Fairly lousy location. It's very unfortunate that there's no other decent or worthwhile music…read morestores (at least for drummers) in Nanaimo. The drum guy always seems flustered when you talk to him and not very accommodating. You'll be talking to him and then he'll divert his attention to a friend or someone else that's come into the store. They don't really have any acoustic kits set up to sample or preview before purchase. Sucks that there's no other option in Nanaimo and this store doesn't cut it. After having spoken with an acquaintance (drummer) he can also confirm the poor managment

I live in New York City and ordered a last-minute Christmas gift of violin strings for my father…read morewho lives in Qualicum Beach, a good 45 minutes from Nanaimo. I was told that although the store did not have a delivery service, it would make some arrangement. Lo and behold, a young man showed up on Christmas Eve with an attractive gift bag and said, "Merry Christmas from your daughter!" Needless to say, this Canadian expat was extremely impressed with the level of service and kindness of this gesture. Thank you!

After seeing the photos and receiving our complaint message via e-mail, Keith Allison decided to…read morecome to our place to solve the problem himself. The tuning-up task is now complete. It is important to listen to each customer's complaint and try to solve the problem honestly.

I had a terrible experience with Allison Piano recently. I…read moreasked for a complete refinish, and an acoustic refurbishment which they said they would do, but all they did was polish the piano, which I could have done myself, and glue on one small piece of badly-matched veneer. They did replace the keytops as promised, but they replaced the chipped ivorene keys with slippery white plastic instead of with the promised ivorene that was previously on the keyboard. The keys look good, but the feel is slippery and the look is not as nice as the ivorene that was there before. There was a large dent in the front, and they promised they would replace the entire piece of wood. But all they did was badly fill the hole in the front board and then did a very poor job of the finish on top of it, so now it has a very obvious large bumpy mark there, in a different color than the rest of the piano. They promised to work on the sound and key action, and tune it. They said that did this work. However, the keys sounded as dead as the day I requested the work. As well, the keys were all way out of tune. The action was abysmal and when I checked the felts they hadn't even sanded out the grooves, so the keys did not recover as they should. They unhooked the damper pedal and didn't reconnect it. They were supposed to fix the piano bench by replacing the hinge with the proper piano hinge, but they just stuck a wire in the existing hinge. They also actually damaged the bench, it has dents all the way around the top as if they were storing it in some strange way with wires wrapping the top shut and cutting into the wood. They made no attempt to repair the damage. On top of not doing the promised work, they delayed the work constantly. They promised to start work on it within three weeks of the initial estimates, but it took nearly 2 months and several calls before they moved the piano out to work on it. After picking up the piano and saying it would take two weeks and that the work would start in two weeks, the piano didn't get back to me for four months. I would not recommend their services. Just awful. The worst thing was if they had been honest in the first place I might have given them a positive review to say that they were honest that they could not possibly refinish the piano in the way I requested. And then I would have done the work myself or asked someone else to do it. But they led me to believe that they would restore it to top condition just to get the money for doing nothing. Just makes me really sad.

I convinced my wife to visit this store while they hit up a thrift shop . Musician's paradise! A…read morefull-time musician or not it didn't matter; I was in heaven, as they had the usual gear, but also rarities at least for this foreigner (American) like teardrop guitars and the like. The staff were friendly and inviting as we talked music; they even invited me to local jam sessions. A very nice gesture. I'd come here again.