The Juilliard Store

Quaint little store accessed through the hind end of the Julliard music building. It is rare to find such a small, but fully packed store anywhere in NYC anymore. The store sells music themed trinkets as wells music CDs and scores. Some of the younger sales staff get a little loud and overly enthusiastic as they tout their knowledge of music. Otherwise a nice little find.

When we bought
the sheet music for practice. The sales person told us that was what we should use. We asked about the return policy and was told returnable within 14 days. The books turned out to be the wrong and the store wouldn’t do refund or exchange. They insisted that on the receipt it says no refund or exchange for sheet music. So I was supposed to buy the book then read the terms on the receipt and found out that they are not refundable? The salesperson’so answer was not to be relied upon! How oxymoron!!!
Will never buy anything from this store again but order from Internet.

Do they make their own hours? Every time I go by, they’re closed. Google says open until 7. The door says 6, show up at 5:45 to buy a score, it’s closed. Sort it out, guys. I know working sucks, but some of us would like to actually give you money.

A classical pianist’s dream… I love this store. PRactically lived there for a year lol. No complaints… not a one.

Love this store, best place to find sheet music. They also have a good selection of CD’s and DVDs. My son loves the sheet music section, he’s serious about the Piano. The atmosphere is lay back with numerous music lovers and Musicians glancing through these gems. Nothing is better than a brick and mortar store. Sure you can find it cheaper on the internet but we need more stores like this one.

very helpful staff!

Took me some time to find it, but when I did it was well worth it. Every classical music fan kind of place to hang out. You can literally find every music score that you need. I was looking for some transcription of Liszt and thanks to the extremely helpful and friendly staff I was able to find exactly what I needed and ended up paying 15 $ just for that particular piece instead of almost 80 $ for the entire Liszt transcriptions. Could’ve spend there hours and hours more. They also have a great selection of CD’s — all classical of course.

We all know that websites like amazon provide more of a discount for music scores, books, text books and the like. With that being said, this place is essential for those of us who want to journey back to the era of Colony and Patelson’s and browse through scores unhurried and luxuriate in the moment.
You can’t get that online. You take a chance with your purchase and hope it gets to you on time and doesn’t get lost or that the used copy isn’t completely falling apart.
I’ve enjoyed coming here since I was a teen at pre college and continue to love it now.
Side note: they have cool music pens and pencils.

A boutique sized school store that had just what I needed, sheet music. Thank goodness for arts schools with music stores closing every year, that may be the only place to get certain thing beside the internet.

A few months ago, when Colony was closing. Many people began to sob and complain about their loss of a «great music store.» I found myself thinking «You have been paying for overpriced music and a limited selection, when there was a much better store a couple blocks away.
I’ve been frequently this place since high school. I almost want to call it a secret gem, because a lot of my fellow musicians have never been. (How you got this far in life without going, I don’t know)
The selection is huge, and decently priced. It was always ten times cheaper than Colony and ⁸⁄₁₀ times cheaper than order online. Even as a violist, the selection is pretty big. They have beginner books to college level pieces. And they’re often sales and clearances on other nifty stuff.
I will continue to satisfy all my musical needs here. Some what from nostalgia, but mostly due to the great selection. The employees are pretty laid back. I’ve never had a pretentious cashier. They’re pleasant, sometimes a bit slow. But nothing too offensive.

I’ve shopped here a few times to buy books for my classes. As with many other stores in Manhattan, this store crams as much product in its small space as possible. There is a large selection of music and text and I have yet to not find what I was looking for. It’s also a great place to just browse if you’re OK with being asked to get out of the way every few minutes as other customers do the same. Everything there is full priced as is the case with on-​campus book stores, but I think it’s worth the premium to actually see the contents before buying.
It also has a good section of Juilliard merchandise that you can’t find elsewhere such as shirts, water bottles, gifts, etc…
The employees are helpful enough though some of them act like they’d rather be doing something other than working retail. However, I’ve experienced some pretty pretentious customers who make the little shop a bit stuffy.
Bottom line, shop here to get some Juilliard experience and merchandise, but if you know exactly what you need (music/​text wise) and can wait, online will be cheaper.

What’s everyone else here talking about? The sheet music selection here is fantastic! Expensive yes, but the employees here will make sure you get the best deal, if there is one.
Service is fantastic too. An employee went out of his way to call and find a CD at record store downtown because my phone was off. I’m definitely taking all my sheet music needs here and recommend all musicians do the same.

This place reminds me that I need to finish watching the Leonard Bernstein Harvard Lectures.

Don’t let the T-​shirts in the window fool you. The Juilliard Store has the best selection of music scores in New York. They also have a wide range of CDs and DVDs. The staff is friendly and always helpful, whether you encounter them on the phone or in person.
Now if they’d just go back to carrying the International Music Review, I could meet all my musical needs under one roof!

