Soundbalance

Don’t shop here. They sold us a useless kids headphone that can’t be used on the plane because of its volume setting with no way to adjust it and no sound isolation which makes it impossible to hear anything through the headphones. They should have told us that we wouldn’t be able to use it on a plane. The damn headphones were overpriced, cost more than regular headphones which we should have gotten, which they should have directed us to.

Okay, okay… I know. I’m giving five stars to an airport shop. A type of business notorious for ripping off captive audiences and offering shitty products. Well hear me out.
First off, in case you didn’t know, PDX has a rule for its businesses — you’re not allowed to charge more at your airport location than you charge at your regular location. That’s great for local businesses with PDX outposts, but makes not a whit of difference for airport-​only businesses.
However…
I stopped in to Soundbalance while waiting on a delayed flight, and it just so happens that I had been at a BestBuy earlier that day. And lo and behold? The prices are the same. At least for the premium headphones I was in the market for at the time. On top of having the same prices as a big box store, the staff member here was friendly and ready to pull out a whole set of tester headphones so I could compare and contrast. She actually knew what she was talking about, and had no problem with me switching back and forth between a couple of testers to make what was ultimately a $ 300 decision.
I walked out with a new pair of Bose QC over-​ear headphones for the same price as the big boxes and Amazon are selling them for. And I was able to kill some solid time at the airport.
It’s surprising that I find myself doing things here at PDX that I would never, ever do at another airport. I’ve bought headphones, shirts, etc. Because the prices are standard. I don’t know if the PDX rule affects this biz (since I think it’s an airport-​only business) but either way the combination of good price, good service and good quality products makes for a no-​brainer shopping experience.