Steinway & Sons

If you’re in New York and you have an affinity for pianos (either playing them or loving them), then you need to go visit the Steinway & Sons location on 57^th Street (between Sixth and Seventh Avenues). You can obviously go there to buy pianos, but what’s better (and somewhat of a secret) is the fact that you can go in and play almost every, ridiculously expensive piano in there. And no one minds. All the pianos are separated into different rooms, so it’s not like you’re disturbing anyone either. Both the times I’ve visited, I’ve been the only person in the whole place.
It’s really a crazy thing that they’ll let anyone just come in and play, so if you do possess that talent? Get on over here. (Apparently there’s also a factory tour that you can take in Astoria that’s free, but not available year round. So once I take that, you’ll hear about it.)

Just had to burn some time in the city, and all of a sudden I miraculously encountered this piano paradise, no less.
Absolutely gorgeous place, not the usual piano store you’d walk into.
2 Hugh floors filled with Steinway grands, uprights and Boston’s as well.
If you know how to play they’ll let you if you ask nicely, the staff is really friendly and helpful.
I stayed there for over 2 hours and it felt like 2 min, played on different pianos my usual small repertoire of Chopin, Rachmaninov etc.
Had the pleasure of chatting with Eddie (one of the sales rep), great guy and if you’re actually looking into buying a Steinway he’ll help you out and try to come up with the best buying option for whatever you want to get.
There’s a big sale there on ⁰⁹⁄₁₈ so if you’re actually looking into buying a Steinway and you don’t want to settle for less than that go and check it out. Heard they’ll have plenty of instruments on display both new and used.
I personally couldn’t stop playing the Steinway K-​52. Although it’s an upright it has the sound of the biggest most prestigious grand ever. AMAZING!!!
Plus, for those of you with sensitive hearing with special preferences — these guys can actually customize the piano to whatever sound and texture you want. Overall great experience — every music enthusiast must come here for a visit!

This is a mecca that I only recently realized existed, now that they are about to close it. (Steinway was recently bought by a private-​equity firm, and, I believe they plan to close this showroom, if not the entire building.)
Are Steinways fabulous? Of course.
Is the showroom beautiful? Yes.
Is it fun, as a pianist, to walk around and look at pianos? Yep, it is.
Did they have some moderately interesting small exhibits to study? Yes.
Was it fun to hear others play the Steinways, and, possibly play them yourself? Sure.
Was it fun to overhear the sales staff processing an order for someone’s brand new Steinway? You bet.
But ultimately, there’s not much to do there anymore. The sheet music store mentioned in another review is no longer there. And, you can’t go upstairs to the practice rooms — not sure how those are reserved, but they are probably for people who aren’t obviously lookey-​loos.
Unlike other posters, I found the staff friendly and welcoming. They also patiently answered questions that I’m sure they get 30 times a day — always a tough feat.
I would recommend going before it’s lost. But if you’re not into pianos or history of keyboard performance, this isn’t for you and we’d probably prefer it if you stayed out of the way.

This place is like a Midsummer’s Night Dream for piano maniacs like me. Being in a room full of beautiful Steinways is just inspiring, and made me want to play some Rachmaninoff and Lizst. You can try the pianos, and test them out, and the sound of a Steinway is oh… so beautiful.
There are two floors here, the first floor is full of Steinways some Bostons, Essex. The second floor has a small concert room, and a few practice rooms.
I’ve been here a few times and just go absorbed into this amazing world. Occasionally there are people who decide to test out the pianos and just product the most annoying noise ever. Bad technique such as flat fingers, and playing without any emotion, is very unpleasant to the ear. Its not all about banging the piano to make the loudest noise… its about playing with emotion. Thankfully these rooms have doors so you can shut them.
I was once in a practice room playing Canon in D and heard the beautiful sounds of Beethoven’s Pathetique. I couldn’t help but leave the room and followed the sound to its source. I was shocked to see a guy in there with two of his other friends, both wearing Yankees shirt and baseball caps and sneakers. The guy knew every note by heart, played with accuracy, and was simply fantastic. Who knew such a «bro» could play such amazing classical music?
There is also a small water dispenser, it was either on the first floor or the second floor. so you can hydrate yourself while enjoying the beautiful pianos.

