Portland Music Company

Was looking for a child’s Remo drum. They didn’t have it but the staff was friendly and helpful in pointing me in the right direction.

We were visiting from Bay area and San Diego. One of us plays in a growing progressive band in SF. We wanted to check out amps. Our experience was consistent with all of the reviews that describe absolutely lousy, disinterested, _​suspicious_​personnel. We felt like 2^nd class citizens the way our every move was monitored, and the way my questions were answered with what felt like disdain. Wait, do you people sell things, or are you just taking up air? Do I look like someone you dislike? I have been playing for decades and lived in many places. Our experience in this store was the worst I’ve had to date in any music store, anywhere. It’s not a store for musicians. Yeah, a lot of inventory, but no one in the store. And the personnel were rude, impersonal, and could give a rip about a sale.
We left because the vibe was so unfriendly. We went directly over to Artichoke music. In no time, the help had us jamming and playing and talking about music. When asked if we could try stuff, they looked at us like, «Are you kidding? Yeah, man!»
.25 stars for passable oxygen within the establishment.

They were fairly nice. The store was small and only had guitars no base guitars or drums. Prices fair.

The staff were helpful on the phone. Parking was sufficient. Greeted at the door. Purchased a yeti microphone reasonably price. Had a great experience. Would definitly go back.

Wow! Talk about music porn! The place is chockablock with instruments, amps, etc.
I see a lot of bad reviews here, but I can only speak to my experience today. I dropped in just to take a look and hopefully talk to somebody knowledgeable about guitars, as I’m a total amateur. The guy at the front directed me to the youngish guy at the back, telling me «that’s our guitar guy». I explained my situation and he immediately directed my attention to some low-​to-​midrange priced Fender strats that were on their used guitar display. He explained what to look at, and what was right with the guitars, and that he had personally tuned them up for resale. I ended up buying the USA-​made strat, which came with a hard case and an extra set of pickups. He also threw in a couple extra sets of strings and a vibrato arm. I also had him show me some acoustic guitars; he was very patient and discussed different makes/​models with me.
I’ll definitely go back when I’m ready to buy an acoustic.

Amazing customer service! I called because my son’s cello was broken and not having any musical background I didn’t know where to turn for help. Richard was amazing he bent over backwards to help us out! They are more than fair and I trust their advice and work. Mark my words «I’ll be back!»

We have been on a hunt for guitars and decided to check out Portland Music Company.
Upon entering we weren’t greeted by any of the staff members. The store did have a weird vibe. We went to the back to look at guitars and found a nice custom made guitar from the 80s or so… I pulled it down and wanted to play it through an amp and waited a long time to get any attention from a staff member. Finally someone came and gave me a cable. After playing it… we decided that we were interested and brought it up to the front. Since the guitar was on consignment, and quite expensive… we asked if they could call the owner to make an offer. He refused to call the owner and wouldn’t cooperate. He said the owner would never take an offer and began to seem like he didn’t want to be bothered. It’s as if he didn’t even want to make a sale.
Anyway…after a while of trying to get him to call… we decided to just forget about the guitar. Oh well.
He lost a sale and a customer
Only reason for 2 stars is the nice selection of equipment they have

great place. good mix of used and new guitars amps and effects. prices on used gear are pretty good! a very knowledgeable fellow talked me out of buying something there that I was interested in, and recommended something else that they don’t even carry. I saved $ 80 by not buying the thing when other salespeople may have just gone through with it.

Great customer service. I went back there twice in one day to get new strings, picks, a cable and an adapter for my iPhone. I will be back for sure. I give them a out of a.

Not a great experience here. We were ignored by the staff even though there were no other customers in the store. It was 40 minutes before closing and most of the employees were behind the counter hanging out. One guy was playing keyboards. Once I approached a staff member and made an offer on a guitar they were quick to shoot it down and would not negotiate enough on the price. The guy acted like he was doing me a huge favor by agreeing to include a cheap gig bag with a $ 900 guitar.
Unfortunately, I ended up having to go to Guitar Center to get the guitar. They gave me $ 150 bucks off the sticker price and included a good quality hard case.
I would have given only one star but I liked the guitar and amp selection.
I would shop here again if they could improve their customer service and do more to make their customers feel welcome.
I may have even paid the extra $ 50 bucks for the guitar if they would have approached me, asked if I needed help and acted like they were Interested in making a deal. They did none of the above so they lost a big sale.

