Discover the top 20 music shops in Savoy

Aside from being a virtuoso herself, Larisa is also an amazing teacher with the most delightful personality. I picked up piano again in my 20s after learning for 5 years in my childhood.

I studied with Larisa for less than a year. During that time, I learned a wide range of music spanning from the Baroque period to the 20th century. She sets high standards for her students, but never intimidates. Instead, she inspires me with her passion and motivates me with her attentiveness to details.

The lessons themselves are highly informative. Larisa is exceptionally good at explaining concepts that are rather abstract, including Rubato, Dynamics etc. She provides easy-to-understand clarifications on those concepts, which she draws from her decades of experience in professional performance. Larisa guided and pushed me to levels that I never imgained I could achieve. I believe anyone who has a heart for piano can benefit tremendously from taking lessons with Larisa.

Best piano teacher in town! Every lesson with her is a blessing! ❤️Highly recommend!

i have never had a class with Larisa, but she is my grandma! i bet her classes are great.

It’s a pretty reasonable place if you are on a budget

I like it not love it

Like for quick shopping

What you would expect from a Walmart Supercenter. Self-check only sometimes.

Some employees are extremely kind and helpful… some are not. Some do not care at all.

Busy busy…def better ratings if had more registers open 🙁

It’s Walmart

Never enough cashier’s

Two friends and myself tried to flag down some employees for help in the fabric section. We very obviously asked, “can you please help us?” And they proceeded to ignore us and continue walking. We also waited 30 minutes in the fabric section just to get a single yard of fabric cut. Ridiculous.

Lovely store! So much to look at! Just love all the antiques!

Clean, bright, well organized

Have been here about 4 to 5 times now. I would definitely recommend for those who love collectibles. They have great Pokemon Cards but I also have seen a number of other items that appear worthy. Give a shot to find your treasure!

They have a lot of stuff, it’s just too expensive to buy any of it…

First time there but met very pleasant dealers and bought a few things

Nice place with tons to look at. Collectors of just about anything could have a field day here. Some stuff is a little pricey, but I think they will negotiate with you. I will definitely go back. Great antique store.

Way overpriced merchandise

Lot of cool things but lots of newer beat up stuff. If you’re looking for stuff go here but have a focus

Person I assume was employee did not look up from phone during whole visit. No eye contact or acknowledgement whatsoever. Lost interest in the items I was curious about.

Staff are so helpful!

Dyke and Don know their way around pro electronics! Great customer service!

Good work

The s place was a big help been to a few other guitar store and they couldn’t help but this place could I’ll be back!!!

Decent selection, comparable prices to the big name stores

Got a bass bag and some strings. Still using the 4 channel mixer/amp I got from them a few years back.

I called today to ask about get the action lowered on my guitar. Keep in mind that I am a beginner and don’t know a whole lot about this type of stuff. The person who answered the phone was far from helpful. He was condescending and rude and didn’t answer my questions. Instead he just cackled when I asked clarifying questions and responded with sarcastic answers. I will absolutely NOT be taking my business here and did not appreciate the customer service or lack thereof.

Stinky, dirty place, and not friendly at all.

This place isme terrible. The owner wanted to buy some portable racks from me. So I rearranged my whole schedule because I am very busy and am selling this stuff for church. The racks were visible on photo, when I got there, he told me he wasn’t interested.

These guys are awesome. They’ll spend the time to talk to every customer, regardless of whether they’re buying a pack of picks or a high end guitar. Just be careful or you’ll find yourself heading home with a new instrument!

Everyone here is knowledgeable and friendly, and they have the best selection of quality product in town. I’ve bought guitars, gear, and had repair work done here and only had great experiences with Ricky, Andrew, and the rest of the staff. Champaign is lucky to have this place.

Amazing store! Knowledgeable and friendly staff with AMAZING guitars available to play.
Thank you for an awesome experience

Very nice store for guitar players. Not a lot of options for bass players. Store is very clean and the store has a very classy look and vibe. Very nice selection of effects pedals. I will go there again. I would like to have seen more high end 5 string basses. But, I think everyone should stop by.

Good place to buy guitar stuff in a convenient location.
It’s kind of expensive, I paid $25 for two sets of strings when I go through them like crazy. This being the only place I buy strings nowadays I am now scared to break one!

They have loads of guitars and amps to try out, as well as mandolins, banjos and other stringed instruments, makes it a great place to learn about instruments.

I will purchase my next guitar here for sure.

I put a guitar here on consignment that had a synth pickup and they straight up lost the synth. When I came in to pick up my stuff they just shrugged their shoulders like “so what?”

