths [more than any time since last winter, still]. They don’t even REQUEST that people wear some kind of face covering. Reprehensible madness, and unless this changes I will not support or recommend them to my musician friends. Please be better, nobody should be forced to exclude themselves from society JUST because of laziness or ignorance and non-measures that throw disabled folks under the bus.

I brought a guitar to adjust the action. Dan did not place the parts I asked for saying he did not have it on stock. Inaccurate repair job with replacing the guitar nut. Honestly I could adjust my guitar better than this “professional repair master” “Doctor” Dan. Waisted $80. Very unsatisfied. I would not recommend any repairs in this shop/store.

So awesome, all the way cool!

Knowledgeable staff, friendly, welcoming to young children and teen as well as customers.wide variety and choices of music.

These guys are definitely on par with the local music scene! Very knowledgeable and helpful. They offer reasonable instrument consignment sales as well.

Bought a dulcimer hand made in Arkansas.

Best knowledgeable music store around gv they will even let you hookup and play a toon to tryout equipment they offer lessons and have a friendly helpful staff looking to fitt your specific needs and interests

Love it

Absolutely terrible service. POOR selection of instrument strings (they never buy them) They’ve fired their most charismatic workers. The owner/”manager” will ignore you if she’s on the phone. Had an amp in there for six months that was more broken when I got it back, than when I brought it in, due to their “guitar tech” Steve. Worst music store in North California, if I could give zero stars I would.

Owners are rude

Yeah not too sure about that place I feel robbed every time I go in there, yeah of course there’s a lot of good stuff there but overall there wasn’t a chance for no stars they can have one I guess

Super

Sorry I can only give 5 Stars. Should be 10 stars! We drove a hundred miles to visit this store. The owner Ben has a huge inventory to select from. In addition Ben is very knowledgeable, friendly and fun to work with. A great store and fun buying experience! Thank you Ben!

Richard helped me find the perfect piano for my family. He was so patient, kind and helpful. This was my first time piano shopping and he answered my numerous questions. I looked at used and new pianos and decided on the perfect one for my household. It sounds and looks beautiful. It was delivered promptly and professionally. Thank you Richard for your help and for playing the pianos for us. Definitely had a great experience.

I’ve been looking for pianos for awhile and was satisfied with the selection here, but I felt like the person working there was a little pushy and rude which led to me wanting to leave. I’m not sure if I’d be comfortable coming here again.

Reply: My point is that my experience here was very uncomfortable. It was difficult to look for pianos in peace, yet I’d understand why you’d feel the need to be persistent with asking questions in an attempt to help out. My dad isn’t from the US and doesn’t exactly communicate well, so I became anxious when you told him, “People usually don’t just walk in” as he was taking a look around; this made me feel as if we were unwelcome. I tried to elaborate his vague response by telling you that we have indeed been looking for a piano for awhile; this was in no way defensive although I didn’t get the chance to fully explain myself since you quickly cut me off by saying, “Yeah, I know”. I willfully admit that what you said to my dad slightly irritated me, which is why I blatantly answered the question you asked me and continued to browse around the shop (considering the reason we visited was to look around, obviously). I just recently turned 18 (which you know since I answered when you asked) and would consider myself a sociable person, so the reason of me seeming “rude and standoff to the max” is only the outcome of feeling like our visit was bothersome for you. I was antsy the entire time and it was disappointing since I’ve been meaning to visit for awhile. And I understand that maybe you weren’t having the best day, but my review is an honest recap of my PERSONAL experience, and isn’t being said to bash your business. No one is “trampling” you Ben – I’d greatly appreciate it if you considered what I’m stating rather than argue.

Very rude walked into the store ready to spend upwards of $20000 on a piano the employees were very rude and didnt feel like answering questions and they would watch every move u made made me and my cousin very uncomfortable how am I supposed to spend lots of money on a piano when i can’t test it due to them being on the phone all the time them not having a back office where they can take phone calls is very unprofessional i was in there for about 10 minutes until i couldn’t take the constant questions them watching everywhere i go i would not recommend this place for anyone who wants piece and quiet to shop for a piano

No, he doesn’t buy pianos.

If you’re looking for a local guitar shop to support, look no further. They have a wide selection of gear and from what I saw, pretty fair prices. The owners seem very laid back and happy to assist, unlike guitar center where the employees always seem to hate their lives. And the best part, no sloppy amateurs attempting to play Master of Puppets or Stairway To Heaven at an annoyingly high volume.

Keep up the good work gentlemen.

I visited the place for notebook and picks for mandolin. I like the customer service and I am very happy with my stuff that I got from this company. I really recommend this is a great place to shop!

Small but very good place to go Needed some parts for my telecaster and he has a huge line of all parts Is that nobody else in town has

Always been pleased with the work done on my my guitars but, doggone, the man lacks soft skills. Every time I decide to give him another chance I cringe for doing so.

Nice location, and comfy interior, but pretty useless service. Not only is it small, with extremely limited inventory, but the guitar tech (or at least the guy who I tried to get to look at my guitar) was an arrogant and incompetent jerk.

I took my guitar in, because it suddenly had a wiring issue. It still worked (sort of) but the sound was weak and phaser like, and there was a bunch of ground buzz. So, either a wire had come undone, gotten crossed, etc., or perhaps something with the active pups. But probably the former, because a sudden issue with both active pups seemed unlikely.

So this guy at Guitar Workshop, after arrogantly explaining to me about how important it is not to have a dead 9v battery and active pups, suddenly (after testing the battery, but not looking at anything else) proclaimed, with great authority, that I had a reversed ground. In other words, the guitar had been wired improperly. Not that something had failed, but that it had always been like this (since it was last worked on, anyway).

