Village Music is one of those rare, old-school gems that's getting harder and harder to find. The moment you walk in, you feel that true family-run, mom-and-pop music shop vibe -- knowledgeable, friendly, and genuinely passionate about music. They've got loads of vintage equipment, guitars, amps, and gear that you just don't see in big-box stores. If you're into classic tones and retro pieces, this place is a dream to browse. The vinyl selection is especially impressive -- a solid mix of classic rock, jazz, blues, and deep cuts that make crate-digging actually fun. You can tell real care goes into curating what's on the shelves. Bonus points for the location -- it's walking distance to the village, so it's easy to make this a stop while you're out exploring. Whether you're a serious musician, a vinyl collector, or just someone who appreciates a true old-school music store, Village Music is absolutely worth the visit. Highly recommend supporting this local staple! read more

Village Music - Vinyl Records Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

See all

Such a rare gem in an area filled with ice cream and gift shops. I did not expect the selection to be this good. Numerous jazz from Bob James, Ramsey Lewis to rare Miles! If it wasn't for the family outing, I would have stepped out with more records. The owners wife (I believe) was super kind and joked with me when i mentioned her how awesome the jazz selection was. read more

The old man who works here is fried and rude. Definitely seemed drunk won't come back, also the new location has potential people working it are just unbearable and unwelcoming. read more

It's very unorganized and the products look old and damaged. Good place to look around the vinyls selection is huge but with the condition of the store it's difficult to trust the quality of the vinyls. read more

Village Music - Vinyl Records Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

I visited this store recently with genuine interest in purchasing a guitar. When we asked a staff member if we could see one of the guitars, he refused and told us we "looked like" we weren't going to buy it. We were given no other reason. We were ready to make a purchase and were turned away based on how we looked -- nothing else. This kind of treatment is unacceptable and I would not recommend this store to anyone. We took our business elsewhere. read more

The new location may be a bit smaller but the heart and look of it is so nice, I'm not sure what the bad reviews are all about, if you're looking for an under the radar spot to buy some records, cd's and others absolutely check this place out. Jonesey the owner is so knowledgeable and gives you that small town business owner charm read more

Empty for a reason. Bad vibes the moment you walk in. Girlfriend was checking out albums, I brought a ukelele to her with the intention of buying. The staff barks at me that I can only play the ukelele on the other half of the place (it's small and empty anyway...) and only on one chair. I leave a review on Google and they delete it, but not before replying with "Sorry you feel that way. Usually the customers set the mood." Umm, you were in a bad mood in the first place? So I can't try out your instrument except on this specific chair? Do you have to be so anal about it? Do you have to be so bitter and condescending out the gate? And then you tell us "the customer sets the mood." Wow. No professionalism whatsoever. It's no wonder your store is sad and empty. I've attached the photo of the petty review reply, before you deleted it, by the way.​​ read more

Village Music - Petty review reply before they deleted it. Just goes to show the type of person the owner is. - Vinyl Records Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

The husband and wife that own this music shop act like they have never had a decent social interaction with another human in their life. They are so disrespectful and rude and truly do not understand what customer service is. I love music and I've been a musician for quite some time and they talked down to me like I picked up my very first guitar in their shop. Do not go here read more

Way overpriced low quality guitars, cant touch anything without assistance. Overall infuriating experience

My experience with this place sucked The owner here did not treat me with respect and when i asked to try out a guitar He immediately asked me if i was gonna buy it and if i wasnt gonna i cant play it. Btw Im only 14 and he started telling my mom a whole bunch of stuff like he was saying i was gonna break it and asked my mom if i broke would she pay for it.Worst guitar store ever do not come here if your looking to buy ANYTHING for your guitar. read more

Owners are awful. Just wanted to buy a couple records and stickers they have. They sell stickers like "make America Grateful Dead again" which I wanted to purchase and the female owner starts going on a political rant. I just wanted to pay for my stuff and leave and she started making terrible remarks about Obama. Why? I didn't bring up politics at all. DO NOT SUPPORT this business. I wish I would have checked reviews before going in. read more

Great service, staff were super helpful and friendly. Would recommend if in the area.

