Digital Village
As the last Digital Village store I visited was the excellent Romford branch I was expecting to find another hi-tech wonderland here, but instead I found a well-balanced, nicely laid-out store with a good selection of gear for guitarists and keyboard players especially. A nice high-end guitar display and a cosy little bass/amp room were what caught my eye at first. I approached the desk and asked what stage pianos they could recommend, but the look of horror on my assistant’s face was a pretty clear indication that this was not his area of expertise. It turned out the man who could help me was busy, but just when I thought I was set for a long wait, he appeared and invited me over to take a look at some suitable models from Yamaha, Roland and Korg.
After an overview of the products that was a bit
briefer than perhaps I would have liked, I was given a set of headphones and urged to try out as many pianos as I wanted. It turns out I do know a thing or two when it comes to these instruments, so I was quite happy to try them out for myself, but I would have preferred it if the guy had given me a bit more info beforehand. As none of the products I was looking at had price tags, I had to keep asking how much everything was, which I felt was a bit of a nuisance. Despite this, Digital Village is a decent little store.
RATINGS
Does what’s required to make it a good all-round shop, but there was nothing particularly memorable about the experience.
Impeccable service – especially if you’re on the lookout for a keyboard or piano – and an attractive layout means I couldn’t really find anything wrong here.
CONCLUSION
London’s Denmark Street is unquestionably the place to go for all things guitar related in the capital, but if you’re a keyboard player or pianist, a trip to the Northern Boroughs is worthwhile.
UK Pianos Shop offers the best acoustic selection and if you’re after excellent advice, look no further than North London Music Centre. Digital Village may have only got a
satisfactory score, but I feel that if I’d gone on with a different enquiry – something related to guitars or home recording, perhaps – the result would have been more positive.
A plethora of pianos to choose from and a great deal of stock variety, but I felt a bit let down by the service.
North London Music Centre
Although I didn’t think it looked like much from the outside, I was pleased to find a very tidy, spacious and all-round pleasant store when I set foot in the door. The main shop floor is home to guitars, keys, orchestral strings, brass and woodwind, while an area next to the front desk leads to a neat sheet music section. Downstairs is where you’ll find a small, but ‘cute’ drum area. They didn’t appear to have many stage pianos out on display – there seemed to be more basic- level keyboards and digital pianos – but I thought I would see what they could offer me in the category regardless. Luckily, the lad who served me was an accomplished keyboard/piano player – at least that was the impression I got – and an extremely enthusiastic one at that. He proceeded to give me an immensely detailed explanation of the differences between various Yamaha options, without going overboard. Perhaps it would have been better if models from other manufacturers were considered, but there was enough variety between the pianos I was being shown. He then ‘Googled’ the lowest price in front of me and offered to match it, which is one good way of ensuring customers don’t go straight home and order online. I’m not sure if I would have been given the same excellent service if I was after a guitar of drum set, but I was highly impressed with the way I was treated here.
UK Pianos Shop
I never expect a lively atmosphere when visiting piano shops, but that’s what I found here, as a lady was getting a lesson from a very jovial character right in the middle of the showroom. Having as much choice as possible is always
preferable, but there were so many new and old pianos crammed into the store that it made it difficult to move around comfortably. I also had to interrupt two ladies’ lunch break to be served, which wasn’t ideal. Of course they would have to eat at some point in the day, but if the shop is open, there should always be someone available to serve customers. One of the ladies was happy to help me out though and show me the digital/stage pianos near the entrance.
When I asked why there was such a difference in price between the Roland and Casio piano not much of an explanation was given, which was a bit disappointing. I had to ask a lot of questions to get the information I needed and I couldn’t help but feel she was eager to get back to her lunch and the conservation I had interrupted. This was clearly more of an acoustic piano specialist, though. Unless you’re after a grand or a top-of-the-range upright there’s bound to be something here for you. Some of the older instruments towards the rear of the shop sounded and looked like they’d seen better days, but they were priced accordingly.
www.mi-pro.co.uk
July 2012 57
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