Thursday September 18, 2025 | LANGFORD, BC [Posted at 11:29 am | Latest update 3:28 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Also see: Try out pianos at the Tom Lee Music store in Langford
RETAIL FEATURE
The new Tom Lee Music store in Langford is having a grand opening on Saturday September 20.
There will be $50 in-store coupons for the first 50 customers and door-crasher specials. Doors open at 10 am.
Some guitars will be 20% off. About half the store’s inventory will be on sale.
So don’t be surprised to see line-ups to the front door!
Smaller store:
Located at Unit B-111 in the Millstream Village (2041 Millstream Road), the new store front-area retail space is about the same as the old store.
But without teaching rooms and studios (and less storage space), the overall leased footprint is about one-quarter the size of the old one.
Lots of online shopping happens nowadays, but there’s nothing like seeing and trying out instruments in person.
The experience of being in a store filled with guitars, drums, band instruments, DJ equipment and pianos is very upbeat for anyone with music performance experience or dreams.
Experienced staff:
For store manager James Watkins — now 12 years with Tom Lee Music (first in Vancouver, and in Langford since 2020), his favourite moments are when someone finds just the right instrument, or helping youth who are excited about their first-instrument purchase.
Over the years he has noticed trends, for example nowadays people are more interested in electric guitars than acoustic guitars.
All the staff who work at the store are musicians who are keen to support customers in a range of instruments and technical products.
Decision to down-size:
Online shopping and the challenges to music programs in schools have cut into the music retail sector overall, so this was a smart move for Tom Lee Music.
After a multi-week moving sale this summer, in August the Tom Lee Music Store within Millstream Village downsized to their smaller space. The new store somehow seems more easily found now at the west end of the Millstream Village mall (fully across the spot in the mall from where they used to be located).
It’s a hot spot commercial area – Millstream Village includes Dollar Tree, Everything Wine, Fabricland, Market on Millstream, Michaels, PetSmart, Pharmasave and Sephora. That mall is across the way from another large retail area off McCallum Road including Home Depot, SaveOn Foods, Staples, and Costco.
Store hours and products:
Store hours at the new Tom Lee Music store in Langford are 10 am to 6 pm Monday to Saturday, and 11 am to 5 pm on Sundays.
For sale in-store are musical instruments (including guitars, drums, pianos, keyboards, band and strings), digital DJ and home recording equipment, and printed sheet music.
Items that aren’t on display can be ordered in.
Company profile:
The Tom Lee Music head office is based out of Vancouver, where the company was founded in 1953 as Tom Lee Music Hong Kong. Tom Lee Music Canada was founded in 1969 and operates independently from the Asia operation.
In addition to musical instruments and music publications for classical music and pop music, Tom Lee Music also sells professional recording equipment.
The main showroom is located on Granville Street, in downtown Vancouver. The company operates eight Tom Lee Music locations throughout BC and four stores under the Steinway Piano Gallery name in Markham, Mississauga, Ottawa, and Calgary.
===== RELATED:
- Try out pianos at the Sept 20 new store opening in Langford (September 19, 2025)
- NEWS SECTIONS: LANGFORD | BUSINESS & ECONOMY | RETAIL