HORRIBLE customer service. The store seemed dirty and unorganized, the signs everywhere made it look tacky and cheap. I was reading the reviews prior to mine and it seems like the owner likes to respond and continue the verbal harassment to who could've been his potential customers through here as well. Do your self a favor and don't shop here. Thank God for yelp where people can leave REAL reviews exposing shitty businesses like this one. :) read more

I had a nice lunch at Oakside and decided after to walk to the music shop to grab a new tuner for my guitar. The owner Steven Jones, helped me pick one out when out of nowhere he starts a rant about how he on purpose was homophobic towards customers who didn't fit his idea of gender. He states how he kept calling the customer "dude". The customer asked several times to not be called that. Then Steven asks this customer: "WELL YOU'RE PACKING AREN'T YOU???" Insinuating this person has a penis. He continued by telling me how men are supposed to be men and women supposed to be women. He goes on about not wanting children to learn about gender. I refused my business and told him the f**k off and explained that what is in people's pants is fully 100% not his motherf*cking business. Please don't give this guy your business. read more

The owners are so fun and friendly. Prices are reasonable. Been coming here a really long time with many years in between and not much changes, which is great! You pick up right where you left off, looking for the oldies and goldie's that highlighted your youth. Very cool place and the owner's knowledge is vast. We look forward to going every time we're in town. read more

I collect Vinyl .. I understand this place wants to make a profit on there things . I been to thousands of records shops in my life and I have to say this place was the most disappointing place I been too I actually walked out with nothing which is a shock . I felt the vibe that it wasn't about the music plus I didn't even get greeted total ignored man .. you want to greet customers with a .. wassup man or Hey welcome .. I'm a Drummer myself and felt no good vibes there. The beat was off . the records prices $25 $40 $75 $125 I've didn't seen anything lower then $25 There were a lot of records I had that were so overpriced and mostly all those vinyls were from the 70s , and 80s .. used Definitely need new music in there, new records And lower prices to bring in more people.. I'm sure a lot of people agree that's why they're rating is so low .. There's a new generation now and they want new music. New music will bring in people Till then I'm sure people will turn to Amazon for there vinyl orders .. try to keep the good vibes .. read more

I've never had to write a negative Yelp review. If you want to buy records here, DON'T. I stopped by Village Music during my recent trip to Big Bear. I enjoy shopping at record stores in different cities than my own. The biggest difference from Village Music than my local record stores was that all of the 'vintage' records are up-charged unfairly. I bought a 'vintage' soundtrack record that was priced at $30. Judging by the condition of the sleeves, my local record stores would've priced it at $15 or less. When I got home from my trip I put the record on only to notice that the record was warped for the first 5 mins of the opening song. Looking at the refund policy to see that all sales are final and you have to return for store credit within 7 days of purchase. Like I'm really going to drive 2 hours to return this. This is a sad tourist trap and scam to locals. read more

Village Music - Another view of the split - Vinyl Records Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

See all

Owner would sell more stuff if he would smile instead of being a grump and a jerk. . be friendly and we would spend more money.

Rather sizeable music store in the village. We went in to just look around but left with much more. There are instruments as well as LOTS of vinyl and cassette tapes. My daughter fell in love with a record player (modern with blue tooth) and bought her first vinyl--Beatles' Yellow Submarine in mint condition. Spoke with the owner; fantastic demeanor. He was excited that my daughter started her journey in vinyl with the Beatles and his store. She has played that everyday and is leaning all the lyrics to the songs. Check it out. You should find something you would love to take home! read more

Hate to do this for a music shop, as i'm a touring musician and been around the industry most of my life, but I felt compelled to share. I honestly feel bad for this owner guy who everyone seems to be talking about. He should not be running a business. I walked in and saw some cool stuff, nice record collection (pricey but hey, tourists I get it) and some pretty ok, pretty overpriced guitars (music shop is tough for margins, I get that too) I noticed some funky looking pedals set up on a demo board already hooked up to an amp. The pedals looked oddly cool, probably didn't sound the best but I'm always in the market and sometimes those random shitty pedals are a vibe. I asked the owner if I could demo one, and immediately he says "Well, are you gunna buy them or what, I don't want you wasting my time". I'm paraphrasing but this was definitely the gist. I'm a pretty mellow guy so I kept it light and laughed it off - surely he was going to let me demo the pedal to potentially make a sale. Nope. This idiot literally shooed me away from the area and said if I wanted to "get my jitters out, there's a play area over there" proceeds to point to a little roped off area where the cheapest instruments money could buy are, I'm talking instruments for beginners/kids. This dude literally could have had a sale, I buy pedals all the time, probably way too often. Chances are I was gonna walk out with one of these wonky pedals just for fun. But instead this owner guy was too entitled and stubborn to even portray any kind of customer service. Feel bad for the employees working there, they seem like good kids. I hope they know not to look up to this guy. read more

