Jeremy from the piano/keyboard section was very helpful and informative. He gave my husband and I some good advice for my daughter’s piano interests and what items would best suit her. I was impressed by how well organized and clean the store looked. Will definitely go back again, great experience overall.
Always a great experience with L&M. Just purchased the Alesis Strike Pro for my daughter’s 12th birthday. Everyone is very knowledgeable. They also allow you to try out their instruments so that you can make a well informed and test driven decision before purchasing; unlike some places on Queen Street.
First time buying a guitar ever and boy did I have an awesome time buying it. If you are going to buy a guitar and want legendary service go to Dylan Hennessy. He gave me a little bit of everything in my purchase, including history, tunning, case, picks and a great discount !! This guy is awesome !! Thank you Dylan Hennessy for your unbelievably awesome experience !! I will come back to upgrade very soon !
great store good staff
Helpful staff and comfortable atmosphere. I particularly like the choice of music in the RCM collection. What disappointed me was that a couple of the RCM Celebration Series books fell apart within a week of purchasing them.
Friendly staff, good selection of used equipment, but its a little cramped
I went to return my equipment today. I had to carry very heavy lights and there was a huge tall worker there right in front of me. He just stood there and looked at me and didn’t even lift a finger to help. Beside that, he was very rude and unprofessional. I usually go to L&M on Bloor and this was my first time at the Steeles. I will not go back to this store.
Poor service from Drum guy. He didn’t want to help at all. Just pointed and walked away and then chatted on his phone and played with his pony tail the rest of the time I was there. This was my first trip to a Long and McQuade and potentially my last. I have visited a few music and drums stores over the last few weeks and this was the worst service of them all.
Brianne or Brianne is rude, clearly has poor customer service skills and a horrible attitude. Music should be positive no need for that negativity in your store! She’s not a good fit!
2. Mjmusic
Address: 6020 Bathurst St, North York, ON M2R 1Z8, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
Called theses guys up today looking for a Lakota Strap for my clawhammer banjo. Couldn’t find one anywhere else at Lakotas’ “so called dealers”. Rickards had one, I called at 1:39 pm and they shipped it within an hour and a half!!! They provided the tracking numbers for me, they were great to deal with. Good service these days is pretty hard to find let alone GREAT service. My hats off to Rickards and their staff.
Best Banjo’s on the planet.
I bought a Rickard Dobson model about a year ago. I love this banjo! I have played 3 finger style for over 40 years and wanted to try out frailing/clawhammer/drop thumb style. I could not be happier with the tone, quality, and playability of this banjo. I can’t imagine a better quality banjo than this one at any price! Thanks, Bill!
4. Allegro Music
Address: 2043 Avenue Rd, North York, ON M5M 4A7, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
Great place for music lessons. Very nice and knowledgeable staff. Neighbourhood landmark.
Hi I alredy visit your store one time to buy strings and capo. I just want to ask if you have ukulele the chipest one and how much is it. Thanks sory for not calling idont know how to speak good in english.
Very helpful and friendly service!
Great music store! Also, they sell high e strings seperately. Very convenient!
My daughter enjoys her music lessons here.
Not a bad selection! But small compared to its competitors. Cozy feeling inside. Friendly staff.
very rude, not appreciate your business at all. avoid this store.
Worst experience ever. Staff is totally unprofessional. One guy didn’t even understand English. Rude behavior. Only Frank is a go-to-guy. Beware of others.
The guy is a complete prick. He was not helpful and very snippy. He also left a “be back in 5” sign on his door and kept me waiting over 40 mins to which i left so he could have been longer.
5. RMC – Rogers Music Centre
Address: 465 Rogers Rd, York, ON M6M 1A8, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
Absolutely Amazing!!!!!
Both of my kids attend piano lessons at Rogers Music Centre, the staff there are very welcoming, accommodating, and knowledgeable. The piano teacher is very patient with the kids and every lesson he try’s something knew to get the kids engaged. I’m very thankful to have this type of service in our community.