After reading all the positive reviews, I have to wonder if my experience was a fluke… my girlfriend and I were visiting the area and looking for a sheet music store since Colony and Patelson are now both closed. We found Dowling Music, upstairs from the Steinway Gallery.
We shopped for some time, loved the variety of sheet music and gifts you could buy and headed on out. On our way out, my girlfriend asked me if I was going to play one of the Steinway pianos in the rooms on our way out. Having come over the summer and experienced the beautiful gallery downstairs, I figured it would be ok if I played on one of the many pianos in the rooms. There were no signs that said I couldn’t and the doors were open.
I sat down and started to play some soft, bluesy Gershwin. No more than a few minutes later, a saleswoman rushed in and asked abruptly if I had rented the room. I told her I hadn’t nor did I know I had to. She said that we have to leave.
As my girlfriend and I left the room, I snapped my fingers and said «darn» because I wanted to play one of the pianos. The woman snidely commented «yup, you were caught».
We left in such a hurry that I didn’t get the chance to check out any of the pianos. I guess if they want to sell them to pianists, they have to adjust their sales pitch a little bit.
I am very disappointed with my recent experience there and will be informing my students about the unacceptable way they treated a professional pianist and teacher.

This place is amazing. It is a must-​see for any serious pianist or really any classical music enthusiast. While you need to be very wealthy to purchase on these pianos, you don’t need to be wealthy to go to this place, look around, and try a couple of them out. The history behind the store is really amazing to think about, knowing how many legendary pianists have been there to select their instrument. I can’t recommend this place enough. You must go.

Where else can you try out dozens of expensive grand pianos made by the famous Steinway company? The building is called Steinway Hall. When my sister and I walked in, we had no idea where to go. We saw a big office space to the left and some stairs to the right. It did not look like a piano showroom. Apparently, you should sign in at the guestbook and then someone will come talk to you and welcome you to try the pianos. Then the person goes away and you can go to town on the pianos. They have pianos both upstairs and downstairs. The piano rooms are decorated with oil paintings on the walls and chandeliers, which gives an interesting ambiance. We tried about four Steinway pianos in one of the downstairs rooms. They were all restored models, including one from 1883! Upstairs, they also recently opened a small musical sheet music/​gift shop called Dowling Music. We found a bronze casting of Arthur Rubinstein’s hands in one of the upstairs rooms.

I am impressed by the number of pianos that they have there. If you are not looking to buy a piano, this store has a look and touch like quality. The inside of this is classy.

The Steinway store may very well have been the highlight of my trip to NYC. It wasn’t a planned visit, which made it all the more wonderful to stumble in and find room after room of grand pianos, including some of the rarer models. My personal pick was a restored black Model A II from 1901 for a mere $ 80,000. Oh well, dream on. In any event, the folks at the store seem perfectly happy to have people tumble in from the streets even if they have no intention of buying, so this is a fun thing to do if you’ve got some free time.

Flagship store of the legendary piano makers. Beautiful selection of their gold-​standard grand and upright pianos, the cheaper Boston line (really Kawai in sheeps clothing), and the rare boutique models (rare hardwoods, designer casings, commemorative editions). Downstairs is the legendary «basement» where generations of concert pianists have come to select concert instruments from a fleet of high-​end 9 footers. If you come here to buy, they will roll out the red carpet and move your top picks into a special selection suite where you can spend hours getting to know each instrument and narrow down your choices to find the RIGHT one. While Steinways take several months to «break in,» they age like a fine wine and each has a very individual character. You will NOT find price breaks that Yamaha and Kawai dealers may be able to afford you (mostly due to their mass production), but compared to other high end European (and hand-​made) pianos like Bechstein, Bosendorfer, Estonia, Pleyel and Fazioli, Steinway’s retail price is really quite a bargain.