Brought in a broken guitar hoping to fix it. They were quoting me 4 times the value of a new guitar to fix it and kept pushing me to just buy a new one. I ended up leaving and getting the guitar replaced elsewhere

Be forewarned! If you are anything but an accomplished or professional guitar player they may not have the time of day for you! They WILL talk down to you, and make broad assumptions of you. Without asking me any further questions, because I said I traveled a lot, had a sentimental instrument that I didn’t want to see damaged and didn’t presently have a place to store it: the assumptions changed to me being homeless and I couldn’t be pushed out of the store fast enough. Even when I asked about a simple $15 item. Oh and let’s not forget the whole the salesman is talking down to me, he grabbing expensive guitars off the wall just playing them instead of listening to my questions. Nice job Upper Bout

I had a wonderful experience shopping here. Very kind and helpful service!

Very knowledgeable, and friendly service

Nathan is a top-notch technician. His work is up to the standard of the Schilke shop, for sure.

It’s a good place for renting and buying instruments. They repair and provide loaner instruments.

Nice staff, wonderful selection, higher end of the usual price range though.

Last time I came in here I had an employee make fun of me/my instrument because it wasn’t high end (which I knew). Now that I work on my own instruments I know better than to put up with snobby musicians like the one I dealt with here. Three stars because I can’t condemn the entire establishment because of one or two rude employees.

Looked at stuff for over 20 minutes without getting attention of any staff members on a very slow day. I literally was carrying a list of items I needed. Prices were way out of line. Selection was slightly better than Guitar Center.

I went in to have my saxophone serviced. The saxophone I play is pretty nice. I mentioned that I played it in marching band and the woman belittled me for playing a nice instrument in marching band. Sorry I don’t have an unlimited supply of saxophones.

Absolutely the most unprofessional shop around ! Straight garbage

Great place to buy and sell gear

Been in many guitar centers but this one has the best service and awesome staff.

Staff very helpful. I found exactly what i wanted

Fun place to just pick up instruments and play keyboards, guitars and drums. It’s ok to make a lot of noise, I reccomend go in having an open mind guitar tuner and ear buds with a 1/8 to 1/4 inch adapter that way if someone else is loud you can plug in the ear buds and jam out!

I like the prices on used gear

selection kinda blows but the store and atmosphere and staff are great.

They always ask to get a letter from my company when I purchase items with tax exempt certificate. I gave up to buy stuff for my school at GC.

Offered me 20 dollars for a pedal that they were selling used for 140… Also wouldn’t buy a guitar because”the action was too high.. And we would have to fix the strings” as if they didn’t know, strings on the neck are a simple truss rod adjustment or action on the tailpiece… I would avoid this place!! … Former guitar tech…

Unknowledgeable employees really hurt this store. Does not help that they seem to think it is okay to lecture you on trade ins on gear that you have not even brought in.

I think there may be some profiling and racism happening at this store. Will not be returning in the future.

Get your act together and hire the right people to work in your stores and pay them a decent wage.

You are not the same business you used to be. Such a shame

Very nice place

Yamaha pianos are the best! I bought a NU1 and I’m amazed by the cutting edge technology. I was given great service and the piano was delivered in perfect condition. Highly recommend the piano network!

I bought an Artist Yamaha C6 Concert Grand from currrent owners Matt & Larry Waldhoff, which I love and still play every weekend at the Possum Trot Supper Club. I purchased it in 1997 when they were with Samuels. Fortunately they asked me in March of 2016 to help represent Piano Network a great new store in Champaign. I am proud to work for them, offering World Class Yamaha Pianos, Allen Organs,and high quality and guaranteed gently used instruments.

Bought some plaid shorts here, wore them immediately to the slots, won 30 bucks.

So clean and organized as you can get in a store like this!

Well organized and high quality selection. A bit pricey for a second hand store on some items. Neck tie should not be $7 at goodwill.

This Goodwill has the best selection of the two in the city.

This is the nicest looking Goodwill I’ve ever been to. Everything is well-displayed and boutique-like. However, this is also the most expensive Goodwill I’ve ever been to. I saw a college-ruled notebook for $1.99, a cassette player for $40, and a new coat for $300! Those are not prices I’m comfortable spending on mostly used items. I will say that the one advantage to such high prices is that you can find quite a few quality items and brands here, that would have probably been taken immediately at cheaper Goodwill stores. So if you’re willing to spend more than you’re used to at a thrift store, you’ll be rewarded with a greater variety of nice brands.

This location closes at 6pm, not 8pm as google would suggest.

Went to get a shirt, showed up at 640… and the place was closed…

Edit:
Sounds like you need to pay more.

