Kauai County – Top 10 places for music shops10 recommended music shops in Kauai County

My daughter needed an ukelele for school. Mike was so helpful, recommending that right size, sound, and price range. We paid maybe $25 more than on Amazon, but the service, smiles, and free ukelele lesson were worth twice that!

Very knowledgeable, the information given was historical and interesting. Taught me some things about local music and i made great purchases for my musical children!

Great Shop – Great prices – Great service – lot’s of knowledge.

Very helpful, yet one of the employees here were very rude.

Great selection and service

friendly . local . low-key . support your local music shop.

31 year old Male Staff employee took advantage of me(16 year old). Told me a guitar was 600 dollars retail was 400. Made the mistake of buying it, looked it up later and it was 300 dollars. I knew it was my mistake too. Definitely a store you cannot trust

On my first trip to Kaua’i last week I was sure I would find the perfect ukulele, and I did. Fifteen minutes out of the airport my friend brought me by your shop and I played a few but your E5 Tenor Cedar sound board spoke to me. All night long in my hammock I dreamed about it. The next morning I borrowed a car and my friend Dick Yamamoto and I beat it back to Kapa’a. We played and talked for an hour and became convinced that this beautiful island blond uke was the one for me. I love it. It has soft tone but big volume and bottom and is as warm as can be anytime of day or night. Thanks so much, and I think Dick should get one too.

Great product & great customer service. THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!!

Nicest smart people!

Was excited to stop by and had purchased a ukulele for the 1st time at Kamaka in Honolulu 2 yrs prior. I let the owner know I was an amateur, and as I played, he assumed I’d learned my strumming pattern on YouTube…but I listen to the music I like and interpret as an artist. He told me about the free lessons he offers. I said, “Let me try playing this song and you can tell me what to improve.” He says, “I don’t need to hear it; I can tell you right now.” I was enjoying playing and felt a bit disappointed. But I listened as he told me I was playing much too harshly, audiences do not like that, compared it to fingernails on a chalkboard, and told me as my audience it was basically terrible for him to listen to. I replied that he is like 2 feet away. I also agreed I could try softening my strumming, but his ex.of very soft, slow strumming did not fit the style of the song I was going for. I explained that, and he then told me that his dad had to leave the room b/c of my harsh playing. I said, “If he needs to leave that is his opinion and doesn’t offend me”(although it did make me feel bad!) I teach piano students and can’t imagine saying my husband had to leave the room b/c of the way they were playing the piano!! I guess there’s a reason the lessons are free! He could’ve said something positive and nicely asked, “What if you tried softening your strumming a bit?” I would’ve felt and responded totally differently. I was happy to take feedback but was there also for the enjoyment of trying out the instruments. This quickly dissipated through the interaction. He needs to work on his approach with a potential customer! I would never want to take lessons here, let alone purchase an instrument. Side note:, instead of starting out by explaining all the info about the instruments and knowledge, maybe could try asking what I’m looking for in an instrument. I highly recommend Kamaka Hawai’i, Inc. in Honolulu, because they treated me very kindly and respectfully.
*Response: His answer is unnecessarily scathing and of course refuses to take any responsibility or acknowledge my honest experience.
A. Don’t talk about my daughter; barely worth replying to; she was not crying because she wanted to try a ukulele. Has cried on and off during our trip when tired, and we both try to console her. Sad he’s even trying to bring up parenting to throw in our faces! Wow…no we were not looking for ukulele lessons for her but thanks for the offer. I told her about egg rolls…
B. There was 1 lady worker in the room who was quiet, and she was actually grooving a little after he walked out for a bit ;), & maybe 1-2 other people milling around, so I’d hardly say I was “entertaining” the store. As any musician can understand, we enjoy going in to a music store and trying out instruments for learning and enjoyment..
C. He has no understanding or care about the frustration that I’m expressing here. I feel like he’s not used to sharing knowledge then listening to a slightly different response. He drives his point home at the expense of a person’s feelings. He wants to paint me as an obnoxious person who was there to brag on my talents and annoy everyone, though I berated my skills sev. times, then he says all these ppl walked out who weren’t even there. Keep in mind this was a short episode: I was talking with him, trying to figure out some chords, playing a couple short songs in a virtually empty store, until my terrible playing completely emptied it?
D. This was not an official “lesson” to my knowledge. I was there to try out instruments and be free to do so /ask for input
E. I took his advice by playing a song again more quietly, to which he said it was much better, so again his story is not adding up. Also, at that point, I was the one who showed myself to the door!
F. I was told this is common behavior for store owners/employees on the island, but we did have some nice experiences! I’m sure others have enjoyed this store, but I did not, and feel it is worthwhile to share my experience, even if it means I’m berated vs. validated once again in return.

I love this store. Sam really cares about the people that come in and is extremely knowledgeable and talented. He takes a lot of time to help find the right ukulele for you. A place filled with the Aloha spirit – it is always a great experience visiting this shop.

Dealt with Joe, the owners dad. Nice and chatty guy. Gave us a great deal on a couple of nice Uke’s as a memento for our time on Kauai. Go see him!

Very kind and knowledgeable on all things ukelele.

Great and knowledgeable sales folks. Be careful about the “Larry’s Custom” cases. Not good! Barely good enough to bring back on the plane. Need a case made by the manufacturer to protect your ukulele long term. BTW who sells Kamka Ukuleles without a case? For the money they charge it should always come with a case from the manufacturer. Too bad I was in a hurry. Everyone was in hurry that day.

