University Park: Overview of the top 20 music shops

Very efficient and friendly.

Great store! Lots of options to get!! People are nice and store is clean.

University Park – South Suburbs – Chicagoland Township – Will County – Illinois

Nice

A business in university park holy cow

Its a great store but it doesn’t have everything that you’re looking for

I’ll say this and I’m done, they’re lousy and unprofessional.

Need more workers

Since the store has hired a younger staff it has really gotten bad. The shelves barely stay stocked and majority of the workers don’t have a clue what’s going on. That’s usually because they’re on the phone. When the older crowd ran the store I never minded going here. Now I have to be desperate to go here and hope they have what I’m looking for.

Awesome talent

I own a bass he made. What a fine instrument! I play most of my gigs m(orchestra, chamber music, recitals, and new music) with it and it is a killer!!! This gorgeous looking bass is super responsive and provide very clean and focused sound!

I’ve been going to Chicago Bass Works for the past three years and have always been thrilled by the quality and timeliness of the work. Andrew always does a terrific job, explains and shows everything that he’s doing, and explains the science behind any problems I’ve come with in a very understandable way—all while keeping his prices very affordable. I’ve always left here feeling confident in the work Andrew has done. Highly recommended!

Andrew’s work is of the highest quality and I know my bass is in good hands with him. Scheduling a time to bring my bass in is always easy, and he does fantastic repairs.

Simply the Best

GREAT

Great and knowledgeable instructors. Once you are ready and learn the number system, you willl be able to play in any key in no time! Gotta practice tho.

Excellent service.

All Around Sound Recording and Alicia Johnson provided quality and affordable Studio Recording, Live Sound Recording, Mixing, Editing, Mastering and Production and Music Business Administrative Services. The Artist Network, a social networking website was created specifically for artist and other service providers by Alicia Johnson – All Around Sound Recording. Its purpose was to enrich its artists’ through education and direct fostering in order to see artists succeed on every level of their craft, especially the music business element.

All Around Sound Recording offers a variety of music business administrative services, such as copyrighting, distribution, publishing, duplication, and merchandising. We also offer physical and digital promotion, bios and digital and physical press kits. All Around Sound Recording also provides other services to help with artist branding such as, graphic design, web design, website maintenance, SEO, and web presence development. In addition to those services we offer publicity, management, life coaching, career development, training, mentoring, and Artist Education Workshops.

All Around Sound Recording is a great place where you can get a lot of great services done in the field of music. Prices are very affordable in the light of recording, mixing, mastering and editing.

The administrative services are top notch as well. They also have an artist network forum where artists can congregate and network. There are also various workshops where artists can learn more about the business of music, which is much needed out here because a lot of indie music artists need help in that area.

All around sound recordings has done wonders for me and my team. I highly recommend their services

Two weeks before my daughter had an important audition, the bridge of her violin started to fail. Kagan and Gaines came to the rescue and promptly replaced the bridge and adjusted the instrument for her. We are so grateful for the excellent service that K & G provided. Thank you for helping my daughter have a successful audition!

Very clean an friendly

Went there and purchased a trumpet for my son. Jessie was a great help. Highly recommended.

Nice and helpful staff, but they require you to give them your phone number to make a purchase. No thanks. Took my business elsewhere.

I gave this place a bad review after dealing with a younger employee But when the manager was alerted to the situation (A few days later) it was dealt with fairly. Kagan and Gains has a long time reputation in their neighborhood of being the first choice for musical lessons of any instrument and Fair pricing on instruments and accessories. It may not be the best place to shop for a new guitar But they can handle all your needs afterwords. I recommend them for all your strings, Guitar cases, Band instruments, ect. You will find all of them are of good quality and pricing.

Really great staff, knowledgable and well stocked.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to justify shopping there any longer for my business because their three day return policy and extremely limited store hours make it difficult to get back over there within the period.

(I’m unwilling to pay a 20% restocking fee for unopened cables)

Hate to say it because I wish my business was going to an independent store rather than the corporate or online big boxes.

