Lake Forest: Overview of the top 20 music shops

Just stopped by on a whim after seeing this spot a few times. The owners are so kind and helpful. Great selection, great customer service and great energy in the shop.

Generous dudes who love music will always help you out here regardless of your experience.

I have known Frank at MG for too many years to count…that being said I have purchased guitars, amps, speakers, pedals, wireless units, repair/installations and on & on. His CS skills & networking are at the top of the scale. That’s the reason he’s been in the biz for so many years (and why his tutelage has rubbed off on his former employees. A hard act to follow indeed.

Got a few of my guitar frets plekked. Great job. My only complaint is they only offer that with their setup and they dont know how to setup a guitar the correct way. Action way off the fretboard. The trussrod is way off with way too much bow. I rather just pay for the plek and not the setup. I have to spend an hour setting it up after paying $285. Which is very high. I found some of the employees to have egos and arrogant.

staff is helpful… but had a guitar fixed a couple months ago and had to bring it back for the same issue…. I thought they fixed it, but guess not. we will try again and see…..

Dumped an unsellable $1900 Chicago blues box on me after my gear had been stolen.
I took the amp back the next day and they told me I’d take a $600 loss.
They knew why I brought it back and they stuck me with it. Didn’t even offer an alternate!
Not interested in artist or musicians only in it for the $
Pompous, elite and unprofessional!
Beware, once they got your money you are SOL.

I’m an advanced drummer and had a good experience working with the drum teacher (M.S.) that I met with at the Music Gallery. However, the shop owners were less than professional. The equipment was unsatisfactory to take lessons on. I had to start bringing my own drum thrown. Along with that the bass drum pedals along with the hi hat mechanism were in poor condition. When I confronted the owner he got angry at me for bringing it and said it was my teachers problem. In a community such as Highland Park it’s embarrassing. I would not recommend this location to work with. With all this being said they have ended the relationship with who I feel is one of the best drum teachers in the area. It’s very much their loss! I continue to work with him at another location.

Kim Munoz has a true gift for the piano. Just listening to her play is inspiring! And being able to share that gift through teaching others takes it to a whole new level. Mrs Munoz is patient as her students learn, and really encourages you to reach higher levels! She makes learning songs and techniques fun, and I LOVE the recitals when all the students come together and each play a piece or two. I highly recommend her to any child or adult who wants to start new or sharpen skills you already have!

Kim has been an amazing teacher to my daughter. So patient and kind. My daughter looks forward to her lesson every week!

Kim has been an amazing teacher. I started as a beginner student without any experience playing piano. She has been patient and helpful in my lessons, she has a recommended list of books that I’ve been using and it has helped guide me while learning.

The private lessons are really great because I can ask questions and Kim will take time to answer them. There’s no one else sharing her time while I’m there.

I have used hearing aids for 20 + years the ones Lake Forest Hearing order for my needs are the Best for my need! If I recall correctly I had bought 5 pairs in the past 20 yrs trying to achieve what Lake Forest Hearing did for me in two hours. A lot of my loss is due to 12 of fireing weapons in the Service.
For my need & the Best Results for your money LAKE FOREST HEARING is The Best!
I give the ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and more if permitted.
Billy G

I am a professional musician. I have had tinnitus since 1990 and hearing loss since the eighties. I am only 60 years old and have had trouble hearing conversation and other sounds I didn’t realize I was missing. Dr. Halvorson helped me find the perfect hearing aids for me. Ever since I put them in I have done nothing but smile. I can hear conversations, televisions, nature, enjoy theater and more. The service, expertise, and product selection is nothing short excellent. I highly recommend the Lake Forest Hearing Professionals!

Great staff. Very helpful. Put me at ease. Knowledgeable and dedicated to your hearing. Thank you for a great visit.

The service is typically very good. I am always a little surprised that I am seeing a new audiologist, or at least I hope they’re an audiologist, with no warning. I started with Dr. Halvorsen but have seen several other people since.
I find it annoying that they are routinely 15-30 minutes behind schedule. The other day I showed up 10 minutes late and still had to wait 20 minutes.