I love, love Village Music. J has been coming here since he was a kid. There are new owners, but the same charm. You walk in to awesome tunes, and music stuff lining the walls, everywhere you look. There is still a pretty decent record selection. You can find rock tees and VM gear here. This time around, I got myself a baseball hat. If you are nostalgia like us, we snagged a nice VM Christmas ornament, and J a new guitar strap that will remind us of our cool nights up in Big Bear. The owners are always great conversation: talking about the "good old days", playing music, and what is happening to it all. You can, of course, find musical instruments and related gear. Get pedals, straps, picks, strings, sheet music...you name it...even bookmarks and magnets. Take some time to check out the signed photos and posters on the wall. Enough to make any music lover swoon. Come to patronize Village Music while you cool off up in Big Bear. Hang out a while and find some memories, and some good tunes. read more

Village Music - Vinyl Records Near Me - Big Bear Lake, California

Wow, worlds worst store. Stay away. The owner is entitled and has no business running a popsicle stand let alone a business. Saw him yell at multiple people which is extremely awkward. Signs EVERYWHERE saying "don't touch this" "don't go past this" blah blah, negativity is never a successful business strategy. Crazy part is he'll wonder why he goes out of business. Sad too because the young guy who works there was obviously taking direction from his boss, and therefore, dealing in the same destructive behaviors. They have a very limited section of guitars, over-priced records and the cherry on top, zero store ambiance for a music shop. read more

I've been in a few times as it's the only dedicated music store in big bear and all I can say is that it's decent for locals if you're desperate for some physical music, the music selection is pretty outdated but I don't mind that. The owner is apparently a horrible dude, nothing personal just heard it on the grapevine, never met the guy mysel. On the other hand there's a lot of cool people who work there, lots of young people, nice environment if you're a teenager looking to do something in this tourist trap town, long as the owners not there I guess. The original owners were cool guys and I like to think some of that energy lingers. The place has got overpriced records, acceptably priced cassettes and reasonably priced cds, that's all I got. Peace Out read more

The store was super unorganized and didn't realize I walked into a "employees only" area. The worker yelled at me "excuse me can I help you" over and over until I looked back and said "no I'm just browsing" he replied "not there you're not" and did the hand motion to move. He was across the store and was yelling at me the whole time. You can tell the owner is a nasty individual and his heart is filled with hate, I truly hope this guy heals soon. I don't know if this guy was just being racist towards me based on how he was treating me or if he is just like that but whatever. His albums are damaged and overpriced, not only that but the owners are rude af. I didn't say anything because I have anxiety. I would leave 0 stars if I could. read more

They have a large selection of records but they are all overpriced and not organized very well. They are separated by genre but only by alphabet and not artists. All the records or over $10 in the used section. They have budget bins. I found some albums I wanted and they were twice as much as normal record stores or Discogs. This shop has a lot of potential, but it is overpriced. read more

Oof. This place COULD be really great if it weren't for the terrible service/attitude of the owner. I mean I get it; Big Bear Village is where idiocracy goes to play on the weekends, but this guy was straight up NOT WEARING A MASK while ringing up customers!!! One customer said, "Hey man, do you happen to have a mask?" and the owner's response was, "Some people need a lot more than a mask!" Ummm... WTF? A blatant disregard for the well being of his own customers in his own damn store! Reason enough to NOT SUPPORT THIS BUSINESS.* *Of course I am a total hypocrite so I spent over $100 on LPs and tapes... they had some really cool stuff. Unfortunately several items were totally mislabeled (not sure if it was a mistake or an intentional attempt at deceit) i.e. obviously reissued LPs being marked as "original/vintage" along with the original issue date being incorrectly written on the price tag. read more

