Applause Discount Dancewear

I don’t normally review but feel I have to. Went to get pointe shoes and called ahead asking for a size. They didn’t have but said to come in and they had two that might work and two people on the floor and could help. Went in and my daughter was allowed to only try on two shoes. One would work but explained we needed two shoes to rotate. Was told we would have to come back for an appt. It was early in the afternoon on a weekday and no one was in the store. I was practically begging to buy another pair. Made an appt for next day to try on more, while walking around store picking out leotards and skirts, no one is coming in. Wondering, why we cant just do the appt as promised on the phone same day. Spend 200 dollars and was told if we wanted a bag it would be 20 cents more. Really? This keeps getting crazier. Leave the store and start fuming. Go back and demand a pointe fitting and say how unhappy we were after spending 200 dollars and not being able to get a fitting when no one was in store. At that time they fit my daughter (after me getting really upset) I spend another 100 dollars (still no bag, after I complain and they did apologize) The shoes online are 20 dollars cheaper, and that is ok with me because if I pay more at a boutique for service it is worth the extra money, sadly the over pricing doesn’t equal the service. In all fairness, they did apologize, but why do I need to throw a fit to get service and buy something in a store with no one it? So odd. Small businesses need to have great customer service for those higher prices that online retailers offer. Also a bag when you buy something should just be a part of a shopping experience. Why overcharge then not offer a bag to carry the items out in. Wish KC dancewear was still in business, they cared about clients!
side note, pointe dancers need shoes every few weeks. Pointe shoes are 100 walking out the door with ribbon etc. You lost my business which could have very well been 2,000 to 3,000 a year. I still bought the cute items and I will give you that, you have really cute leotards for the ballet dancers but the customer service needs to equal the merchandise.
PS the hair salon behind this store, gave us a beautiful carry bag after seeing us struggle carrying all of our things. They gave us the bag for free. How sweet classy they were!

Prices are high compared to other dance wear shops but a good last minute go-​to store since open hours are generous. The staff also needs help with quality customer service and being more friendly/​patient to customers with questions.

Needed Jazz shoes for my daughter. I usually go to Discount Dance in La Mesa, but someone told me about this place and it is much closer. After looking online the prices looked comparable to Discount Dance so i decided to try them out. Right when I walked into the store my 6 yr old announces that she needs to go potty. Right when I look at the sales lady to ask where the restroom is she says «actually, if you would have read the door it clearly states that our bathroom is not for public use» I responded by saying «oh! We are here to get Jazz shoes (thinking since we are customers then that makes us not public, right?)» She still sent us 3 doors down to Chicks to let my daughter use the restroom. Then I get back to the store and start looking at Jazz shoes and the sales lady informs me on the price… They are about $ 10-​$ 15 more in store than they are online! How is that?! That is false advertising IMO. Right from that moment the sales lady treated me differently, maybe because I wanted to get shoes for my 6 yr old at a cheaper price?! Like she was treating me as if I shouldn’t be in the store if I was looking for a deal. I’m not poor but if I can get Jazz shoes for my 6 yr old for $ 30 instead of $ 45 that seems smart. So based on all that I walked out and went to Discount Dance in La Mesa… Won’t ever try this place again.

I have always had an ok experience until tonight. We drove here in rush hour traffic on a Friday evening to get a pair of tap shoes for my daughter. Their Unilocal listing stated that they close at 7:00. We got there at 6:26, and a young girl at the counter told us that they close in «one minute.» I practically begged her to help us while she was assisting someone at the counter in deciding what size of tights to get. She said ok. Then after we stood there for another two minutes, she said she was sorry but she had to close the store. I guess they don’t want the business! I’ll go elsewhere from now on.

