Cactus Music

It’s been about two years since this record store piqued my interest, and I first stopped in to browse—and let me just say, it was a trip down memory lane. Walking into Cactus Music reminded me of the excitement I felt back in the 1980s, visiting Camelot Music Land and other classic record stores in the mall. Cactus Music has its own unique charm and an incredible selection of vinyl that caters to just about every taste. Whether you’re a lifelong collector or just dipping your toes into the vinyl world, the staff here is fantastic—knowledgeable, helpful, and always ready to guide you to something new or nostalgic. One of the highlights of visiting is the music playing overhead. It’s often something fresh and intriguing, adding to the store’s vibrant energy. And then, of course, there’s the joy of flipping through the albums. There’s nothing quite like stumbling across an album cover you haven’t seen in decades. It’s not just about the music—it’s about the memories tied to those visuals. Album cover art has its own way of connecting us to moments in time, and in today’s world of digital media, it’s something we don’t get to appreciate as often.

I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to see Cactus Music up and running as I was driving down Shepherd. This was one of the must go places for music paraphernalia and lp's back in the day, when it was located on Alabama and Shepherd. I returned the following week to "step back in time," and it did not disappoint. The store was pretty busy, and the parking was adequate. I was happy to see a good selection of records to peruse in many genres, as well as collectibles such as autographed albums and metal lunch boxes of various artist et. al. (There were quite a few signed Taylor Swift albums for those interested, but they weren't flying off the shelf!) However, many of the albums I was interested in, maybe vintage, that were a little too over-priced for me but if they're reprints, why are they priced at $65 and above?!! Yes, KISS Alive is a classic and noteworthy album, but I'm not paying $85 for a reprint....and even if it isn't, that's still a little too pricey in my book. Not paying over $30 either for Ded Leppard's Pyromania or High n Dry reprint albums (my girlfriend did, ugh). Blame my old fashion sense of value and cost if this rolls your eyes, lol. Luckily, they have a section of new and used albums that are mixed, and I was able to find some of my back in the day music to appease my demand for re-acquiring them in LP. And they were in pretty good shape too - the used ones. Maybe I'll run across another record store down the road, but I'll definitely be coming back here.

Still a cool store but they used to have a good selection of metal albums and that's just not the case anymore. Even if you were looking for mainstream rock/metal bands you can't them here anymore. Kind of a bummer. Edit: I appreciate the update from the folks here. Must have been looking in the wrong place. I'll swing by again soon and check it out.

Update: I happened to be surrounded by the Houston urban experience on Saturday, 7/13 day, our July day of 2024, scoping out the Warehouse Live Midtown location out on Travis and Dennis. And guess what store came to mind, next, while out and about. Yeah, it's the old classic Houston emporium as they like to classify theirselves as, the Cactus music store, although I Iove the name, Cactus Records more and better!... Like it was in the era of our great independent record stores, like the infamous Tower Records out west or Peaches Records out east, and our FM djs said it on popular radio stations U.S. wide of the 70s &80s and 90s!!! Today's visit was interesting because it was during the weekend following Hurricane Beryl. And they were actually opened, well sort of. The lights and a/c were off. And plastic tarp was out over some vinyl section in the back where their roof was having issues. The front store glass was smashed in by an impact by flying storm debris. No, it wasn't the toppled port o' John across the storefront Portsmouth Street. How odd and funny to see what they all had to endure as my favorite record store standing, takes another setback, and keeps on ticking!! Somehow, they came up with a way to have a card machine running to be open in business. They really need more used vinyl, though, so sell your collections to them. It is thinning out fast H town!!! It's my favorite record store for the last two decades in Houston. There is always something I find interesting here that I consider unique and unusual in vinyl or movie related. This latest score is by my favorite genre, hard rock, and it was traded in as used vinyl, from mostly Venezuela of all places.

Cool store but some of their items were priced higher than market value. I asked about a Yellow Submarine Album they had priced for $100. The last 9 sales of that album on Discogs ranged from $45 - $85 with an average of $75. I asked if they would take $80 and they were not interested. Better off buying from Discogs.

Worth the time to check out. I stopped by last week. This becomes a half hour process, given the different areas and amount of product. Stopped at the Record Day leftover area. Checked out the CDs for a couple artists. Went to the used vinyl and scanned the wall of box sets. Then went back to the used box sets. Lastly the marked down ulnar vinyl, some good stuff and always worth your while.

This was my first experience of a record store so I can only base it off of my first impression. It was very cool in there and they did have a huge selection. I never realized how expensive vinyls were but they did have a few “sale” sections, but they weren’t all super organized so plan to spend a long time here. I’m a super new to this and the workers were pretty helpful. Overall a cool place but maybe for more seasoned vinyl vets!

Best Vinyl shop I’ve been to! A must visit , great selection of vinyls , cd’s , cassettes and merch! Plus Leila & Daisy are the coolest! A definite must visit , legend!

