Soundwaves

OH Gosh...Soundwaves on Montrose..as one person reviewed the shoes are a jumble not to mention the two girls that work evenings...they are just dumber than a box of rocks...I wonder how they ever got a job. I was after some Sanuk shoes..they both looked like a deer in the headlights...they had no idea what was even going on..I doubt they even knew they existed. Manager not much better...music was so loud I could not hear anything. The shoes were a mess..I had to sit on the floor to find what I wanted..of course with no help from employees. I paid cash...no way I was going to hand over a credit card to these bimbos.. I will never return to that location. I heard at one time it was managed very well but something in that operation has gone very very wrong. more

All you parents out there - don't bother! The clothes are insanely expensive and not well made. The music section is incomprehensible. The shoes are a jumble. The worst is the open-mouthed high school drop-outs they hire as clerks. They are absolutely no help even if you manage to chase down one of the little twits. Management is an older version of the no-help clerks. Bad experience. Will never go again. Save your money and sanity and go elsewhere. more

All you parents out there - don't bother! The clothes are insanely expensive and not well made. The music section is incomprehensible. The shoes are a jumble. The worst is the open-mouthed high school drop-outs they hire as clerks. They are absolutely no help even if you manage to chase down one of the little twits. Management is an older version of the no-help clerks. Bad experience. Will never go again. Save your money and sanity and go elsewhere. more

I'm a working mom with s son and nephew - both skaters. I have dropped big bucks in this store on clothes and skate shoes. The sales clerks are usually young guys who are less than helpful. Honestly they appear to be of the high-school drop out variety no motivation, no manners, certainly no salesmanship skills. Was there 3 months ago to buy shoes and had to chase down the grungy surly young man for help. My son told me later that when I wasn't looking, the clerk was rolling his eyes and making faces. I left the store today without my nephew's gift because, even though I clearly needed help, 3 male store clerks continued to laugh and talk among themselves, not once acknowledging me or asking if I needed help and I was approx 3 feet away from them. I will never spend a dime in that store again. more

Employees are just too cool here to be decent to their customers - especially if you're a parent looking to buy surf equipment or clothes for teenagers. Even my 17 year old who is very noncritical commented that the clerk was a complete jerk......and we were in there buying a $600 surfboard. Lighten up Soundwaves - we get it - you all are the definition of cool.....but you don't need to act disinterested, rude, and bored any time someone asks for assistance in your store. Pros: cool clothes Cons: rude & arrogant staff more

So, I'm on the search for some cool vans - the only place I can think to shop is Soundwaves. I reach the store and see a sign that says ""Buy $100 worth of clothing or swim wear and get a $15 gift card."" Pretty neat offer, but I just want to buy shoes. Then, I find this groovy dress - my total adds up to $107. Pros: Groovy clothes. Cons: Lame service. more

I'm extremely surprised to see the scores this record store was getting and I felt obligated to write a review. I will limit the scope of my review to one thing: selection of music I was looking to purchase (indie rock). I have no knowledge of their selection of any other genres. I love local record stores and I haven't found one I liked yet in Houston. Based on the comments here, I thought Soundwave might be what I was looking for. My girlfriend and I are going to lollapalooza later this year and were going to grab albums from a few artists on the billing. Soundwaves had 0 albums from any of 5 bands we were looking for including EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, which is one of the biggest and most popular bands in independent rock AND they're from Austin (there wasn't even a divider for them). Needless to say, the selection is VASTLY overrated. If you buy your indie rock here there must be something wrong with you. I went down 59 to Best Buy and found 2 explosions cds and at least one album for 2 out of the 4 other bands (Best Buy had Rogue Wave and the Weakerthans, but we struck out on Battles and Yeasayer). To be fair my girlfriend did buy a pair of shoes that she really likes. Overall - There are two places I would buy CDs. One is a place where I could buy more popular CDs for cheap (Best Buy). The other is a place with a deep catalogue of diverse music (your typical record store). This is neither, don't waste a trip, at least as far as rock music is concerned. Pros: Parking, ambience Cons: None of that matters if a record shop doesn't have what you want more

This place is great. It's basically a skate and surf shop, plus a cd store combined. I've had success finding clothes I like there... selection not too critically different from the mall skateshop chain, but I'd say they have a bit wider of a range and more products. Stuff tends to be newer and better selected as well... many t-shirts I'd actually wear. Maybe it's less catered to skateboard brand logo shirts and more to shirts that just look good. I go for the CD's. Pretty excellent selection. A few things missing here and there, but I wouldn't dream of finding a selection like that at a store in America. It's like all the small boutique shops rolled up in one. Metal, jazz, indy, all have pretty good sections. Kudos to whoever orders the metal stuff. My one gripe is to beware of price. Sometimes stuff is priced better than competitors, but I have found several DVD titles (concerts) that were $5 more than the market price. I will probably shy away from buying DVD's there unless I've checked the price against market. The CD pricing always seems reasonable. Pros: Selection of metal, jazz, concert dvd's, used section, good tshirts, open late, spacious Cons: Occasional markup more

Applies to Soundwaves on Montrose - The staff are usually helpful & there's always someone who knows something about what you're looking for. It's cool without being 'too cool'. Honorable mention goes to Cactus. Pros: Indie/Punk 10/10, Listening posts 9/10, Diverse stock range more

One of my FAVORITES. They got good selection, local music and the ""no smirk"" staff to compliment. I remember countless times walking out of soundexchange (or other similar stores) w/ one of those Charlie Brown scribble clouds over my head. No matter what I buy, I receive a snicker and/or a ""more alternative than thou"" smirk from the cashier. I seldom buy a c.d. they approve of (like I need acceptance in their ""who killed Kennedy"" world). I can read, play and enjoy music. I don't need a $6/hr job, no shower and a 25 cent goodwill t-shirt to prove it. Also, it seems that somewhere down the line someone was complaining about the prices. It's called SERVICE!! Would you rather have 2 busy staff members to count on for help or do you think 8-10 might be better. Do the math, I'll pay the extra dollar. Pros: Selection, Local music, Good service Cons: Panhandlers in the, parking lot more

Soundwaves always has the full breadth of artists. Plus, the inventory is tailored to the neighborhood. The prices are better than Catcus or Wherehouse. If your musical taste is electic, adventure down to Montrose, and enjoy the best record store in town. Pros: Selection, Price more