I bought some hearing protection from this company, while they were in road America in Elkhart lake, WI. The hearing protection i ordered was custom hearing plugs, when I ordered them the person that took the information from told me that I would receive my earplugs with in two weeks, and that they would ship them to me for free, I called after 3 weeks and they still didn’t have them ready, then in the 4 week I got a call saying that they were ready and they ask me if I want to pick them up, I live 3 hour away from their office, and I requested to get them shipped, and the person on the phone told me that I needed to pay for the shipping, what I refuse because I was told that the shipping was free. Then I requested my money back, and this people is refusing to reimburse me my money, and apparently no body work there because when I called there is no people available to help me with the problem and the receptionist says that is going to transfer me to someone that could help me and she hangs up the phone this is been 3 times already, I am going to place a complaint in the BBB. Is incredible that a company hides behind the receptionist so they do t have to deal with the customers problems, I am not going to lose 175 dollars for a product that I have never received

Place tied to take me for $6,000 I have insurance and yet after a long and arduous discussion about how much it would cost they told me that my deductible would be enough to cover hearing aids again place is a rip-off they tried to take me for $6,000 for hearing aids that cost $1,500 highly un recommended place is a rip-off

Lovely place with very nice second hand treasures

This place is great, you never know what gems you will find in the store.

great place to find treasures – and they give back to some worthy local nonprofits!

aspiring photography student, stopped in to perhaps take a shot or two…ladies there extremely helpful encouraged me to post…so here goes !!

Cute store, but I was surprised at the high prices on most items in the store (especially things that were dirty or looked broken). The sales person was nice but I’m unlikely to return and was overall disappointed. They had lots of clothes and jewelry.

Great selection. Good prices. Nice staff. I came in for a deal and made out great

Expect the attitude if you don’t look like a Lake Forest shopper, expect to see nothing interesting except Lake Forest circa 1990 Coach purses, Columbia, horrid wedding gifts. With the rich you can get great one of a kind items or their basement trash thinking thrift store shoppers will love wool wraps w/ the big logo Coach C purses and 20 year ago boots. 2.50 for worn out tiny stuffed animals and guess what Annalee dolls are very valuable. If they knew I was an educated, could have bought what I wanted I might have received a goodbye, toys are downstairs as I pass by a few bars of Ann Taylor $15 sweaters to end up in the unfinished basement of a bad estate sale. All these upscale wanna be NY BOUTIQUES THAT GET FOUR STARS THEY ALL SUCK AND YOU GO FOR THE FAUX IMAGE. HAPPY HOUR SHOULD BE 10 am for these ladies. Stop giving these upscale shops five stars. You know that Salvation Army has the same things, cheaper, but not the
boutique look. Who cares. IM A FIT MAJOR AND BUSINESS MAJOR. I LIVED IN REAL BOUTIQUES.

Rarely greeted when I come in, and hardly ever thanked when I have donated nice things. It might be good for the store to give some training on greeting all guests with a smile, and actually thanking them for their donations (I started taking my donations to other places because of this). Not sure who runs it and whether they are one of the ones who doesn’t say hello, or “thank you” after bringing in donations. Just a very unfriendly vibe that it’s awkward to shop in that small store with the “ice cold” feeling in the air. There was one nice and friendly (welcoming) lady who worked there but haven’t seen her on the times I’ve stopped by in a while. Regardless of whether it’s a volunteer job or not, lack of common courtesy by most of the staff that’s been there when I’ve stopped by is just kind of disappointing.

Very unfriendly/snooty. Found something on the rack, even tried it on. I went to purchase it and sales lady claimed it belonged to her friend that was shopping there. Claimed she wore it in. Funny thing is it had a price tag on it.

These guys are Great!

Great people and service!

Good times.

Great place to buy and test gear..

Every now and then they have some cool used gear

Very busy, not enough sales people.

