11/13/07

Boo

by hitachi_obsessed

Boo for big corporations. This store is too typical, too corporate, and too banal. Why not find a small local neighborhood bookstore?

• Pros: selection
• Cons: hello!!!

11/14/05

books are awesome

by fridgemagnet

One of my favorite stores ever. The sheer volume of books and selection is impressive enough, but then there's the view of the Water Tower and high profile authors who come in to sign (I just met Jimmy Carter there!), and the smiling staff. I get the email coupons and I know it encourages me to spend money there, but I truly love going to this store. Plus, they're an oasis in the Michigan Ave crazy nastiness that ensues anytime around the holidays. Oh yea, and they are really great about ordering me the obscurest books.

• Pros: young smart staff, best new book prices, environment
• Cons: tourists, overcrowded bathrooms, occasional bum

09/18/02

carbon copy

by lauriesherman

Both Borders and Barnes & Nobel have a large variety of books, however what they do have seems to be exactly the same. If you want something out of the ordinary... forget it! Because they've assisted in the demise of many small bookstores. It seems that there's almost a new standard of what we're allowed to read; if they don't have it, you cannot read it (unless you order it).

Additionally, they have a very manufactured feel to the stores... it's the McDonalds of books . I truly wish that people would stop patronizing those stores, as THAT is the real reason we no longer have those great old bookstores anymore.

I predict the future: On every corner we'll have McDonalds; Starbucks; Borders; Kinkos; etc; etc; etc.

• Pros: cheap books, many standards
• Cons: no obscure, no semi-obsure, bad store feel