The Enchanted Harp

I have quite a bit of experience with this store. There are three generations of extremely talented musicians in this family. Ironically, I have been taking violin lessons from the store owner. His price is extremely reasonable and I have never met an individual that knows as much about the violin as he does. He and his sister work and teach at the store and they are friendly, courteous, incredibly professional, and kind. They care about music and people. You will not know them for long without recognizing the years of experience, in depth knowledge, and absolute passion they have for the instruments they master. The talent they have and ability to teach that talent to others in a way they understand is unable to be compared, in my opinion. Six months ago I started lessons with the violin and it is the very first instrument I have ever taken up; I can already play, without hesitation, many pieces set in front of me. I guarantee you I am not simply a «talented» learner, there is a teacher at this store that cares enough to teach and mold musicians well. I am looking forward to taking many years of lessons there. After violin, I will move on to harp, and from there, perhaps I will dive into one of the many other instruments of which they offer lessons. I have read a poor review and let me just say that if the store had known the trouble they had with a bad set of strings, they would have helped to make it right. These people are absolutely fantastic and masters in their field; however, they cannot help if they do not know there is a problem. I wish there were more than five stars as an option, the employees of The Enchanted Harp are phenomenal!

I’ve been to this store three times. The first time was great, and I would rate that visit as 5 stars. The second visit, I would give 0 stars, and the third visit, I would give 1 star.
Quick summary: the owners are sometimes friendly, sometimes not. Do not sell your harp through them — it is a rip off. And DO NOT BUY STRINGS FROM THEM. That being said, they do have a large selection of sheet music which is nice, and they have many harps (both lever and pedal, and both new and used) to choose from.
The first time I visited, one of the store owners (male) was very helpful. Answered any and every question I had, and offered me great advice. Although it would be better business for him to push me to buy one of the harps in his store, he gave me great pointers of things to look for in buying a used harp elsewhere, too. The music selection at the store is great, and they also carry the Harp Column magazine. I already have a subscription, but it’s nice to know it’s there. I bought some sheet music to give him some business after he was so helpful, even though I ended up not buying a harp there.
The second time I visited was a few years later, the same store owner (male) behaved strangely. He came off as curt and arrogant. I was inquiring about selling my used harp through his store when I upgraded to a different harp. I ended up selling elsewhere because I didn’t like how I was treated, but just beware — they take 30% of the profit if you sell through them, whether that’s $ 600, or $ 8,000… just to keep your harp sitting in their store.
The third time I returned was earlier this year (January or February). This time it was the female store owner and their son who helped me. They were very friendly. I needed to buy some new strings, and rather than ordering them online, paying shipping, and waiting a week to get them, I figured it would be quicker to go to this store. I don’t know if their strings are old, or if they are knowingly selling bad strings, but 80% of the strings I bought from them have broken since then, while only one or two of the strings I ordered online have broken. This store only offers the more expensive brand, too — Bow Brand. They’re supposed to be higher quality than the Burgundy brand strings I usually buy (and they ended up costing me an extra $ 50!). But the Burgundy strings from online haven’t been breaking, while these Bow Brand strings have been snapping every other week… Something is wrong with the strings they’re selling.
Update: it is now August, and every single string I had bought from them has broken, without fail. I paid $ 160, and not a single one of the strings I bought from them lasted 6 months. Not one. The strings I ordered online from a reliable string seller have all been fine.