[A fishbowl full of cheap plastic picks imprinted with the store’s logo sits on the counter. No sign or price tag. Older Sales Guy (OSG) is hovering nearby.]
Me: Are these free?
OSG: [Warningly] You betcha. A *couple* of them are.
I must hand it to OSG, he sniffed me out; I was about to grab the entire bowl, make a mad dash for the door, and then sell them for their weight in gold at the skate park around the corner. My GF and her sister were, of course, shocked by the OSG’s behavior, but they weren’t as perceptive as he was to spot my bulk-​plastic-​pick thieving tendencies.
The pain of being found out for the criminal I was, though, was soothed by the validation I received: just 15 minutes earlier before arriving I’d told my GF, «they have a couple interesting basses, but the sales people are jerks, *especially* this one guy. Are you sure you want to go?» Thumbs up for proving me right to my girlfriend.
Two weeks earlier, see, I had come in to the store, had seen a good selection of basses, and asked if they offer layaway. Although I was addressing a friendly youngish guy behind the counter, OSG overheard and jumped to the task. He interupted us with a beautifully ugly growl directed to my conversation partner, «No. No layaways anymore.» I was impressed by his ability to avoid any recognition of my presence as well as to imply something illegitimate about my request.
And finally, kudos to the guitar/​bass salesman today who was defeating distant bot armies from the store computer terminal. I assume that’s what he was doing because he was too occupied to acknowledge us as we walked past and thanked him on our way out. I know the computer work was important because he was too distracted to properly tighten a loose tone knob on the bass we wanted to buy. (Red Ibanez, on sale $ 239.) Plugging it back in to an SWR amp 10X the price of bass, a very bad short in the pot was immediately evident. Lol! That’ll be a surprise for the lucky buyer if they don’t test that knob first.
One star.

The employees here and at the Broadway store tend to have the old-​fashioned, unpleasant music-​store attitude. The «I know so much more than you, and don’t touch anything unless you have put a down payment on it, and don’t dare ask for a discount» attitude. That attitude, blessedly, has disappeared from many music stores in recent decades, in favor of a friendly-​hipster vibe. But Portland Music retains more than a touch of it.
On the other hand, they do give away a $ 100 gift certificate every month, and the drawing is on the level, folks — I won it, and I’m not an insider or even a regular customer. So do fill out that entry form when you’re there!
And also, I went in looking for a product, and showed them an ad from an online dealer, and Portland Music matched the price without any haggling.
So maybe the ‘tude is just on the surface, and they are friendly, helpful guys and gals once you get to know them.

We (my wife and I) went to Portland Music Company to find out if they had any good options for a PA system to rent or buy for our wedding. We originally were thinking buying a very basic model made as much sense as renting, since there are some very cheap models on the market, and we would be able to use it again later for BBQs and whatnot.
Q was the associate that came over to help us out and he was great. He explained really well what we would be getting if we bought a cheap model (I don’t generally like having salespeople explain things to me that I think I already know, but in this case it was very informative, he didn’t treat us like dummies), and also the benefits of renting a larger and more expensive model. They had a great rental rate for a two speaker system with mixer, stands, and mic, so we ended up going with that. We were glad we did.
It wasn’t super easy to set up, but we got it figured it out. They did offer to show us how, but of course we wanted to be adventurous. Once we learned the ins and outs of the mixer controls, we had a PA and music playing system the likes of which had never been seen. Our venue had a heartbeat! It served its purpose beautifully and my wife and I commented to each other throughout the night how glad we were that we had chosen the rental gear.
Thanks Q for treating us well and making our wedding sound a success!
Additionally, if you are weighing the pros and cons of hiring a DJ for your wedding or DIYing it, you can totally DIY it and make it sound great. Just pick some good dancey tunes and make sure you have a good PA system (go see Q!).