Worst customer service ever, was just looking around and and stepped behind their drum set without making ANY noise and some old guy gets mad. Saying to back off and respect his store. I was not disrespectful till after he made it a point to call me out about being behind the drum kit. Again I did not make any noise was just checking out the drum set. Definitely do not recommend this place for any musicians looking for a place to buy gear. Skip this store and the hostility. Never felt so discriminated. But don't let this little overpriced store with no brand name equipment scare you away. Big Bear Village is a beautiful place. But definitely skip this store. By the way I've been playing drums for over 15 years and I do not let political views affect me. This guy was just born a JACKASS‍ read more

Wow just wow! I lean left - apparently these owners were total Trump Supporters. The wife was the worst. She kept talking about us to her husband while we were shopping! I understand you may not like my mask or shirt or political views, but take my money shut up and talk about us AFTER we leave. HAD IT NOT BEEN MY daughter's 10th birthday I would NEVER have bought her Ukelele there. The husband / male store owner was amazing with my daughter. He helped show her how to tune her instrument and had patience with us and kept trying to quite the other employee. It left a bad taste in my mouth and I would recommend going to another location. read more

Village Music IS NOT closed!! They are OPEN and running with a full store of everything a music lover could look for!! I love this place! Always my go to for records, guitars, amps, and music books. read more

The owner is an asshole. Sad that the only music shop in big bear is owned by an old asshole. I went in looking for some drum equipment and he gave me shit for asking the sizes of the washers I needed. He seemed genuinely annoyed that I was there. Fuck this dude. read more

I've been here many times ever since I was little. Every time I go my experience seems to be a little worse. They have a very small selection and many things are just over priced. Out of all the little knick knacks they sell here I'm very surprised they don't have a recording/pro audio/studio section. Everything in this store from equipment to the music is outdated. Making musical digitally is the new wave. Hip-Hop & Rnb are the leading genres now in the U.S. Expect nothing but guitars and rock music. This place is eh. 2/5 read more

I was in this store for a total of 2 minutes before I was verbally assaulted by the big dude with the goatee. Granted, there was a sign on the guitar that said to ask for assistance when using it, but I literally picked it up for 3 seconds to look at it before a woman aggressively power walked over to me and grabbed it out of my hands. After I apologized, this guy comes up to me and keeps on berating me. I apologized again and he starts telling me over and over how I should have read the sign and that my apology wasn't sincere and how "I know you don't give a fuck" and he went on and on and on. I don't know what he wanted from me. He just kept on disrespecting me while I stood there appalled. At this point I just walked out because I have never been treated so badly at a music shop or anywhere for that matter before. I see a lot of reviews on here saying that this worker treats customers poorly and it's obvious that he has learned nothing from these reviews. To the man that spoke to me: 1. If you own this store, you're going to run it into the ground. You have a terrible attitude and I am genuinely sorry for the other employees that have to deal with you. If you are just an employee, you should be fired because, based on these reviews, I am not the only paying customer that has left specifically due to your abrasive and threatening behavior. 2. Get over yourself. If you wanted me to leave just tell me to leave, or we could get over it and tell me not to do it again. However, don't just berate me and tell me my apology was not sincere because... that's literally the worst customer service I have ever experienced and I have no words to say. I can't get over how you just kept going and going despite the fact I apologized right away and did not even argue. At the end of the day, I spent 2 minutes in this place and that's 2 minutes more than it deserves. Don't even waste your time and give this guy the satisfaction of foot traffic let alone sales. Maybe all of these 1 star reviews will tell you something about your policies and the way you treat customers. If you don't wake up eventually no one is going to want to come to your store. read more