I hate to agree with the user below who complained of a dishonest experience, but we are going through the same. I’ve read all of the other 5 star reviews and notice a pattern: it seems that for violin and stringed instruments, this is a great place. For renting brass/woodwind instruments via their monopoly with the school districts, they are subpar and dishonest. We should have just purchase a used instrument which would have resulted in us obtaining a superior instrument at, I am not exaggerating, 1/4 the total cost. We just had to call them to stop processing our credit card when we noticed we had been paying an abnormally long time on my daughter’s VERY USED, VERY DENTED saxophone (4 years!). We were “reassured” that, coincidentally, they were just going to call us as well as our payments happened to be completed. Yet they have no records of all the payments that we made, and are asking us to provide payment records going back to 2017 to “prove” how much we have paid in total. Luckily for us, we can easily provide them as they have all been made on the same credit card for years. We are also disputing the amount owed as our daughter’s original “nicer” model saxophone broke, was taken in for repairs, and she was given a loaner, student-model, older and dented sax. Her other one was never repaired and instead she’s just had this one forever. We were told at the time it would be “worked out.” Now they want us to pay the same amount as they were going to charge for the initial instrument to keep this replacement instrument permanently, as they also claim to have NO record that any switch was ever made or that the original saxophone was ever brought in for repairs. Typically, I endeavor to support neighborhood shops, but not when their record keeping is straight out of Mayberry. This is taking a lot of our time and energy to sort out, and we’ve ultimately laid out over $2300 to own an instrument that I have found at multiple music stores online for around $600 and under. We understand that renting the own is typically more expensive, but this feels like being swindled in every way. Extremely disappointed. My husband has been playing music for over 40 years – he also used to play saxophone – and his mother is a professional classical musician. He is used to dealing with all sorts of music shops and has never had an experience like this one.

Walmart always have great prices great staff clean I’m going to go to get me some more toiletries Larry prices

Was able to find what I was looking for

It’s an awesome place to go to and find the things that you always need you can’t find it go to another damn store

Love this place, walmart what else can you say.

You get what you pay for

Today was a good visit. The regular checkout was still 6 the cashier was pleasant

This Walmart Is not the one to shop at EVER!!!
The employees are straight ghetto!!! The store looks a mess. Nothing Is never In stock on the shelves. They never answer the phones in any of the departments. The store manager just sits on her behind In the office On the phone and she’s so unprofessional. She ignores everything that goes on there

I set outside for over an hour waiting on my order. I called when I first arrived just watching the delivery people take orders to other vehicles.

I would shop there if I wasn’t passing by.

the place to go to get a superb acoustic instrument, purchased an amazing Bourgeois guitar featuring Panamanian Rosewood. This is the best guitar I’ve ever played, it immediately makes everything sound unbelievable. Big thanks to Steve, Charles and staff what an awesome experience

Steve and the crew is amazing! Well knowledgeable and created a great atmosphere for acoustic “heaven.” Highly recommended!!!!!!

My experience with Down Home Guitars has been nothing less than first class. The staff is pleasant, professional and knowledgeable. The inventory consists of just about anything and everything a picker might be interested in and they are committed to serve everyone from the beginner to the touring professional. I’ve purchased two Collings instruments from the store and Steve personally made sure that I found the instrument I was looking for at a price I could afford. I’ve toured the country and have visited many guitar stores. Down Home Guitars easily ranks as one of the best!

The store carries beautiful high-end acoustic instruments. They also hold some impressive seminars and concerts. If you want the very best and can spend 6K on a guitar then this store may be for you. With a larger wallet, perhaps you will receive better treatment than I did. The red-haired owner of this store is probably the rudest retail store owner I have ever experienced. Of course, I wasn’t there to spend thousands of dollars. I simply went there to buy picks, strings, tab books, and to explore and discuss instruments with other music lovers. My initial visits were often greeted by cold, stiff, and awkward personalities. After multiple visits, I expected things would warm up, and while some staff were friendly, it was never a comfortable experience. This was especially true whenever the owner was present. Pompous and arrogant seem apt descriptions, and small talk and small wallets are beneath him.