My son came to the store to get a string repair and was told it would take 5 days so I decided to come in the next day and see for myself because he is young and it seemed too ridiculous to believe. I was told the same thing. A simple repair string should not take that long. Then we went to the place we usually go to and I was out of the shop with a new string in 20 minutes.

I have attempted to shop at the Chicago Central store on numerous occasions. Allow me to explain,. I am 62, short gray hair, and am a disabled Viet Nam Veteran. I came in wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a Movado watch. I was very specific in terms of my request, as I had researched the item on their web-site, and was fully prepared to buy it. The salesman I was directed to was polite, but a little nervous, it seemed to me. I thought as our ages were pretty similar, I would be treated to a good sales experience. Such was not the case. He meandered around from showcase to showcase looking for the item. I suggested he try the POS computer, to see if he at least had it in stock. As it turned out, it was not an item they carried in stock. Surprising, as it is a pedal being raved about everywhere you look. It is a device that in addition to providing distortion, adds a note an octave higher, as in Jimi on Band of Gypsys. I then asked him if he had a similar device I could try to get an idea of the sound they produced, and he came back with a box that had octave settings, volume, and couple of other knobs. I didn’t tell him that I already owned this box, and that provides low octaves, not high.He told to grab any guitar,sat me down at a “Test station” which was an amp buried under a counter and some wires coming out of some holes. Nothing was explained, i got no assistance in setting up, and he had no idea how the thing worked. He took off, never to be seen again. With all this nonsense, I just put the guitar back where I found it, left the “Station” as it was with the pedal sitting on the counter, and talked to one more guy briefly. He quickly said he didn’t know if they would ever be carrying this pedal. I replied, ” Well, this was a big waste of time”, and took off. I will never even consider shopping Guitar Center again!

Called yesterday and asked if I need to make an appointment to restring a guitar, they said “no, just come in anytime”. Came today and they said that “the tech is not in yet but he should get in in an hour”, I went about my business and came back an hour later just to be told that the tech is very busy and I should leave my guitar there for several days in order for it to be serviced. What a waste of my time…

Awesome guitars and service!!

Very friendly and informative staff. Beautiful looking guitars.

Just received my custom crosshatch and couldn’t be happier. It’s georeous and sounds spectacular. Dean was awesome as I changed my mind on a couple things during build. But what he produced was exactly what I wanted. Thanks so much for the guitar of a lifetime ❤️

Had a good selection of percussion mallets

I get my flute done here

The best teacher for piano is Jo

Grandson in orchestra needed a special double bass book. They had it, yeah!!! Theg are super friendly!

Me suena..

Good priz on instruments

Almost no instruments in store. Some guitars and some harmonicas. Nice workers due

They told me that the item I wanted was in stock. When I got there it was gone. In stock doesn’t mean 1.

If you want to speak with someone condescending, rude, and extremely stuck up, you’re calling the right place. I was calling to get information to rent an instrument for my sons new orchestra program and I was not only insulted by an employee, but the owner herself. If you are not an uppity brat, this isn’t the place for you.

Truly Amazing. A wonderful group of people to work with. They were extremely kind and beyond helpful. 5 stars is not enough.

Great business casual items. Love the personal shopping assistance.

The premier spot for your special occasion attire, accessories, shoes and jewelry. Excellent service and personal styling. Alterations on site. 97 years in business this year!

The Lake Forest Shop has a great selection of stylish clothes. It’s comparable to the Bergdorf in the unique pieces you’ll find, however, their seamstress is atrocious. Do not waste your money on having them alter anything. Even a simple hemming on a jumpsuit, I had to bring to a tailor to fix it. Go here with the mindset that the racks have some great items but use someone else to tweak them

I take all of my vintage and new guitars there for set up and repairs. Chip is the best. He is the only one that I will let work on my guitars.