Inaccurate operational hours

PRICED TOO HIGH

A great local shop with a wonderful selection of music.

jeff’s got it all going on…..enterpreneur of the year here in c-u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a really solid vintage place. Definitely more geared towards women’s clothing, but there are a rack or two of men’s stuff. My wife consistently finds great things there for herself.

The music side seems good, but I haven’t really explored it.

Great store! Lots of really cool vintage stuff! I loved the decor! And great for finding vinyl records that haven’t been around for a long time!

Support your local record store! I just browsed today, but I’ll be going back when I have more time. Saw some decent stuff in the used bins. They carry more than just cds and vinyl.

Great store, good selection of CDs and vinyl records. The organization can be a bit difficult to figure out for first time visitors. Customer service could be better.

TL;DR
Store is neat, if not hard to get to, records aren’t WELL organized, but they’re there, the staff (or at least employee posted up) was not organized or helpful.

Long story:
I went this past Sunday looking for a preamp for my phono turntable and a copy of Random Access Memories. Called ahead to inquire about both. The phone was answered (better than I can say for some companies locally) but the employee stated that they did not know what audio equipment they had, and didn’t know if they had Draft Punk’s Random Access Memories album in store, but that I could come in and check.

So I did! I walked in (after having some difficulty with poor door signage; which door is it? Main door, side door?), and the first thing I saw was the album art of RAM postered to the counter! I exclaimed and said “that’s the one I’m looking for!” The employee whooped too, but when I asked where I could find it, they not only couldn’t tell me where in the records it may be, but also didn’t know if it was in stock.

So I went back into the records nook and spent about 20 minutes combing through pop, electronic, and another section only to not find it. Went to the little stage area, didn’t find it. Went to the new in store section across the CDs and cassettes. No dice.

Finally after about 30 minutes of meandering unsuccessfully I asked if the shop had an inventory system, and if they could tell me if they stocked the album. Nope.

Defeated, I remembered that I had another item I needed to look for…THE PREAMP! So I asked for the audio equipment area to peruse, and was pointed towards a small glass cabinet that had some turntables and maybe one or two other things. That was the selection of audio stuff the employee was too flustered by to help me over the phone.

The store has chill vibes, and has a very unique personality to it. I could easily see myself getting lost in there and I almost bought a Metallica Black album. But I didn’t because of a combination of how unhelpful the employee was and something they said to me on the phone before I arrived, “I don’t know, I only work here once a week.” They were the only employee in the store on Sunday, and as unhelpful as they were, reading their books while myself and others browsed, not once asking if we needed anything, and not being able to answer questions regarding stock of items they have plastered on their front counter and standing as 5’6″ cardboard cutouts guarding the entryway to the record area did this a two star rating for me.

Yeah, it was something you said.

Most of the Inventory is beat up and overpriced. Won’t be back.

They certainly don’t go out of their way to he you . They don’t know whether they have the selection you are looking for because there is no order in finding vinyl. Shouldn’t be hard to have vinyl in some for of order. You’ll spend most of the time trying to locate what you are looking for. Large selection but all are in rand order. Too far to travel for this.

Vine Street played at my wedding and they made my day truly magical with their beautiful music. So kind and professional! Truly a magical performance, thanks again!

We used Vine Street Ensemble to hire a solo violinist. Janice did a fantastic job playing for our wedding ceremony. She was easy to get in contact with, on time, and even learned a song for our day. We couldn’t be happier with her performance.

Vine Street Ensemble added such an elegant touch to our wedding ceremony and cocktail hour at Allerton Park. My contact person was Amanda. She was kind and professional throughout our planning process. Vine Street Ensemble has such a nice variety of classic and modern pieces that are sure to compliment any wedding ceremony style. They were very accommodating when we asked them to play “All of Me” by John Legend during our unity ceremony (a piece they didn’t offer). I highly recommend them for your wedding/event!

Dr. Matova is a very patient and knowledgeable instructor and works well with students of different developmental stages. My child who is a fresh beginner is not only grasping the new musical concepts well, but also having fun learning. Dr. Matova is very intentional and effective in how she teaches technique, form, and music interpretation. I feel confident that my kids are building a strong foundation in piano through her instruction.

My goals when I started taking lessons with Dr. Matova included learning proper technique, playing some classical pieces, and most importantly (to me) being able to play Beatles music. With her skillful, patient guidance I have met those goals and then some. No matter your level Dr. Matova will help you improve your musicality and bring the joy of making music into your life!

I started in January this year and it’s been an amazing experience so far.
I hadn’t played piano before. So we started from basics. Nelly is a very patient tutor. Answers all my questions and focuses on all the important details of the art. Highly recommended!