I have been taking lessons from Keith for the past year. I’m learning a lot and having so much fun. I just bought a Fender Stratocaster and it sounds excellent! I look forward to going their each week.

Honest deals great service

Found this store online and nothing but respect for the hard work and dedication they provide us customers. I always take in my Bajo quintos and have them install my pickups. It’s a pleasure talking to them they get a kick out of seeing each bajo i bring in. Great price for installation of whatever pickup I bring in to be installed. I truly recommend this location fair prices and great service. I’ll be stopping in today with another bajo for pickup installation.

I love all the products but at times the service was bad, other visits there were good service. Thanks!

Disgusted with this place. Both my daugther & grandson came home from their lesson in tears because the piano instructor insulted them & was very mean to my grandson who is only in Kindergarten, all because he couldn’t play a song he had just started learning in perfect rhythm. Zero patience & absolutely no method of teaching other than pressuring a poor child & yelling at him to not take his hands off the piano until he tells him to. They were not refunded their money nor were they able to switch piano teachers. DO NOT TAKE LESSONS FROM DAVE! DO NOT GO HERE PERIOD!

False/Misleading Product Description and no follow-up. I purchased a used Yamaha Student Alto sax that was advertised as being above excellent and completely cleaned (being taken apart, soaked, and cleaned with anything necessary being replaced to play perfectly). Transaction started out 5-Stars. Requested pictures, they sent the next day. Placed order and sent out the same day. When I received the package, the instrument was filthy on the inside and out. The mouthpiece was dirty and covered with scale and did not appear to be cleaned or sanitized. A few pads were completely decayed, several were cracked, some were caked with dirt and crystalized sugar. Food buildup on tone holes made playing extremely difficult. A handful of the rods were corroded. Requested refund a week ago. Emailed and messaged them several times. Silence from seller since.

Update: Response from vendor is false and misleading. Instrument was reported as in bad condition and not playing well within an hour of receipt and an RMA was requested 30 minutes later. Almost a week later with no response from the vendor a claim was filed. Instrument was purchased on Reverb and shipped 2,100 miles. If the vendor won’t respond, simply bringing it in isn’t an option. Reverb’s claim agent was unable to get any response from Midlothian either for several days, so they took the instrument back on their own policy.

Instrument was misrepresented. It was in an older-generation case, so it was not a “newer horn”. One of the pictures was from the actual instrument body showing it was in no way “super clean”. I did remove the keys to clean the pads and the holes to try to be a good customer and avoid an unnecessary return. It was when I did this that I saw how bad the instrument was. Purchased through Reverb, so all communication history (one-way) is well-documented. The seller admitted the instrument was a mess that wouldn’t play. The sad thing is the instrument was sent back to them in much better condition than I received it.

Short Version: Came in to try out guitars just like any normal, decent person would but ended up being treated like a careless kid

Every time I’ve visited Midlothian Music I’ve had wonderful experiences, but my last visit left me disappointed.

I came in to see how a few of their guitars compare to my guitar that I already own (which I brought in with me.) The associate I approached was very kind and asked a few questions to make sure he was grabbing exactly what I was looking for from the back. He brought a guitar out and tuned it for me.

I thanked him and asked him if I could have a guitar stand to place next the amp so that I could swap between my own and the one he brought me.

He told me he could just hold onto mine while I played the new one. I thought of that as being a strange solution, but I haven’t been to a lot of music shops and figured it was normal or something. I appreciated it.

I was a little bit uncomfortable with how he stood there the whole time watching me as I played (I was playing for a decent amount of time) but I just took it as him doing me a kindness, standing by in case I needed help. But then I realized he was watching me to make sure I didn’t scratch or damage the guitar.

I have a bag that I wear across my shoulder that sits at my waist, and he asked me if I could make sure that the zipper doesn’t scratch it. Which is understandable, I understand how guitar shops are about zippers. I look over at my hip and see that it’s a good distance away, nod and tell him “I gotcha.” afterwards I could still tell he was uneasy with how I was handling the guitar which I feel was very normally and with respect.