First off, I’ll echo others and say ignore any reviews before 2010 — the store has been completely renovated (in physical location/​appearance, staff, and inventory), and anything you see before that is misleading and not reflective of the current store. Anyway, on to the review…
Staff: I actually think the staff are excellent — yes, they are young, but they are very polite and helpful, and even if they’re not sure what piece of music you’re asking for, they’ll try to look it up or ask someone in the back office for more information. I’ve also dealt with a few different people from the back office, and they’ve all been very helpful and knowledgeable, particularly about sheet music. While I don’t think anyone at the store has an encyclopedic knowledge of sheet music, they seem to have the right resources at their disposal to answer your questions.
Store: There is a fair amount of Juilliard logo-​emblazoned merchandise, but I honestly don’t think it detracts from the quality of the store. It’s a college bookstore in addition to being a sheet music shop, so I don’t really take offense to this. The layout is great, and although the drawers of sheet music are a bit of a drag, I think it’s better than the old store with it’s incredibly over-​stuffed shelves (which would damage the music). Pretty easy to find things.
Inventory: This seems to be getting better and better — they have less junk and more stuff that I’m actually looking for. Also, this is the only place I know that sells the Nico Castel libretti, which is awesome. I haven’t really browsed the recordings much, so I don’t know much of what’s there, but it does seem to be a drastically reduced inventory from the old store. The books selection is good, too, and the prices seem pretty fair on everything.
Overall, I’m glad the Juilliard Store took the direction it did — sometimes I miss the old curmudgeony-​NYer-​feeling of the old store (it had its charms), but I’m glad at least that the new store seems to be doing things right.

The renovation made this a very attractive store, but so much space is given over to T-​shirts that it feels like a souvenir shop in Times Square.
If you’re looking for sheet music, you’ll still find yourself slumped in one of those little stools, several inches from the floor, in a crowded aisle, trying to compare your options. (Feels just like the pre-​renovation trailer.) But at least they *have* the sheet music, probably in several versions, at reasonable price points. So bonus points for existing.
I have to agree with Brian H., in that the young staffers are just not that into the job. They’re nice enough, but not going to go out of their way to give you a hand.

So the renovation is FINALLY complete. After years of tripping and climbing over people in the old store, then a couple more years in a modular trailer with half the inventory, ‘Jailyard’ Bookstore has reopened a block north on 66^th Street, in a bright, stylish, glass enclosed boutique.
There is still plenty of collegiate memorabilia to satisfy any maniacal stage parent, but of primary importance is the greatly expanded sheet music, book and audio/​visual inventory, still the best in the city (even if nothing compares to Patelson’s golden years, may he rest in peace). Sadly, the curmudgeons and schizophrenics who endeared this place have been replaced by fresh faced kids behind the counter. I’m told by insiders that while the former employees were very passionate and knowledgeable about their work, they weren’t in line with the cosmetic face lift the store was getting, and were let go! Truly a shanda, in my opinion.
Yes, you’ll find holes in the stock, and even standard stuff may be hard to find, but unfortunately I think this says more about the current state of music publishing business. With all the great music media retail outlets going down like dominoes (Patelson, Carl Fisher, Tower, T.I.S.), and most business going online due to the lower overhead for a relatively small market size, the fact that one of the nation’s première music schools can still keep a bricks and mortar store in business is quite admirable. If you need it NOW, Juilliard will most likely have it, and at a competitive retail price.

I’m not the musician in the family, my wife is, but I’ve gone with to look for sheet music here. First, disregard any of the old reviews that say that the place is cramped, the new location is complete and open (with extended hours at this time, not sure if it will be permanent). The staff was helpful and addressed our questions satisfactorily.
We were looking for flute music and while it was very promising at first, that excitement was soon calmed. Yes, there’s a good number of different pieces, but they seemed to be bimodal — not advanced enough or huge tomes.
I’m not saying it’s a horrible place, there’s a good selection of music here, just not what we were looking for, so it looks like this won’t be enough to be a new go-​to store for sheet music.

Their renovation seems to have been completed. The store is spacious. The books are displayed in their own section far away from the sweatshirt and other tchotchkes. I showed up on a late Saturday afternoon and was able to quickly find the scores I needed, pay, and leave within 15 minutes.
The book collection was good. For major composers, they carry both Henle and Wiener urtext as well as the ubiquitous Schirmer, plus the occasional Dover etc. And there was a special display of Paderewski editions of Chopin.
The staff was friendly and helpful.
I am looking forward to the opening of their online store (scheduled for Fall 2010) so that I don’t have to trek to NYC to haul back a library.

Another disappointing Sheet music store in NYC. I can’t wait until the new location opens, because the old one was super-​duper-​cramped and staff members were always saying «excuse me, excuse me» to get by to their back office.
They have a decent stock for their size. Often don’t have standard things, but instead will have 4 copies of something unusual and hard to find. Today they didn’t have scores to 2 standard Brahms chamber music works. And here’s the transcript of my conversation today:
Me: Hello, I’m looking for a mini-​score to Brahms’s First String Quartet, in c minor, Op. 51 #1
Her: Okay, let me check and see if we have it. [4 minutes] I don’t see a listing here in the computer. Let me go look on the shelves and check.
Me: Thank you
Her: [4 minutes] Sir, I don’t think I see it, but I see Brahms 1^st Symphony, would that be it?
Me: [Thinking: «no, that involves 80 more people than the piece I was looking for”] No, I was looking for a string quartet. [Thinking: «That would be like a waiter saying, ‘I’m sorry, we’re out of steak tartare, would you like a Caesar salad instead?’ «]
Her: Maybe you should try Patelson’s?
Me: [Thinking: «Argh, not Patelson’s!!!”] Thank you, I did, but they didn’t have it either.
At least she was friendly!
They also affix these magnetic security strips inside the music, to prevent theft I’d imagine, which tear the paper when you try to remove them. Argh!
I’m crossing my fingers for the new location and for more knowledgeable salespeople… Maybe more space will mean better stock?