It’s been a long long looooooong time since I’ve been in a dance store or bought any dance wear — but there is something about it that makes me truly happy, the only way dance can.
I needed ballroom shoes for a charity competition I’m a part of. (Wanna see me dance and (probably) not fall on my face? April 2^nd, California Center For The Arts) and after some research online I decided I should buy them in person and try them on.
Not only was the staff helpful on the phone but in person they were knowledgable and informed. I needed a shoe for both a jive/​swing number AND a ballroom styled folklorico and was hoping to manage with just one pair for both performances. They suggested what they thought would work, and even offered to have a different color brought to this location if I preferred. The first time I went in was research mostly — and I didn’t buy.
A few days later after talking to my dance partner about our costume, shoes, etc I went back to get the pair they had first recommended to me. Dance shoes are expensive! Like 100 $ a pair. I knew this going in, and although I could have maybe gotten them 10 or 20 dollars cheaper on Amazon, I bought them from this local business instead. Without them I never would have know what to get.
There’s mostly ballet/​jazz/​basic classroom type gear onsite. Lots of tutus, not a ton of adult wear, pricey, but a solid shop for the arts with people who know what they are talking about. New (or returning) dancers — go here!

the girl who helped my 4 year old and me last evening was so kind and helpful, especially considering how busy it was while we were there.
and my daughter thought the place and the dressing room were lots of fun.
We will definitely be coming back for any dance wear needs in the future.

I come here like twice a month for Leg warmers, Ive bought some dance shorts but other than that I don’t get anything else. The people who work here are always extremely nice and helpful. They have a pretty big selection of dance wear though.

Emmy was great with helping pick out items for ballet camp. The Unilocal check-​in coupon was a year & a half expired. They honored anyway but should be updated. I am not sure why they have two profiles on Unilocal which is very confusing. Cute local business that would get more business with some common sense things.

Extremely rude service, went for a tap fitting to confirm I had ordered the correct size of tap shoes from Bloch for my daughter. After deciding my daughter liked another style because the fit was more comfortable, I asked the sales lady for the style she had on, she got snappy with me and informed me in front of all the customers that she wasn’t able to give me the information unless I was buying from them, j explained to her again I already had an order with Bloch and would just be changing my order to the correct style and size. I ended up walking out, overpriced, snotty attitude from staff.

Applause is our go-​to place for dance shoes and clothes for over ten years. We’ve had great experience with the staff and the products. People who are new to dance may not realize that ALL dancewear shops have very limited return policies due to the nature of the goods, it’s basically like buying lingerie! A lot of people shop online at Discount Dance, which is a good company, but there is SO much variation in sizing that most of the time we’ve ended up with stuff that doesn’t fit, and the return shipping erases any savings. Just easier and more pleasant to go into our friendly local dance shop. Selection and inventory in shoes, pointe shoes, pointe accessories and dancewear is excellent. They never, ever, try to upsell you, and in my experience they are always very clear about the return policy. And anyway family-​owned stores should not need to be in the business of letting people use their shop for free advice and dressing room, and then offering full cash refund when the customer goes online comparison shopping afterwards and wants to return. If you hadn’t been able to try on and select the perfect product in person at the store, you probably would have bought the wrong thing online and gotten dinged for return shipping! So an exchange-​only policy seems fair to me, especially as I’d like them to stay in business:)

The saleslady is friendly and helpful. We came here shopping for dance sneaker shoes to fit my husband’s unusual wide size. We ended up buying a pair of Bloch Mesh dance sneaker shoes for myself, since we can’t find his size. We asked if we could return. The lady said YES. The next day, I found from Danzia Dancewear online store the exact same style shoes for $ 55.20 plus 10% off till Sunday 5/​24, while Applause Discount Dancewear charged me for $ 77.00. We went back to the store asking for matching the price or else I want to return the untouched pair of dance sneaker shoes. The owner, after had been contacted via phone from the store, insisted that no return and no matching price.
Beware for the OVER PRICE of merchandises from this store. It is an outrage, rip off price overall, no return soon you buy them, and it’s no matter on what condition.

Great selections, fair prices. Customer service was a bit stand offish.

I’ve come here numerous times for pointe shoes and dancewear. They sell a pretty wide variety of dance clothes, like leotards, bootie shorts, skirts, sports bras. I feel like they have a lot more childrens’ sizes than adult sizes, but that’s not a huge problem.
There are some reviews that say the service is terrible, but I really disagree. I come here a few times a year for pointe shoe fittings and the employees aren’t rude at all. Even when I once took nearly an hour deciding between two shoes, the employee who was helping me encouraged me to take my time and decide which one felt best.

Service was mediocre at best. If you are inexperienced with dance and the terminology they are not very helpful. When you are looking at dropping a significant amount of money on a pair of shoes you would expect better treatment. I tried to take a picture of a pair of earrings to confirm with my studio if they were the correct earrings and was treated as if I was stealing top secret information. There were earrings for crying out loud and not costume made ones or anything to justify the treatment.