He then asks me “oh, could you make sure you don’t pick too hard?” which is a question I’ve never been asked in any guitar store I’ve visited. I didn’t really know what to say so I just looked at him and then he asked me to watch out for my zipper again. At this point my thoughts of “Oh, he’s standing by to help me” turned to thoughts of “Oh, he was watching me this whole time to make sure I don’t tear anything up”

At that point I (regretfully) respond sarcastically and ask “Would you like to just move my bag for me? Would you also like to pick the guitar for me as well?”

We begin to explain to each other where we were both coming from with our statements. In trying to get my point across that I’ve never been watched so closely or felt like I was made out to be such an untrustworthy individual nor watched the whole time in any other music shop I’ve visited, I became very frustrated and the tone of my voice took a similar turn.

A manager comes over and asks what’s going on. I apologize for my tone and as I attempt to explain what happened and how I felt I was treated, he interrupts me and explains to me the reason behind the employee’s actions. He then asks what he can do for me and how the guitar played.

As I tried to continue my explanation two more times, I was interrupted two more times and was told by the manager that the employee was just trying to stand by and give me good business which is rare these days and that he didn’t mean it that way.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe the employee had any malicious intent directed towards me at all, he apologized to me multiple times. It’s just that the following things left a bad taste in my mouth:

– He apologized to me which I really appreciate, but immediately afterwards he would go on to tell me why he treated me the way that he did, which was to ensure the guitar stays in good condition

– I understood that aspect of what he was saying, keeping the merchandise in perfect condition. I was just unhappy with the way he went about it

– When I tried to explain this to the manager, I felt like he wasn’t willing to see my side, especially with how I was interrupted midway twice while trying to explain my issue to both of them.

My nephew plays several instruments. We’ve visited here to have his guitar string replaced, and we purchased a used trumpet. The gentleman in the shop is very knowledgeable and friendly. I’ve had great experiences here and I look forward to visiting again. Definitely stop by for your instrument needs.

Good place

great rentals! easy to get what you need, and they repair your rental for free if it’s not a huge issue. big thumbs up 🙂

Doug is a good guy. Not too many string choices, but if you call ahead he can order what you need. Best for elementary and grade school band stuy, but I am happy with my harmonica and ukelele from there.

Austin Music Center is a great neighborhood music store. It’s like the
Old school ma&pa stores of years gone
by. It has all things musical rite n our
Neighborhood. U no convenience ha ha
And real friendly people 2 accommodate your needs,musically that is. Go check it
Out 4 urself, don’t just take my word 4 it.
Althought u could; my word is better than
Gold Pepople!!! just kiddin. The corner of
Austin&North Ave is where u’ll find this
jewel. Peace b wit y’all. Bye

Great deals

Cheap instruments, overpriced in my opinion.

It is a nice place. The train station is very convient

Bom conhecimento cultural, excelentes passeios

You can park and ride to and from Chicago.

This station is very convenient and easy. There’s one platform so no getting confused. There’s also a bus stop at this station. I’ve been riding for 6 years its wuiet and safe. There’s a pilive officer on duty here atleast mon-fri. Downfalls are there aren’t any restrooms ar the station, it smells discussing in the tunnels to and from the platforms. And its always damp in the tunnel and when it rains be sure to have ur rain boots and be prepared to walk through the flooded tunnel to get to and from the platform. Minor updates would make this station better.

Station ist ugly but a good spot for getting to Chicago from South. Overnight parking rates only $2.5 and tickets to millennium station downtown center Chicago $7.25. no hasstle.

Incredibly sad how Metra is letting this place just sit. The enclosed seating area on the station platform is helpful for avoiding mosquitos or other critters, but the lack of ventilation makes it a total hotbox on a hot summer night.

The main stairway to the station is “closed”, no real explanation given. You have to instead go through a lengthy ramp and through puddles of water.

Speaking of which, there is no real place for the standing water to drain to so they just put up a “wet sign” and hope for the best. What if someone slips?

Anyways, this place is the gateway to the city from the south suburbs, so props where it’s due, but they should work to improve the station as soon as possible.