Bob is great. Took my guitar and will make new again

I always prefer to shop local, so that’s why I met Bob. He was a great help in my new purchase and my daughter is taking lessons at the store. Keep on Rockin

sad to have to change my review but after having dealt with this store more it seemed necessary

A week and a half later, I’m waiting on a repair that was supposed to take two days. They called on the day it was supposed to be done to say they just started working on it. Two days after that they called again to say it will be done in a week (or maybe less) due to a problem with the instrument that requires additional work. Today (a week later) they said it will be ready two weeks from the day I brought it in. While I can’t comment on the quality of the work because I still haven’t received it yet, I am disappointed with the service so far. I dislike dishonesty, excuses, and false promises. I can only hope that my instrument isn’t being butchered. I hope I’ll get it back and be able to add a positive update to this review. Unfortunately since they lied to me, I can’t trust them, so I’ll have to take it somewhere else to get it checked out after I get it back.

Update: I got the guitar back and had it checked out by a friend’s technician. He said it was in good shape, so I’ve decided to raise my rating by two stars. I won’t forget the bad communication and lack of transparency, so I don’t think I would bring an instrument here for repair a second time.

Reviews show that they are open but I cannot seem to find the correct times they are open I tried stopping in on a Saturday around 3 website and google said they were open. But they weren’t too

Was looking for a specific pair of drumsticks that I needed. I walked in and took a look at the selection they had, and they didn’t have what I needed. I asked a staff member if they could help me out and he helped me figure out what pair I needed. He happened to be the drum instructor. While trying to find the specific pair, my mother who was with me told me that he made her feel uncomfortable because of the way he acted towards her. When they “ordered” it for me and they said it’ll be here in a week.

One week later, I called to see if it had arrived. They said no. I stopped by the next day to see if it arrived and the same instructor said they’ll stop by tomorrow and pick it up for me. (From whatever warehouse they get their stuff from). The next day, guess what? THEY DIDN’T HAVE IT.

Unbelievable service. Waste of time and effort. I ended up going to A-Major Music in Gurnee. Trust me, it is worth the drive and they are MUCH more friendlier and helpful there.

I bought two sets of acoustic guitar strings for around a $20 total and later received a $140 charge from the business. Bob said he would reach out to resolve the issue but has not yet after two weeks.

Store staff are incompetent. Ordered books and instruments accessories for me but instead of holding behind the counter they just put them on the shelf for others to buy. Waited two weeks and when I got there only one of the three things I ordered was available. There is a reason mom-and-pop shops like this are going out of business. They have no customer service. Added to which the staff were rude and had a lack of knowledge that was sad.

These guys have responded quickly and easily to the challenging times. We got online for lessons as soon as they were available and it has been a great experience! Thanks for keeping us engaged and learning!!

It’s been over 3 years since our daughter joined School of Rock. Along with voice, piano, guitar lessons, it’s been awesome to see our daughter flourish. Her confidence and ability to socialize with people have been values added. The teachers are so talented and have the heart of gold. In addition, I’ve been taking adult voice lessons and participate in the adult band for the past 1yr 1/2. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know fellow band members while enjoying singing. It’s such a mental therapy… a happy place!

Very nice people. Got a trial lesson with Scott and immediately decided to get lessons here. I now have trials with Jake and am very glad I came to school of rock for lessons. They give you a private, 30 minute lesson for whatever instrument you are playing (vocals count), and also a 1 hour group rehearsal with a band. There is garage rock, garage rock for teens, and a higher level for high school and up. Professional, friendly and fun. Recommend to anybody who likes Rock and Pop

It’s a place where you get fun music lessons.

Susan has been my piano teacher here in Chicago for more than 10 years. I’m probably not a typical piano student: I’m a 65-year-old former U.S. Marine Corps officer and federal prosecutor who is now president of one of the largest privately held concrete companies in the country.

My story may be relevant just to show how Susan Merdinger can inspire and enhance the life of anyone through her character, intelligence, artistic excellence and teaching skills.

My Mom let me quit piano lessons in 1967 when I was growing up on the Southside of Chicago. I spent the next 45 years regretting it.