It’s been about two years since this record store piqued my interest, and I first stopped in to browse—and let me just say, it was a trip down memory lane. Walking into Cactus Music reminded me of the excitement I felt back in the 1980s, visiting Camelot Music Land and other classic record stores in the mall. Cactus Music has its own unique charm and an incredible selection of vinyl that caters to just about every taste. Whether you’re a lifelong collector or just dipping your toes into the vinyl world, the staff here is fantastic—knowledgeable, helpful, and always ready to guide you to something new or nostalgic. One of the highlights of visiting is the music playing overhead. It’s often something fresh and intriguing, adding to the store’s vibrant energy. And then, of course, there’s the joy of flipping through the albums. There’s nothing quite like stumbling across an album cover you haven’t seen in decades. It’s not just about the music—it’s about the memories tied to those visuals. Album cover art has its own way of connecting us to moments in time, and in today’s world of digital media, it’s something we don’t get to appreciate as often.

I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to see Cactus Music up and running as I was driving down Shepherd. This was one of the must go places for music paraphernalia and lp's back in the day, when it was located on Alabama and Shepherd. I returned the following week to "step back in time," and it did not disappoint. The store was pretty busy, and the parking was adequate. I was happy to see a good selection of records to peruse in many genres, as well as collectibles such as autographed albums and metal lunch boxes of various artist et. al. (There were quite a few signed Taylor Swift albums for those interested, but they weren't flying off the shelf!) However, many of the albums I was interested in, maybe vintage, that were a little too over-priced for me but if they're reprints, why are they priced at $65 and above?!! Yes, KISS Alive is a classic and noteworthy album, but I'm not paying $85 for a reprint....and even if it isn't, that's still a little too pricey in my book. Not paying over $30 either for Ded Leppard's Pyromania or High n Dry reprint albums (my girlfriend did, ugh). Blame my old fashion sense of value and cost if this rolls your eyes, lol. Luckily, they have a section of new and used albums that are mixed, and I was able to find some of my back in the day music to appease my demand for re-acquiring them in LP. And they were in pretty good shape too - the used ones. Maybe I'll run across another record store down the road, but I'll definitely be coming back here.

Still a cool store but they used to have a good selection of metal albums and that's just not the case anymore. Even if you were looking for mainstream rock/metal bands you can't them here anymore. Kind of a bummer. Edit: I appreciate the update from the folks here. Must have been looking in the wrong place. I'll swing by again soon and check it out.

Update: I happened to be surrounded by the Houston urban experience on Saturday, 7/13 day, our July day of 2024, scoping out the Warehouse Live Midtown location out on Travis and Dennis. And guess what store came to mind, next, while out and about. Yeah, it's the old classic Houston emporium as they like to classify theirselves as, the Cactus music store, although I Iove the name, Cactus Records more and better!... Like it was in the era of our great independent record stores, like the infamous Tower Records out west or Peaches Records out east, and our FM djs said it on popular radio stations U.S. wide of the 70s &80s and 90s!!! Today's visit was interesting because it was during the weekend following Hurricane Beryl. And they were actually opened, well sort of. The lights and a/c were off. And plastic tarp was out over some vinyl section in the back where their roof was having issues. The front store glass was smashed in by an impact by flying storm debris. No, it wasn't the toppled port o' John across the storefront Portsmouth Street. How odd and funny to see what they all had to endure as my favorite record store standing, takes another setback, and keeps on ticking!! Somehow, they came up with a way to have a card machine running to be open in business. They really need more used vinyl, though, so sell your collections to them. It is thinning out fast H town!!! It's my favorite record store for the last two decades in Houston. There is always something I find interesting here that I consider unique and unusual in vinyl or movie related. This latest score is by my favorite genre, hard rock, and it was traded in as used vinyl, from mostly Venezuela of all places.

Cool store but some of their items were priced higher than market value. I asked about a Yellow Submarine Album they had priced for $100. The last 9 sales of that album on Discogs ranged from $45 - $85 with an average of $75. I asked if they would take $80 and they were not interested. Better off buying from Discogs.

Worth the time to check out. I stopped by last week. This becomes a half hour process, given the different areas and amount of product. Stopped at the Record Day leftover area. Checked out the CDs for a couple artists. Went to the used vinyl and scanned the wall of box sets. Then went back to the used box sets. Lastly the marked down ulnar vinyl, some good stuff and always worth your while.

This was my first experience of a record store so I can only base it off of my first impression. It was very cool in there and they did have a huge selection. I never realized how expensive vinyls were but they did have a few “sale” sections, but they weren’t all super organized so plan to spend a long time here. I’m a super new to this and the workers were pretty helpful. Overall a cool place but maybe for more seasoned vinyl vets!

Best Vinyl shop I’ve been to! A must visit , great selection of vinyls , cd’s , cassettes and merch! Plus Leila & Daisy are the coolest! A definite must visit , legend!