I wanted to like this shop. Plenty of expensive ukuleles on the wall. Sam may be friendly but I guess he was busy. Jay greeted me and is very into himself. He was selling Kamoa ukes made on Kauai at high prices. He only had a few minutes to chat as he had to ship ukes out. These might be equivalent to Kala and lots of used ones on eBay. I guess if you want one made in Hawaii, this would qualify. Shop not so friendly for me.

My only review is due to the fact that they are actually closed weekends in a resort area. Makes no sense. Would have bought one but alas…no deal.

I booked Kaycee as a single violinist at my wedding a few weeks ago and she was AMAZING!! I had a couple specific requests regarding song choice and timing, and she delivered perfectly! Her beautiful playing really added to the ambiance of the ceremony and made it so much more special and picturesque. Kaycee is super nice, very responsive, easy to work with, and is obviously a beautiful violinist, I can’t express how perfect the music was!! Thank you Kaycee for making my wedding unforgettable!!

Kaycee’s talent made the moments in our wedding so incredibly special. She plays so beautifully; perfect tempo, perfect sound. Impeccable skill. I’m forever grateful for her contribution on our significant day.

The most special addition to our wedding ceremony. The quartet’s song list is quite extensive and they are all such talented musicians. Very grateful for the role they played in our big day. Highly recommend!

Right in front of Kuhio Hwy, in the Ching Young Village Shopping Center, the store is part ukulele and guitar shop, part LYS (yarn) store. Both areas have gorgeous merchandise to look at. While I was trying hard to decide which hand-dyed yarn to purchase, a friendly, helpful sales clerk was educating a customer on which ukulele would make sense for his skill level and budget.

Looking for a “Made in Kauai” gift for you or your favorite knitter, the store’s Hanalei Hand-Dyed Yarn are beautifully displayed by weight and fiber type and named after things found in Kauai. I’m a knitter and enjoy visiting local LYS while on vacation. I appreciate the color artistry of the yarns sold here. The problem you will have here is deciding what to purchase because everything is so beautiful and soft to the touch. The yarn prices are comparable to the Mainland for small batch hand-dyed natural fiber yarn. No acrylic sold here!

A yarn/music shop in Hanalei? I was so happy to find this place on a recent trip to Kaua’i. Such a cool spot with a great staff. I got some guitar picks for myself and my son and a few skeins of amazing hand dyed yarn. What more could you ask for?

Their selection is excellent and the store owner is super nice! I’m currently kicking myself for not buying the ukulele strap I had my eye on!

I would like to have given them a higher rating, but I went there to get some yarn as it mentioned that they had hand dyed cotton and bamboo yarn in Hawaiian colors. Unfortunately they had no yarn, and the site was not updated to reflect this. The employee just said that since COVID that they did not have yarn. They could not recommend a place that did.

During our trip to Kauai we took Ukulele lessons here and the staff was very knowledgeable. The aesthetics of the place were very low key (string lights, small stage) and I loved the relaxed ambiance.

Nice store with friendly staff, selection was quite limited at the time we were there. I guess New Year’s ran their stock low. Might return later next week when they restock

Don’t waste your time. Picked up a guitar, played for 2 mins before asked to “play quietly.” So that she could make a call. No one else was in the store.

I wanted to return the ukelele that I purchased there but they said no returns – I was not told when I purchased the instrument that all purchases were final. There is a sign but the sales person did not point it out to me or mention it – it was not written on the receipt either. I guess I made a bad purchase but it did not make me feel good that they didn’t mention about their return policy before I made the purchase. This store is also WAY overpriced. I checked the price I paid for my ukulele and it was like 70 dollars more than what it was sold on amazon – which I don’t really care because I wanted to support local business…but I just can’t support their business model. So here it is!

The store hours listed on Google are not accurate – they do NOT open at 11AM. I was there today a few minutes after 11, and the lights were still off and doors locked. I hung out for a bit, but at 11:15 the doors were still locked. No clue what time they actually open

They have a wonderful variety of locally made cute and interesting gifts! I really enjoyed shopping here!

They were great! They are out of their garage now, but wonderful. I bought a fancy ukulele.

Just received my koa wood visor that was shipped super fast! It was packaged with much care & Aloha! Loving my visor!! Mahaloz ❤

Lady here explained how the stickers work here, never had that kind of nice service keep being you

Ukulele picks sold here

Friendly staff. Interesting store. Worth a visit.

This store and the employees have my support…awesome attitude and meaning behind the products they sell…highly recommend going in and talking with them and buying something meaningful to you

The vibes at this shop are immaculate. So much so that when I was having a bad day, simply visiting the shop—and interacting with the workers there—managed to completely uplift my mood for the rest of the day.

I had the best experience there. Excellent customer service. One of the guys working there even offered to tune the cheap ukulele I was carrying around. I bought a few things there too that I definitely don’t regret buying. I highly recommend going to this shop.

Beautiful and intentional store, I love stopping in here!

Cool place. Lots of instruments as expected. My daughter bought a ukulele here before we headed home.

Wasn’t sure what kind of ukulele I wanted at first. I went to some other stores on the island and BY FAR had the best experience here. Everyone was super nice and reasonable to my price range. And they had there prices on there item (may sound weird but some stores don’t which is kinda sketchy) the brought the price down on more expensive ukes to give me a larger selection for my wallet to choose from. Everyone there knew what they were talking about and could actually PLAY a uke where some stores that is not the case. In super glad I checked out other stores cuz I found this place and my uke at a REALLY good price!

I bought my first ukulele here today. The owner was so kind, patient and helpful to me and my family. I am looking so much forward to learn how to play this wonderful instrument!