The station is a dump. When it rains there is always standing water that you have to walk through.

This station was always convenient because it was the closest to my house but after getting my window busted into and my car rummaged through lastnight I will not be returning to this station I’d rather drive 20+ more minutes to a station that has proper surveillance because it’s sad that my car as well as others vehicles in the parking lot got their vehicles violated and from what the police said this is a reoccurring thing that’s been happening at this station and the station still has not even tried getting cameras in the parking lot

Any word about the man who fell through the steps when they collapsed yesterday at the UP station?

Rossi Music is an excellent store. The quality of the store’s inventory is top tier. They have a wide variety of beautiful instruments to choose from. The instructors at Rossi Music are down to earth and really know how to teach. I’ve made so much progress in learning the guitar! Rossi Music is a definite 10/10.

Rossi Music is what a music store should be with a both passionate and knowledgeable staff.

Great prices and awesome people!

I visited this place for sheet music. The songs I wanted were found online and promptly printed for my purchase.

SUZAN M.O’Rourke wrote on 1/19/2019 I visited Rossi’s in the Fall of 2018 and looked at a variety of instruments but seems to have a shared phone number with Little Company of Mary Hospital aproximately 1 or 1.5 miles east on 95th street. Unfortunate use of a beautifil web site The store offers sheet music and new snd used rental /purchase of instruments.

My son was taking lessons and love it! I paid for his classes in advance and was told that I didn’t and was expected to repay for my son to continue lessons. Advice if you decide to use their service take your own calender and make sure a teacher sign off the day he gave lessons. This will help you keep up for when the teacher cancels for the days you paid for.

This place claims to offer guitar repairs. So i brought in a Gibson LP Custom that simply needed to be re-wired. The pickups were already installed all that was needed was to wire it up and solder it all together. A nice clean pallet to work with.

3 weeks in, I call and was told, We are waiting on parts! Ok? So i decided to buy a wiring kit offline for 100.00 and drop it off. Took me 1 day to get the parts, Took them 3 weeks and they were still waiting for wires and volume pots? Really?

So they had all brand new parts, wires, etc that i purchased myself. Once again, A nice clean slate to work with, Everything was brand new and clean, So wiring and soldering should have went smooth and looked good.

Another week later, I call and ask if its ready, Yeah! Come get it! So i guess they dont call people when instruments are ready for pickup?

I pick it up and bring it home, Plug it in and hear the worst noise ever.. The output of the pickups was all wrong. I have never heard a guitar sound this bad. I look inside and was shocked at the job!! Wires twisted together just hanging there. Soldering burnt thru the brand new pots! This was HORRIBLE!

I call him about it and he said, Oh well i plugged it in and the pickups had sound? Your kidding me right?

I could have brought it back for him to “fix” but after looking at what he did to a brand new wiring kit, Its best to keep guitars far far away from this guy. PLEASE if you have a guitar that is halfway decent and needs a setup, pickup swap or anything that requires a brain, Please take it elsewhere! This place is far from professional.

Bad customer service, dude with long hair gave me attitude and had a overall bad vibe

Great experience there. Friendly staff and more importantly were very motivated to get me anything I needed. I will definitely be back!

Words cannot describe the incredible service Axes Music has provided me for years. Not only have the incredible talented staff taught me how to play many instruments, they have carefully guided me into a career in music which I absolutely love. This business is absolutely incredible and each and every member of their staff is extremely talented, and very friendly. Overall Axes Music is the place to go for music lessons, instrument service, and professional recording.

Super friendly!

Best performances

Great customer service, very kind, and professional. Comfortable environment! Very pleased with the services!

I had a wonderful experience here. The nice young lady at the counter, Bri, was especially helpful. All of the staff members were extremely professional and very responsible especially during Covid. 10/10 recommendation.

Staff’s kind n’ “mentorly” (that’s a word, right?). They mostly sell guitars, but I have seen a drum set, an accordion, and a few keyboards there too. Not very traditional in their approach to teaching instruments, they don’t really go over music theory. If you’re looking for a laid back approach to learning guitar, drums, etc, you’ve got a good chance here.