Great store! I went in for a guitar setup today, the owner was really friendly and the guitar looks fantastic!
A nice store with friendly and professional services.
They don’t do returns!
Terrible servivd over the phone
Owner is terrible, got a bad feeling just talking to him. Overpriced products that you can get cheaper at other locations. Place is dirty, you have to call him to come in and open the door. Would be good if he spends more time there cleaning the place as all the instruments have dust and looks unkept. Just don’t go.
6. Cosmo Music – The Musical Instrument Superstore!
Address: 10 Via Renzo Dr, Richmond Hill, ON L4S 0B6, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
Large selection of instruments. Friendly and helpful staff. Bought an acoustic guitar, had second thoughts, so I brought it back. Had no issues exchanging it for one that I liked.
Lovely place, wish I knew about it earlier, bought a digital snake x32 compact and in ears from here for our church in Scarborough, will recommend to friends and family and other organizations, amazing customer service and a large amount of inventory to give you a verity of options to suit your need.
What an incredible place! Great staff and great experience
A little bit disappointed. Ìt wasn’t enough attention to me?!
Many guitar accessories, also scores for different instruments.
Helpful staff and good store hours (This was the only place close by that was open on Saturday after noon).
I don’t like the Violin teacher Galina here. She don’t explain basic things well but losing patients easily to little kid. She don’t know I play a bit violin of my own. That is why even at the very first class, she already showed not happy when I want to stay in the class room… Don’t waste your time and money.
It was ok.
The worst experience in my life trying to buy something. It took my wife 2 days to buy a gift certificate for me. I wish she would not have. I would rather give my by to Long & McQuade of the Arts. They have phone numbers for their stores where anyone can phone. Actually Cosmo don’t even deserve one star
7. Music Lab Ltd
Address: 1 Whitehorse Rd, North York, ON M3J 3A7, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
Recently, I had a Super Balanced Action Silver Selmer Tenor Sax (try saying that fast five times) completely overhauled by Geno at Music Lab. I had bought it at a pawn shop and it needed a lot of work. The results were great. The silver shines like new. The Tenor Selmer sounds like a Selmer should (again, five times). I can even play an in tune lower Bb. The entire sax is easy to play…it’s marvelous … just too marvelous for words.
Good service
8. The Arts Music Store
Address: 274 Eagle St, Newmarket, ON L3Y 1K1, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
I stumbled upon this store in my search for a specific guitar that was in stock and not a floor model. This store has a selection second to none! The staff are knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. I absolutely love my new guitar and I cannot say enough good things about my experience at the Arts Music Store. You guys Rock!
I called up this store several times before I came. Julian was a huge help. Showed up and found the guitar I was looking for right away. Great staff, great selection, great guitars. Could not ask for a better experience. Drove an hour and a half to get there and glad i did. Could not be happier!
Very lucky to have found Arts Music Store on internet. Great price, great service, rapid shipping and my guitar was very well protected in the shipping box. Would give 10 stars, but 5 is the max! 🙂
I only ever order from these guys online, but their service is top notch. I’ve never had an issue. They ship promptly and my stuff has always arrived well packaged and on time.
Good place, have spent thousands and thousands there over the years. From my basses, guitars , drums, Djembe, pedals, amps etc almost always get them here. Have had exceptional service from Daryl before and Ryan as well. Thanks gentlemen!
Large parking lot, easily accessible. The building from the outside looks bright and artsy.
For the first time in my 35 years of visiting music stores, this store was the only place to yank a guitar out of my hands that I was going to buy and say, “we just sold this guitar over the phone”. I drove an hour to get that guitar as a Christmas present for my kid. There are too many other quality stores around to waste your time here. The proper process would have been to sell the guitar to me as it was physically already in my hands and order another for someone whom is simply browsing the web. It’s simply a small town store that doesn’t know what they are doing. I will never be back.
