Wailua: Overview of the top 13 music shops

Great selection of ukes and even better customer service. They answered my rookie questions for over an hour and really helped me pick the right instrument. Great buying experience.

Our nephew who plays the guitar wanted to check out the store and we are so glad we did. It’s a family run business and the lady who helped us was so patient and helpful with our nephew. We were able to “demo” multiple types of ukuleles and hear and feel the difference between each one. When we got back to the mainland, I called the store and spoke with “Sam” and ordered two of the pineapple ukuleles (one for my nephew and one for me, even though I’ve never played). We absolutely love our ukuleles! Great quality and the sound is fantastic! Additionally, Sam has been very supportive of all my “beginner questions.” Always responds to my email questions and even took the time to help me tune my ukulele over the phone since I live in CA. Great customer service and wonderful ukuleles. Take it from me, if you are interested in getting a ukulele, this is the store you want to purchase it from. They have quality ukuleles and great customer service. Highly recommend this store for all your ukulele needs. You can even shop here without visiting Kauai as they have great shipping options too!

Came to Kauai about a week and a half a go and all I wanted to do was to go to a ukulele store. I like the sound of the ukulele and always wanted to learn! That said, I kept looking at places to go and read a lot of reviews!
The Kamoa Store Kauaʻi, Hawai‘i seemed like the place to go! After a week or so with no visit to the ukulele store, I didn’t think I would get there and finally today I got there!
When we walked in, everyone greeted my wife, daughter, and me with an Aloha and a smile! It was all family in the store, something to be said about a store with all family working!!
I shared I was looking to learn, and Sam said if you have 20 minutes, you can stay for a free lesson. I was a bit nervous at first, my daughter and wife went to shop a bit and I stayed! About an hour later, there was REALLY music happening!! Wow!!! No pressure to buy at all, told him I needed to check with my wife to see and that was no problem!
While we did some really cool things while visiting Kauai, visiting the ukulele store was up there! In the end, I did buy a ukulele. I wasn’t sure if I was going to buy one. It was Sam’s passion for the ukulele and patience working with me that sealed the deal!!
It was WELL worth the visit, and very happy I made it!!
Sam…….will keep you posted on my playing, not practicing LOL.

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.

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!

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

These guys are awesome. We went in with some questions about ukelele and walked out with 2 of them. Super helpful guys.

Great place to start your ukulele selection

This is an amazing instrument shop! Amazing people and kind suggestions! They have almost everything you would need for a guitar, piano, or even a ukulele! I bought my own ukulele from here and it is amazing. I would never ask for another one. The people there are extremely kind and they give friendly suggestions to the customers! For the ukulele, they can install a pin/button for your strap or give you new strings. Guitar has the plucks, strings, and some other things for the instrument. Scotty’s is truly an amazing music shop! If you are ever nearby them and need an instrument, go to Scotty’s for an amazing selection!

Patient and courteous service. May not be the cheapest available but they might have something in stock where your local dealer may not (which was our case) but it is nice to have someone explain to you things and also let you try the different ukeleles vs an online store. Do be aware that buying a ukelele in Hawaii does NOT qualify as a free carry-on on any airline as the sales staff mentioned.

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

A well kept shop that mainly has guitars and ukelele’s. A little on the pricey side.

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

Small, but mighty store! We’ve shopped in this quaint, locally owned store for years because of their variety of unique locally made items & normal tourist things. So after trying (unsuccessfully) to find a nice wooden Maui Hook under $100 to hang on a wall, we ended up going into this store on our last 2 days. And there it was! Locally made wooden Maui Hook for under $100. Suitcases already packed & thinking about mailing it back. They ship! (See pictures for their awesome pecking & our Maui Hook!) The store has everything from beautiful wooden ukuleles, to Kauai seasonings, t-shirts, fabrics, women’s clothing, kitchen & kids items, etc. Even if you’re not looking for anything, stop in. And be sure to look UP! It’s a small space, so they utilize every inch.
P.S. Excellent packing! Double paper, bubble wrap and foam padding inside the USPS box.

Love this store. Always something new to find. Friendly and helpful staff.

Ordered from them online. They dropped my shipping down to 50cents. Great people 🙂

Friendly staff. Interesting store. Worth a visit.

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

So weird. You end up in their garage mixed up with trinkets souvenirs. I was not a fan. It was hard to decide if the ‘ukulele or other high valued things were authentic. On a positive the family is all very sweet.