I stopped by this shop recently to inquire about music lessons for my 7 year old son. I was greeted by the owner who had his face mask dangling half off of his face. You would think that during a global pandemic the owner would take more care in making sure the students in his care are safe, this guy can’t even wear a mask correctly. Also, all the instruments they had for sale looked cheap.

My son has been learning piano with them for almost a year. Their teachers are also unstable. The working teacher also has a bad attitude. It’s a very bad experience!

Waste of time.

Dope spot. Food was good no issues, will return

Very clean

Nice chill spot, comfortable environment very clean drinksvare great and on point and very clean

H O R R I B L E .. a very dirty and unprofessional place! Do not spend your time or money at this place!

Place is dirty, would never eat here.

Nasty kitchen, no one uses gloves just nasty

Awesome people!

Excellent place great people

Hello, My twin collegiate daughters have been talking about taking up the ukulele and guitar the past several months. During that time I have been gathering instrument information and tips. I ended up purchasing a Fender MA-1 starter guitar and a Kohala Concert Ukulele. I stopped in to Sharp & Flatts Music Shop on a few occasions and talked with Christian every time(on Sundays). He is just about the friendliest guy that I have ever met and he is a wealth of information. Each time I brought in a new set of questions he took the time to explain everything that I needed to know and then some. I brought in the Ukulele and he took a good look at it and tuned it up on the spot. He would not take anything for this service. I would recommend this shop to anyone playing guitar, ukulele, violin, or keyboards. I will return as a customer for knowledge, accessories, and maintenance of these instruments.

My daughter says her Violin instructor is very nice:)
It’s better to walk there, if you’re local; no parking 4 to 6pm….
There’s a pleasant, vintage vibe.

Friendly staff. Fun little old school music shop. Sheet music selection kinda light. Look forward to going back, though. They offer music lessons, too.

i couldn’t believe how nasty to me one of the women at this shop was. feel terrible for anyone that has to work around her cause wow! i would’ve come here again as well if not for her!

I purchased an antique, vintage trumpet for my 78 year old father to inspire him to play again, he played from age 7 thru mid-20s. I found this store to repair and update the trumpet, my goal was to make it usable and as perfect as possible. After dropping it off, I called to pay for the service and was talked into buying a brand new case by the owner (woman). She seemed friendly and was happy to make a sale, I told her that my father would be driving a long distance, over an hour, to pick up the trumpet & case and that he had had recent surgery, and now a difficult time walking – I specifically asked her to be extra helpful and kind to him due to the nature of his journey to pick up his gift.
What happened when he arrived was the exact opposite. He said the owner was abrupt, and not helpful, so much so she denied having the trumpet mouth piece when it was simply on a counter right in front of both of them, he had to show her where it was. He said it seemed she was trying to rush him and get him out of the store asap. She was preoccupied and didn’t give him the attention needed to do a simple transaction let alone with the extra courtesy I had asked of her. My father told me she was very abrupt and rude to him !
I recommend you do your research before doing business with this owner, After this incident I read reviews on another well known review platform (I know a bit too late!) and saw a post left by a patron mentioning that this woman may be racist – I thought, isn’t that interesting, my father is Hispanic. Makes me wonder!

I bought a couple things and had a setup done here last year. Their selection isn’t great and I needed to re-do the setup after I got it home. It wasn’t *bad*, but nothing was really done. Also, one of my strings broke in the process and they only replaced that one string.

When I called to ask about it because it had a different tone than the rest, they assured me it was just because it was new and that they used the exact same strings. (The bass was also brand new so that didn’t make a lot of sense, but I also didn’t know much about strings at the time so I took their word for it.

I just took my strings off for the first time since then and noticed the string that was replaced had a different color end than it should. (My bass has a string-thru body so it wasn’t apparent before.)

I don’t know why they lied to me about it, but definitely not ever going to go back there or recommend the place to anyone. Sad.

Christmas concert looks to be very cool.

Really good food!