Very disappointed with the recent service from The Arts. Was my go to music store for the past 10 years as they had exceptional service and a great selection of gear. Sadly, this is no longer the case. Will be shopping elsewhere.
0 stars for a business that sells what they don’t have in stock and actually can’t deliver what’s promissed and leave the customer frustrated and unsatisfied.
9. Just Drums
Address: 137 Willowdale Ave, North York, ON M2N 4Y3, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
My son has been taking lessons for quite a few months now and has been thoroughly enjoying it. Thanks!
First time at the store, was greeted and welcomed by Grant. Awesome dislplay of kits from low end to high end.
Very helpful, knowledgable and attentive to our needs even though he knew we were only browsing.
Told him I was interested in a kit made to order, no pressure quoted me a a good price.
Although I never placed the order then, I will certainly do so at that store in the New Year.
Thanks to Grant for making us fell welcome in Just Drums!
Good selection of drumming equipment.
Pat was super helpful on the phone, and Mike expertly fixed a small broken grommet on the throw-off of my snare. The repair was done quick, was very low cost, and Mike even restrung the snare wires alongside a quick tune up. Knowledgeable as well. If you need anything repaired, JD can do it for you.
Free snare tune ups!
Knowledgeable staff and good selection of drumming equipment…
Not everything available is in stock but most items are. Prices are equivalent to competitors, but they may have some specials on select items at certain times.
Managers seem a little annoyed with answering questions, but sales staff are great.
They didn’t discuss a return policy but would like to know.
The day I visited the staff was friendly and the store had great selection. Having driven two hours, and removed the seats in my van, my intention was to try out and buy a new kit and additional hardware. I was surprised and disappointed to learn of their unusual music store policy of not permitting drum kit testing. While I fully support their freedom to make whatever policies they wish, I think it would be appropriate to highlight such an usual policy on their website just to set correct expectations. I am not aware of any music store that does not want to keep instruments in near new condition for purchase by its customers. I exercised my freedom and went to another store that allowed the opportunity to test a kit before purchase. For me, that’s the approach that worked for me given the expense of the kit, additional hardware and cases.
Didn’t feel the love when we walked it, the clerk appeared to want to get rid of us as quickly as possible.
Amazing that there are reviews on here where people had positive experiences at this place. The service is nothing short of terrible. I’ve probably been in about 15 times since the early 90s and I regret it every time.
The last time I visited I was looking for a new throne. The guy behind the counter was speaking very rudely to customer on the phone while I sat on virtually every throne in the store. I was actually after a Roc-n-Soc so I thought I’d ask if they could order one since I didn’t see one on the floor. So at the end of the conversation the guy says in to the phone “I’ve gotta go, there’s a customer here”. So I’m thinking he’s going to help me. Wrong, he proceeds to walk in to the back room and blurts out “you’ll never guess what this guy just said to me on the phone”. So of course I walked out. This was and will be my last visit to this store.
I don’t know who this mystery “Dave” guy is. But every time I go I get some 18 year old kid who treats me like an idiot even though I’ve been playing longer than they’ve been alive.
10. Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Address: 863 Milner Ave, Toronto, ON M1B 5N6, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
Long time customer. Always pleased with the level of customer service I have received here.
Decent prices with a vast selection of instruments and equipment. I just wish the rental process didn’t take that long and wasn’t such a tedious process. I felt like I was adopting a child rather than renting speakers for a day. But I guess it’s their way of ensuring their products are in good hands.