Had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Ron a couple of weeks back. Very knowledgeable, very helpful, and genuinely wanted me to get the perfect guitar for my playing style and price range. Informed me of Music & Strings’ layaway program – where you can put a down payment on an instrument, and then make monthly payments on it until you’ve paid for it in full. (You don’t get to take it home until it’s fully paid for, but Ron will let you come in the shop and play with it in the meantime!) If you’re wanting to buy, repair, or tune up a ‘uke or guitar, I highly recommend you check out this local place before going anywhere else.

Ron and Lawrie were wonderful! Lawrie took the time to make sure of the ukulele fit and showed us so many beautiful looking and someone ukuleles. We ended up with one of their own designs as well as a gorgeous travel guitar. I highly highly recommend this shop.

We spent last week in Kauai and booked two lessons with Ron while we were there. It was the best time my brother-in-law and I could have spent learning finger-picking with a goal of playing Slack Key.

Ron is amazing. A very patient teacher who loves Hawaiian style guitar and teaches that love and respect to each student.

We will book with him every day on future visits to Kauai!

The clerk was not very friendly. We did end up getting a UKE but from another place. Nice selection of instruments.

I found this place to be hard to shop at. Due to Covid there are plastic screens up almost all along the counter. The workers while trying to helpful left me feeling very defeated. They do give good guidance. Make sure it is your first stop in your ‘ukulele shopping or you may find what they say contradicting what others say.

Lots of ukelele stuff (naturally) but a lot of accessories that I have never seen before like jelly caps for your fingers so if you’re a beginner you’re fingers won’t hurt as much. A very vast selection of ukeleles and you’re even able to take lessons!

The woman I spoke with was very kind and helpful, however the gentleman there was rude and dismissive. After making a purchase I was told to leave the store. I won’t be doing any more business here.

Was looking for a ukulele while in Hawaii, and thought this was a good place to try. Sadly, the staff was rude and literally all of the products are behind the counters so when the staff isn’t being helpful… good luck seeing if the ones you like feel or play nicely. On top of that, the store is tiny. Many better I Keller and music stores on Kauai that I’ve found after stopping here. Nicer people, better prices, and you can actually try a few chords without being hassled. Save your time, these people don’t want your money.

Ho’omana is my favorite thrift srore. great prices and all 1/2 off when you donate one dollar at checkout. Lots of improvements this year too.

Staff was super helpful and friendly. Probably the best thrift shop I’ve ever been too, just because their mission statement is beautiful and prices are really cheap. Got 2 shirts for $3 total including tax. If you give a $1 donation to their charity foundation for disabled people, all T-shirt’s (and I think maybe pants/shorts too) are $1.
They have a lot of antiques and toys too. The only bad thing is that it’s pretty hot in the store when it’s warm outside. Other than that, you should really consider buying from here!! Wonderful store!

I always enjoy going to this thrift store when we’re here. Friendly staff, goid prices, and I always find interesting things here.

Large selection of very reasonably priced items.

Nice people, great stories. Eclectic mix of beachwear, some hawaiiana. Across from mostly dismantled Cocoa Palms.

They have a variety of items, reasonable in price. Staff very helpful and supports a worthy cause.

Couldn’t find the entrance, no signage. Confusing. I would think it doesn’t exist except for the previous review.

Kirk and Tora have been a great compliment to the town of Hanalei. They have a lot of pride in what they do. This is a great place , with a very helpful staff.

This is a beautiful little shop – excellent selection of instruments, great ambiance, and friendly staff. My husband loved the lesson he took here, and he absolutely adores his new instrument. Thank you!

My wife and I had a blast, I highly recommend a class. Learned some basic chords, enough to play a little something.

This is a lovely music shop in Hanalei, my family and I have visited several times, and purchased ukuleles as well as taken intro lessons here. The teachers are fantastic and very helpful. Definitely stop by!

Given the quality of our interactions and experiences in the past I was really surprised by the abrasive and rude nature of one of the employees/manager: Holly. A mistake was made–totally understandable, but she had no interest in helping us sort it out, and when I asked for ideas to remedy their mistake she dismissively told me she needed to help other customers. A quick–“how can we make this better” or “shoot, I’m so sorry could you guys stop in tomorrow so we can figure this out” would have been more than enough. She also referred to Hawaiian’s multiple times throughout her class as lazy (even after another student noted her vibe was rude). I grew up on Oahu, and I understand the laid back culture of the islands, but as a white woman with a whole lot of privilege as the teacher in the class, she could have been a lot more gracious in her assessment of the locals. My hope in writing this is that Holly will be more thoughtful in the future. Aloha!

Friendly staff

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

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

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!

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.