In an utterly futile attempt to reason with this clown, I tried to explain that this was a new issue, and that whatever it was (whatever wires had come undone, or whatever had failed) had happened while I was playing the guitar the previous day. This was not an old issue from whenever the last time work had been done on it. He arrogantly proclaimed, “wires don’t re-wire themselves”.

So without even opening the guitar, he had convinced himself (and was trying to convince me) that this was not a loose wire, but an improperly wired guitar.

Either way (reality, or his delusion) it was something that should take about 20 minutes to fix, right? Wrong. He completed his clown show by proudly telling me that it would take at least 3 weeks for him to get to my guitar. He said it as though it proved he was the most elite guitar tech on the west coast.

Well, I told him that I was absolutely certain I could come up with a better solution than to hand my guitar over to his dumb ass for a month. (Incidentally, he thought my Schecter was an Ibanez, just because I had it in an Ibanez hard case). He was just too important to be bothered with details, like what kind of guitar he was holding in his hands.

I took it to Arnie, over at Klines on Sutterville, and he had it back to me in 48 hours, for $20. The ground wire had come loose. $20. 48 hours. And, Arnie wasn’t even there when I dropped it off. Had he been, he might have fixed it while I waited.

I always try to compliment people when I meet them and did with this guys store as well (door bell). After about 60 seconds of talking to him I would recommend him taking some hospitality lessons. I am new to town and had questions but obviously this is the wrong guy to ask anything, he was so rude he should just hang up a sign saying unwelcome! Never thought I would say I miss Texas but they are by far more polite people.

Doesn’t believe in Covid, has signs posted saying your body your right,

Doesn’t follow local mask mandates.

Had the pleasure of getting my guitar serviced by the owner. He was amicable and knowledgeable/creative with fixing my guitar. His guitar set up was at a very reasonable price, yet it made my guitar feel $200 better. 10/10 would recommend for any instrumental musical needs.

Lovely place with helpful staff. Decent selection of gear.

They fixed my childhood guitar and I was even lucky enough to find a case for it even with it’s size.

I really appreciate these guys for their customer care and smart staff. Good job making the store a fun and relaxing place to explore musical instruments for all ages!
Got my input fixed on my wife’s guitar and my daughter’s veola fixed up too.
Happy new year!

I took a subwoofer at this place for repair. I got a call back about 3 to 4 weeks later regarding the cost, i asked them to hold the subwoofer until i have a chance to pick it up within 2 weeks without repairs and i was told it was not a problem. 2 weeks later it was pouring rain and since i have a truck bed which is the only place where the subwoofer would fit, so i didn’t not have a way of picking it up. i went today to get it and the person in repairs said that he threw the subwoofer away, because i took so long. He also claimed that he left a voicemail saying he would throw it away if i didn’t pick it up. I had a message to pick it up, but he did not say that otherwise it would be tossed away.
This was an expensive sub and the only thing it needed was a speaker, the amp on it was perfect and the box was in great shape. Anyone with common sense knows that they probably fixed it and sold it, given that everything was in great shape except for the speaker. I feel that they way they do business is dishonest and do not recommend this place to anyone.

My wife and I are music lovers and novice audiophiles. In 2017 Dave gently, wisely, patiently and carefully guided and assisted us through the rather mystifying process of purchasing and assembling intelligently our high-end sound system. We trust implicitly his judgment and his business ethic. His post-sale customer support has been excellent. Would recommend him without reservation to my closest friend.

Dave Marihart is a gentleman, a music lover, and a knowledgeable purveyor of excellent audio equipment. He will take proper care of your music system needs so you may enjoy it more than you may have thought possible. Highly recommended!

Dave is very knowledgeable and extremely helpful with difficult situations. Knows his acoustics and the issues with my room, and was able to help me fix it so my system can sing. He has a great selection of new and used gear.

Clean and it is easy to find what is needed.

The best

Had what I was looking for. Nice store..

Love walmart

Service in store was awesome for my pick-up order, even helped getting it to the car. The problem was that it took a week to get something that was supposed to be available “same day” according to the website when ordered online.

Went to Walmart to get some bird seed. Prices are about the same as Amazon for bird feeders. I would get 5 stars if they treated their employees better. As in allowing sick days without losing points or whatever their system is. Who wants to be around sick employees? Doing a disservice to the public and the employees.

My shopping experience was fine however when I got home and check my bank account the store had double-charged me. The cashier asked me to rerun my credit card because she didn’t think it had charged me. Well it had now I have to deal with trying to get the duplicate charge removed and their phone service was terrible. Very hard to get ahold of anybody that could do something about the duplicate charge

Bathrooms were a mess. No paper towels and a hand drier that didn’t work

So first off, I LOVE walmart and have shopped here for a long time, past 15 year and spend a lot of money here. There is a target and walmart within a quarter mile yet I always used to choose walmart.

I came in to purchase something and noticed target has the same product for 20 dollars cheaper. After a quick google search I noticed walmart price matches. I asked the cashier if she can price match it and she gave me a rude no we dont do that….. I came back the next day and talked with customer service and the lady said and I quote, “we dont price match, we can do that because we are walmart, if you dont like something we have, go ahead and refund it and go buy it from target” I was shocked! This type of response Over just 20 bucks!? When the item cost 220?

Anyhow…that was my last day to ever shop at walmart. I will take ALL my business to target.

Wow! Nor Cal Guitar Supply is great shop! Mike has some amazing guitars in stock and he is very knowledgeable about them! I didn’t buy a guitar today, but I will be back next week to get mine!

I can’t believe the selection of GJ2 Guitars!!! This is easily the best music store I’ve ever walked into. Great selection, and even better service.