Looks like they are just setting up the synth section with more selection to play in store, looking forward to hours of bleepblopping. WARNING: this is a relationship killer
Was a good experience when I went there some years ago looking go back and rekindle the experience…
Personally I don’t feel shopping there anymore and prefer to go to Steve’s Music. Newer met some one so mean to costumers as ADAM. I’m so glad google has ratting system so such people don’t get away with it. After spending $1250 on guitar and headphone this guy was to cheap to give me $4 off. At least he could say sorry we can’t do that but what he did is look at us and said NO. Are discounts based on some kind of racial profiling? Really makes me not wanna shop there anymore. I will make sure all my friends know about what kind of people work there when no body is watching them. Also they nothing but chat at the counter and laugh when your trying out the guitar. One lady in particular is doing this like a pro. Really fake laugh while your playing a guitar. Seriously who puts this people in charge is not clear to me. Also was buying headphones and this younger guy sells me the cheapest headphones when I’m asking him to give me the best one. I returned the next day and LIAM help me like a PRO. and I bought DT 990 PRO open back headphones (( that’s what I call customer services)) also the other younger guy was more busy putting headphones back on the rack then helping me answer some questions about drum machine. I end up buying MPC ONE golden addition $1000 in Steve’s music since this guy just concluded sorry we don’t have any and that was it. LOL. I’m sure if the manager would be there this would not happen. Please manage this story properly since is one the best stores near by for musical instruments. Thank you.
The girl who was working there and was supposed to help us knew nothing. I specifically asked her about the price of the guitar rental, but she had No idea. Her boss assumed that I should be an expert on guitars and know their price from the top of my head! Newsflash idiots: I’m no expert, that’s why I asked for your help, and why don’t you have a frickin price tag on your products!?? Maybe so you can ask for a different price from everyone?
I love this store.
11. Remenyi House Of Music
Address: 109 Vanderhoof Ave Suite 15, Toronto, ON M4G 2H7, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
The best variety of musical instruments I have ever seen.
Great staff, what a store. Service is too shelf and extremely knowledgeable. Had my guitar lowered and restrung, perfect.
Friendly staff
Great place for musical instruments, customer service was good.
Always thought that this place only sold pianos. But went in because I was in the nabourhood and decided to look for some sheet music. Boy was I wrong about this particular place.
For a relatively midsize store they have quite a selection of materials and instruments.
Staff is helpful, knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Quite a change from your usual music shop.
Truly a House of Music.
Great store!
Knowledgeable staff but on the pricier side.
Employees are rude, and condescending, and strings are so old and brittle the loop ends broke after taking them out of the package, before even putting them on the instrument. Go to a music shop run by musicians instead, not just extremely rude salespeople that couldn’t care less.
Sucks
Rude, unhelpful, and condescending. You sell rock n roll sheet music, so don’t look down on the people who like that stuff. More than happy to buy elsewhere.
12. Steve’s Music Store
Address: 415 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2A5, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
The service is good. The attendant are so friendly.
Se siente la historia de la música
All that a music store should be and more… lots of memories over the years…
nice and helpful staff. There is a wide range of options for Instruments and other accessories
It’s okay, a fair amount of most things you’d need.
Good variety on instruments and brands. You can try the guitars in a room full of amps
I’ve been going to Steve’s music since I was a teenager. But unfortunately it’s really gone down hill. The staff is really rude. I brought my guitar in for tune up, it cost me $150… I got home to discover the guy broke my tone knob and it was permanently on. Even at checkout, they were swearing about their colleagues and visibly frustrated that I was trying to purchase something. It’s real bummer, Steve’s has been so significant to the music community in Toronto.
Not a lot of choise. Employees didnt greet. And ignored me. Looked very cool though.
Stores like this are the reason people are intimidated by music stores. Staff is grumpy and rude. Better to head to Long and Mcquade on Bloor!
13. Wilson Music Services
Address: 750 Lowell Ave, Newmarket, ON L3Y 1T5, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
For my harmonicas, repair work, turnaround time, knowledge of the instrument, repair pricing has always been excellent. Great customer service.
Professional service and repair for Harmonica’s
Jeff Wilson has looked after all my harmonica needs for over 20 years. As a Hohner trained technician he is the go-to person for repairs and advice as well as purchasing. And he checks and adjusts every new harp before you take it home.