Now, as my piano teacher, Susan is inspiring me to make up for lost time.

At the end of each year, I am amazed at being able to play pieces I couldn’t have imagined performing just 12 months earlier. This satisfying achievement comes only because of Susan’s character, merit and talent as a teacher and her passion and enthusiasm to motivate me to practice 1 to 2 hours every day.

Susan is patient while maintaining very high standards with a commitment to excellence. She celebrates the progress of all her students to whom she is dedicated. While waiting for my lesson to begin, I have watched in amazement as she interacts with a full studio of very diverse students, young and old, beginners and advanced. I’ve watched as she’s brought smiles to all her students after their recitals and audiences after her own concerts.

And Susan is one of the smartest persons I know who is expanding my horizons of the classical repertoire I play and appreciation of the classical music I listen to. There is a special pride to see your piano teacher perform Shubert’s “Trout” Quintet in Fullerton Hall at the Chicago Art Institute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series or to listen to her live performances on WFMT, Chicago’s renowned fine arts radio station.

I am a busy executive, but my piano lesson is the highlight of the week, even if that entails a 90-minute battle in Chicagoland rush hour traffic to get to my lesson.

That’s because my life is richer with the music Susan imparts.

As a U.S. Marine Corps officer, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Justice Department and now leading hundreds of Teamsters in my business, I’ve been privileged to work with and hire a diverse number of people for the past 30 years. Susan Merdinger stands out.

You will not find a better artist, teacher, and person than Susan to further the mission of the Chicago High School for the Arts and to ignite a lifelong passion for music and the arts and inspire and transform the lives of those students she would touch.

I can’t recommend her strongly enough.

Dan in the drum department – guard this man with your life. Helped me immensely with getting some used and new gear. A true professional!

The Sales Manager, Matt, and Manager, Todd, were awesome. We placed an online order and they called because they didn’t have it and they gave me options. They took care of the situation in the most professional and caring way. It was really nice that they just didn’t so sorry, to bad and that they worked with us to make sure it was fair! Thank you Matt & Todd. You’re appreciated!

Awesome! I bought a Korean made Ibanez for only a hundred bucks and buying it was super easy. David is an awesome staff member and cool dude. Definitely would recommend Sam Ash to ANYBODY!

The store seems to always be in disarray. Every time I go there, the place is a mess, and I can’t tell if I’m looking at new or used items. The prices are usually reasonable on most things.

It was good, all staff were friendly and professional.

Good selection of available in stock product (certainly better than their larger competitor), sales people that were friendly and on the ready to assist in any way possible. Not necessarily the most experienced at sales- their recommendations didn’t really take enough of my needs into consideration. But they certainly did allow me to experience something I might not have otherwise, so that’s a good thing.

Crazy high prices on accessories. They don’t put price tags on anything except guitars. That’s because no one would even pick it off the shelf if they knew how much they charge. Way to gouge your local musicians!

I used to love SamAsh and swear by it. I’ve bought 4 guitars, countless effects pedals, tons of gear, everything from them in the past. But my few past large purchases the employee that I had working with me brought out the wrong gear every time when I was in the check out process. Twice he brought out the wrong pedal and once the wrong guitar and yet he still tried to tell me every time it was the item I had been testing on the floor when clearly it wasn’t. Honestly, he brought out a Hohner bass guitar when I was playing a Epiphone Sheraton guitar on the floor. These salesmen didn’t know squat and hopefully they were fired, but needless to say I only go there now for strings. I’ve moved onto a much better and more educated music store.

I am always getting Emails from Sam Ash to trade in used gear. I brought in a load of it and they were only interested in complete drum kits, not my 2 bass & 2 tom drums. They gave me $50 for a Pearl snare in new condition and $100 for a Yamaha mixer. I was completely low balled. The only good that came of it was they told me to sell my 60’s vintage mint Ludwig Supraphonic snare online because they could not give me even close to what it’s worth. Sam Ash is not a good place to bring used gear!