I was a little cautious after reading some of the reviews, but I had a great experience when I went there looking for mics and an audio interface. I was greeted right away and sent over to Eric who was very knowledgeable and suggested some products after I told him my application (small acoustic ensembles).
Prices are the same at Guitar Center, but I’d much rather buy here.

I’m not sure what all the bad rap is about here, but it seems like one bad employee is driving down Unilocal reviews. That being said, I didn’t get that employee on my trip here.
I called inquiring about a GK-​3 pickup from Roland, and the employee who helped me (wish I could remember his name) totally gave me the low down and set me up to jam. He knew I was in there only to check it out, and didn’t try to sell me anything or bother me while I was checking out the equipment for over an hour.
The older gentleman I bought some strings from at the front was nice too. I really can’t complain.

I have purchased several thousand dollars worth of equipment at Portland Music Company over the years for two nonprofit music schools that I work /​worked for (Ethos Music Center and the Youth Music Project). I have always found them to be very helpful and interested in getting us the best prices on equipment. I also like that they are a locally owned business. I’m looking forward to making more purchases with them in the future.
Charles

I’ve bought many instruments and amps here over the years, as well as had them sell my old ones for me, the store has been great. Doug, Rob, Matt, and all of them are very professional. A pleasure to deal with.

Perhaps I should have read the reviews before going in to this place. Nevertheless, I did go just for browsing.
I went because I wanted to see what kind of headphone selection they had that I could actually try on. I walked in and the place is very dark… the kind of dark when a store is about to close. A man asked me what I had come to the store for and explained.
He said «oh yes, we have a lot that you can try on. what are you looking for?». I have a small head and finding a pair of headphones that actually fit my little noggin while also providing amazing sound was important to me. Having said that, I had a difficult time finding any in Portland that weren’t too big.
So we proceed to the large amount of headphones that they had to try on… which was really only 3 pairs. And the brands/​models that they carry are not that good. I did my research before going to any stores. Yeah, big selection, buddy.
I was also told by this man that I shouldn’t be looking for headphones that fit as much as a pair that sound good. Um ok whatever dude.
There were a few other things that annoyed me by this sales person and I really just wanted to leave. I won’t be going back there ever again.

I love Music, and I love playing different instruments, so this is a great place to go! And I’ve had great experiences here.
6 years ago I bought my own Fender Bass and amp here. The sales person was super friendly and wanted to help me get the right Bass. He gave me everything I would need for my Bass and more! They truly want to help people get the perfect instrument and accessories. Everyone is knowledgeable and very helpful
Whenever I get another instrument I will be coming here to get it. I love it here.

I recently spent some time with Portland Music Co (PMC). I’m an acoustic player and had a under bridge pick up installed a few years ago. This has allowed me to use a digital loop station (Boss RC20) and, if you’ll pardon the expression, play with myself. The loop station has resulted in much improved soloing by yours truly and it’s reached the point where I want to capture some of the Bob on Bob musical action. There’s no way to do this with loop station.
With the advances in USB audio interfaces over the years I decided it was time to go in and have a talk with someone who knew WTF they were talking about. A short ride on The Google found me at PMC and after a lovely chat with the acoustic folks on Broadway, wound up at the MLK branch talking to Eric. We spoke for at least 45 minutes about exactly what I played, what I wanted to do, etc. He suggested a new product by Yamaha (the Audiogram), I left to do some research, went back the next day, and they were sold out. He took my name, called me when they were in and the little unit (no jokes) is now in my «home recording studio» accepting tracks, mixing, converting to .wav files, the works!
Everyone I spoke to was helpful. The price matched what I could find on the web. It was as pleasant an experience as could be expected. They have a nice collection of old Gibson F-​hole acoustics on the wall. Apparently (speaking to Andrew C.) Gibson won’t let them sell guitars unless Gibson gets 55% of the wall space so, you can’t hold that against them.