Fun fact – The person who owns it, has in fact worked in Honor Company in Germany!! He also knows quite a lot about harmonicas.
I belong to the Niagara Reeds Harmonica Orchestra.
Some of my peers have used this service for harmonica repair and have nothing but praise for the service and pricing. I will be calling them.
14. Strings, Bows & More
Address: please give us a call before coming, 4383 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON M3H 3P8, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
I really love it. Found my first accordion and started learning. Friendly people and very nice atmosphere
If you’re looking for a new or used accordion, don’t bother looking anywhere else. It is a veritable Shangri-La for all things accordion. I’ve never seen so many accordions in one place. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable. I purchased an entry level Hohner button-style accordion which ran me in the mid-$800 range but they have some beautiful accordions for people looking for something in a higher price range. The store offered a one year guarantee ony instrument. The store was a little hard to access because of road construction but definitely worth visiting.
It’s a treasure to have an accordion shop in Toronto. Not every city gets that
Freandly services knowledgeable people.
Good place and knowledgeable
cool place
16. Sunrise Records
Address: 17600 Yonge St, Newmarket, ON L3Y 4Z1, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
Thank God your still around…keep up the good work…..we still need to be able to see, touch and feel the music in an offline environment
This is a good store for nostalgia. Surprised old music stores still exist. I think a good model for a modern music store world be more like an Apple Store, with an emphasis on technology, data, and connectivity over vinyl and spinning discs.
Good to see vinyl still being sold
Nice place with lots of vinyls. I wish they will also have audio cassets.
Just browsing. I thought the prices were a little high. Fairly good selection.
Music stores just aren’t what they used to be…thats for sure. Not impressed at all. Everything overpriced and they had barely any inventory. I miss Sam the record man
No Coheed & Cambria. No Mothica. Gotta use Amazon I guess…
So I went to buy a figure and the price that was on it was wrong… every other store will honor that price but not this place.. the store manager is the worst. I disliked her when she worked at HMV and she’s just as bad here I don’t even shop here most of the time cause she’s so horrible.
17. Music of May Ltd.
Address: 63 Silver Star Blvd D3, Scarborough, ON M1V 5E5, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
I use music of May to buy strings for my Chinese instrument. They have them at a reasonable price so I don’t have to shop online. I also buy pics when I break them. It’s rather strange that people are giving this place low reviews because they can’t find it. Seems to me Google Maps finds it just fine so how can they post a review on Google and not find it
专业！热情！服务态度特别特别好！乐器品种多样！
One of the rare finds for Chinese music instruments. I actually wanted to buy a piano which they no longer carry, but the owner May, with her extensive musical knowledge (she graduated from the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing China) explained what I should look for when purchasing a piano, gave me recommendations, and helped me negotiate a good price from the seller. She plays many instruments herself and been in this industry for years – I trust her that for any musical instrument they carry, I can get qualify and service if I need to.
My Kmise MI3267 has some problems, can you give me some suggestion where someone can fix it for me? Thank you.
some low end cheap erhu is way over priced.
Current owner provides terrible service. I miss the old man who used to own this store. I never visits this store any more.
18. Long & McQuade Musical Instruments
Address: 9833 Markham Rd, Markham, ON L6E 0E5, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
The guitar is really good! And the lesson , teacher is really good too!
Been going to this store for years and always get good friendly, knowledgeable staff assisting me with honest no nonesense opinions on gear. Never trying to upsell me on equipment. They leave me to browse the store without hassle but are always available to assist. Great selection in all departments. I highly recommend this store.
Incredible service and lovely staff!