Friendly and helpful service! I’ve shopped here numerous times for dancewear. They have everything from tank tops with fun dancer humor to tutus to legwarmers. I like the thigh high legwarmers with stirrups that they have here.
Applause Discount Dancewear is great for dancers who do ballet, tap and jazz. If you’re looking for more club or rave wear, I recommend Aphrodite’s Closet in San Diego… It’s a long drive from North County, but Aphrodite’s Closet has more clothing that’s suited for pole, go-​go and exotic dancers.

This is a great little dance store with a wide variety of dance clothing and shoes! I came looking for Bloch Jazz shoes, because the only dance store in Escondido had closed. A dance studio in Sorrento Valley had referred us here with a coupon. They had three different styles of tan Bloch shoes and the employee and owner were very helpful!

We’ve been to Applause several times, and worked with several salespeople. We’ve always had very good experiences. I appreciate that they are a local shop trying to survive in a very niche market. They recently expanded and I wish them the best of luck. We make purchases I would not make on-​line or at a discount store, such as ballet shoes, performance tights & the exact right color leo (computer monitors are deceiving). The person-​to-​person advice has been priceless.

They are always very helpful finding the right shoes and size and they will really spend a significant amount of time fitting pointe shoes if you make an appointment.

I was surprised to read some of the negative reviews posted here because my experience was totally opposite. I had made a few small purchases prior to my coming in for my first pointe shoes YEARS after I left a large ballet company. I spoke to Gracie on the phone and she was more than helpful — she told me that they required an appointment which i was advised would take an hour and made me an appointment for the following Sunday. I was greeted with enthusiasm upon my arrival and Marti helped me choose the perfect pointe shoe. She brought out many pairs of different shoes and I got the perfect ones for me. It did indeed take about an hour and was well worth the time. The price was more than fair and I look forward to getting all my dance supplies at APPLAUSE.

Terrible.
I enrolled my 3 yr old daughter in the ballet/​tap at the YMCA. So I took her down to «Applause» (seriously? more like BOO Dancewear) — I’ve never had to buy any ballet items before, so when I saw a $ 21 teeny little leotard, I thought…“whoa, okay… well I guess this is normal.“
For a pink leotard, a black leotard (cheapest ones I could find in her size), a pink wrap skirt, a pair of pink tights and a pair of pink ballet shoes… I spent a whopping $ 92! That didn’t even include the tap shoes she needed… oye.
Then the dance instructor had emailed me a few days after that purchase, with links to ballet shoes at Discountdance (dot)com. To my surprise, their prices were MUCH cheaper, even with the $ 10 expedited shipping! {there I bought 2 leotards, 1 pink tights, pair of ballet shoes AND tap shoes for $ 57 (plus $ 10 shipping)… and it arrived in just 2 days!}
Before I placed that order online, I decided to check the return policy on the «Applause» website — located here:
— which states: «Returns are accepted within 30 days of receipt of your order.» — YAY… so that’s when I decided I’d be safe to return my previous purchase there, and buy the same items I needed on the less expensive website.
I went in to «Applause» today to return everything and was quickly advised they didn’t do returns, only exchanges. I showed them my PRINTED copy of their return policy ONLINE (no mention of this being only for online orders, not in-​store) — and I was shut down flat… the owner «had just left for her lunch» and «there was nothing she could do, besides a nice store credit».
I explained that was completely contradictory, she said the website & store were not really the same, but was run by the same owner… oh, okay.
I’m sorry, but that’s bull. I was never advised of the return policy during my initial purchase by a rather grumpy older woman, nor did I see their tiny «NO RETURNS» sign on the counter… I was busy making sure my curious 3 yr old daughter wasn’t pulling items off the counter/​shelves/​etc.
I told her this was my daughter’s first time in ballet, so who knows if she’d even enjoy it enough to continue in the future, so I didn’t know when I’d actually be able to use the store credit. I told her I found a cheaper place online, and that she never wore any of the items… but still got no where.
I was obviously pretty upset — that was written all over my face. So the girl offered to take my name & # to give to the owner to see if she could make an exception.
**Talk about timing, just got a phone call from the store manager — she said she would take a look at the online policy and speak with the owner, and get back to me if she received any additional information… so we will see.
Definitely NEVER going here again or recommending this place to ANYONE!