About St. John's Music

For more than eighty years, St. John's Music has provided retail services in musical instruments and promoted music education. Our vast experience in music extends to all of our 8 retail locations, from Alberta to Ontario, where we pride ourselves on maintaining the highest level of service and most knowledgeable staff in the industry.

As a major Canadian music retailer, we are large enough to offer a great selection of music products at the best pricing value, and yet small enough for our individual stores to operate in a flexible manner to best service customers in their particular market area.

At St. John's Music, great service is the standard. As an example of some special customer services, we offer:

  • Renting "Made Simple, Easy & Convenient" - Our band rental program offers a simple selection process of our multiple options that allows our customers to obtain a rental instrument in the most time efficient manner.
  • Repairs - All of our stores have band repair shops on premises that provide fast, quality service with highly experienced technicians.
  • Financing - In-store lease financing is available at all our locations through St. John's Music, which provides customers a much easier, quicker and more flexible contract than third party financing offered through most other retailers.

St. John's Music has been an enthusiastic supporter of music education throughout its long history and can truly stand behind our motto "We Believe in Music".

Our Proud History

In 1923, the Company first opened on Main Street in Winnipeg, deriving its name from a former area of the city known as St. John's. The store later operated as a joint music outlet and post office at 1308 Main St. St. John's relocated to 635 Portage Ave. in 1952 and to 633 Portage Ave. in 1977. In 1989, the Winnipeg Retail store moved to its present location at 1330 Portage Ave. with the Corporate Office and central warehouse moving to premises purchased at 1570 Church Ave. in 1991.

St. John's Music (Sask.) was opened in the summer of 1978 at 1422 Scarth Street, Regina. In May 1984, Arcade Music of Regina and Saskatoon was purchased. The Regina Branch of Arcade Music was closed, but we maintained the Arcade location in Saskatoon on 2nd Ave. North. In December 1984, the Regina Store relocated to 1544 Albert Street. The Saskatoon Store moved to a new building at 640 Broadway in August 1988, which was designed to our specifications. In January 2001, the Regina Store moved to its new location at Fleet Street Crossing, 2208 Victoria Avenue E., a building that was designed to our specifications.

Expansion to Alberta occurred in Lethbridge in 1980. This operation was moved to Calgary, 4604-37th Street S.W., March 1983. Larger premises were needed and the move to 1402 - 11th Ave. S.W., was made in March 1987. Our Edmonton Store opened May 1986, at 5928 - 104th Street and relocated to 6029 - 104th Street in August 1990. In May 1998, St. John’s Music purchased National Music that operated in Calgary and Edmonton. The existing stores were amalgamated into the National facilities at 517 – 10th Avenue SW in Calgary and 14214 Stony Plain Road in Edmonton, and commenced operating under the St. John’s Music name. We relocated our Edmonton store to new premises at 10452 Mayfield Road in January 2004. In order to accommodate growth, our Calgary store relocated to larger premises at 105 – 58th Avenue SE in January 2006.

Boddington Music was established in 1921, and had been under family management since its inception. Located on Fairlawn Street for a number of years, Boddington Music moved to its present location at 1650 Avenue Road in 1984. On May 31, 1990, St. John's Music acquired Boddington Music in Toronto. The store expanded to a full range of more retail based instrument sales in April 2006 upon relocation to larger premises at 109 Vanderhoof Avenue.

In March 1996, Domenic's Music in Ottawa was acquired and commenced operation as St. John's Music. In June 2006, the Ottawa store moved to its new, expanded location at 1541 Merivale Road.

Waterloo Music Company was established in 1922 by CF. Thiele and has operated continuously in their Regina Street building from inception to present. Originally, the business was engaged in producing sheet music for pianists in silent movie houses. Over the years, they expanded in music related enterprises from publishing to retail sales, education supplies and lessons. St. John’s Music acquired Waterloo Music as of June 30, 2004.