The owner (I assume, or whoever was in charge both times I went) is exceptionally rude and condescending. I went into this place twice. First time, I was greeted pleasantly by an employee. I asked to play the Casino they had hanging on the wall and he said, "that depends; do you intend to buy it?" Immediately turned off, I said "well I'll have to play it in order to make that determination," and he directed me to the back of the store to ask the owner. I said "you know what man, thanks anyway; really not my kind of vibe. Thanks though." Went in again like 3 weeks later hoping to play the same Casino they had on the wall. Again I was greeted pleasantly. I hadn't brought a pick so this time, I asked where their picks are and the owner said something to the effect of "they're everywhere. Got 'em up front, back here, over there" etc. I said "How about Jim Dunlop Nylon 73's?" he said, "they're back here" pointing to the back where they sold the picks. I then told him, "okay great. I'll take a pack of those and then if it's alright I'd like to play that Casino you have over there." He responded, "not with a pick you're not" and I'm like, "huh, really?" He then told me that I should be able to tell if I wanted to buy it without a pick and said something like, "it's called keeping a new instrument nice." I sort of laughed at the insult, shook my head, and said "yeah man thanks anyway." As I left, he had the audacity to say "that says a lot, you know," another deliberate insult to a customer prepared to drop $650 on a brand new guitar in his store. I thought to myself how much more it said about him and his business practices. The thing that gets me is, I'm not a child with Cheeto dust on his fingers and dirt under his fingernails. My mom didn't bring me in. I don't even remotely look like some kid who's in there to "shred." I'm in my 30s and have been playing music professionally for over 15 years (something I thought might've been hinted at by such a specific pick request) and I know darn well how to respect a new instrument that I haven't paid for. I've been in dozens of places like this all around the country and have never been treated with such condescension, let alone outright insulted. Everyone who walks into your store is a potential lifelong relationship. How about asking your prospective customers some respectful probing questions like "oh you like that Casino; are you a single coil guy? How long have you been playing? Are you in a band? Any gigs lately?" There are MANY ways to get a feel on how likely it is for a customer to disrespect your new merchandise without insulting them. Such a shame that the only music store within 30+ miles of my new residence in Big Bear would choose to throw away what would have been hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars of business over what at WORST would have been a slightly scratched-up finish on a new guitar that could easily be buffed out by a competent tech. I'll never spend a dime at this store. read more

I woke up still feeling compelled to write this negative review... I stopped in the shop last night to look at the merchandise and pick up a few guitar strings but instead I left feeling very disappointed from the unsolicited lectures and the overall crappy customer service I received. My simple questions were met with sarcastic replies... Hey Jonesy, I recommend you improve your customer service, just be a little kinder. Get rid of the negative attitude. It's not needed and it's not needed. Until the attitude improves I do not recommend this music shop to anyone. And stop being such a @sshole read more

Do not go here. Totally rude owner who thinks he can treat his patrons like crap. Let's see how long that lasts for ya buddy. Start being nice, might get you farther. read more

Spent a week in Big Bear and found this great music store; went back 2 more times. Great selection of guitars, amps and cases at reasonable prices. Two things that make this store stand out from others is the variety of merchandise (WOW!) from records (Shelley Fabares' Johnny Angel) to clothing and 1970's Acoustic bass amps to memorabilia and gifts. Also, the store is in the "tourist" area and they don't appear to overprice merchandise. Nice friendly staff and low key approach. Bass players will love talking to the owner. Lots to look at without being hounded over. A different kind of place to visit. Past reviewers must think that this is Guitar Center where its OK to play all day, trash the merchandise, then walk out. I experienced no rudeness. Possibly, all the attitude was coming from rude customers. read more

Great experience here. Had a guitar string replaced in minutes by Gabe who was very kind!

I browsed this music last month. Noted a lefty acoustic on the wall and lots of records. I play not professionally but still play. I have a Taylor but was wanting a back up. The price was on sale but still over retail. No worries it's a lefty! Asked the person in charge to see the guitar. He said no problem handed me the guitar and said have a seat. I did like the guitar and wanted to strum a couple of chords. Asked for a pick. Resopnse: if u buy the guitar I will give u a pic. Wow!!! I wasn't asking to slam it on the ground and rip chords. I was stunned. Give guitar back, no sale of overpriced guitar and never to return. Bad customer service. read more

Stephen, I appreciate your taking the time to answer my review. You said, "there are a few good ones out there. It's all timing on their availability." And that's all I asked for: a name and contact info. I had met someone when we were on our vacation there who expressed an interest in playing the guitar, and I was just trying to help him. If you had said, "I'm busy now, can you call back?" That would also have been fine. But the problem was not my lack of patience, but that I didn't perceive your willingness to help answer my question. I will up my review rating since I can see that you do care. read more

WOW!! The prices are insane. I've been collecting, buying and trading records for over 30 years. I was in town on vacation. Never have I ever seen prices for records this steep. Crazy... read more