*** Update***So after the incident listed below, I was contacted by GM of that Long & Mcquade. He was very apologetic and understanding. He offered to help me out with whatever I needed. I asked him to order in the bass guitar that I wanted. Today, I went to the store and picked up the bass guitar. I met with the GM and he was very nice. We chatted a bit and I did notice the staff was more attentive this time around. I was greeted upon entering the store. The GM had won me back as a customer. ***
Every time I come to this location, no one acknowledges me. Last week, I was looking at a bass guitar and was definitely going to buy it even though it was over my budget. No sales rep came to my aid. I walked around the store 3 times, still no sales rep acknowledge me and I see them standing around in their corners talking. They looked so busy chatting and avoiding eye contact with me. So I didn’t end up buying anything. This happened a couples months ago as well, I thought I was having a bad day then but last week kinda confirmed it for me.
Decent store but lacking some basics. Pretty good selection of instruments.
Great customer service and rental prices. Only downside is that you need to pay for an extra day if they are closed for holiday.
Drove over an hour to get to the Markham location because they had put something on hold for me only to find out they were unexpectdidly closed. The store manager was very rude to me and told me he didn’t care about my situation or anything I had to say and that I needed to drive another 45min in the opposite direction to go to another location that may or may not have the item I was looking for.
Tried to ask if there was a way to pay for it online and have someone leave it outside the door for me since I had already driven over an hour to get to the store and he proceeded to shut the door in my face and walk away.
I get that you obviously have some sort of emergency and need to close but I would have expected a store manager to be a little more understanding and polite when speaking with me and trying to resolve my situation as well.
Needless to say I will not be bringing my business to long and mcquade again after being treated and spoken to so poorly. I could drive half the amount of time and go to cosmo and get better treatment. I’ve always come to long and mcquade because of their customer service and selection, I specifically drive over an hour to shop here for that reason but today was just not acceptable and no matter what the circumstances are no customer should ever be treated and spoken to the way I was.
Bought 3 guitars in less than 9 months at 3 different locations
The last location is the last Period
Purchased very expensive Taylor Guitar
No Manuals
No Box
Electronics don’t work and it’s best to say no more
At first no one could find this items all the sudden it appears
They open another box to put this one snd doesn’t correspond
Steve’s Cosmo even Amazon
Same price anyways better customer service
My personal experience with this chain of music stores no issues with others
this isnt my rl name but srsly I went there for a month for violin, and the violin teacher was rlly sassy and kinda rude in my opinion. Plus, I PLAYED THE SAME NOTE OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR A MONTH. WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. ARCADIA IS WAY BETTER, IM ON MY 3RD LESSON AND I CAN PLAY A SONG. edit: it’s been a couple years and I’m still at Arcadia, I’m very pleased with my experience there as my teacher actually gets on with the lesson and helps me with learning along the way.
19. Mostly Music Backline
Address: 119 Ronald Ave, York, ON M6B 3X4, Canada , York , Ontario , Canada
The staff at the rentals section was very friendly and hapyp to help an out of town artist. They also helped provided options for a problem I was having.
Love this store since the first day moment I stepped in.
Salesreps are knowledgeable and will go out of their way to get what you need.
And after purchase serve is even better. BravoL&M.
Very affordable rentals. Very courteous staff. 5 stars.
Good selection, knowledgeable and polite staff, however its a big chain shop with standard prices so don’t expect much in terms of discounts.
Only thing if hold against them is the guitar repair dept, if youre going to take a guitar or bass to get repaired you’re better off going somewhere else. If your instrument wasnt bought and warranted at L&M expect to be either charged high prices depending on the work (in my experience wiring), or just not really helped at all. I would say their dept is at least good for getting certain replacement parts (I.e nuts and switches) that you’d normally have to wait ages on amazon to get and validate so its not all bad.
Very helpful staff:) great products
Expensive but they have everything
These guys ripped me off sooo bad when i was younger. I wouldent even consider their name when recommending a store.
The skin head dude in the electric guitar dept is rude, stay away from him.
Salespeople wouldn’t even look me in the eye. I’ll go to Steve’s from now on.
