Barnes & Noble

I’m editing my original review of this Barnes & Noble after my visit today to the Legacy Place store in WPB. This store is stunning. The largest B&N I’ve ever been to. The selection of merchandise, from books on every subject imaginable, to candles, stationery, magazines, collectibles, etc is amazing.

The Starbucks is outstanding and the children’s section is any kid’s dream come true.

So why only three stars?

I walked in and looked around for the B&N basket that I’m so used to loading with goodies from different departments. No baskets anywhere to be found. I looked around and saw customers walking around, carrying various objects in their hands, no baskets.

I had a latte at SB and started my shopping spree. Grabbed a couple of books, a candle, a journal and a couple of “toys”. I headed to the front to the store and stood n line with several other customers who were holding their treasures without the B&N baskets we are used to filling up.

As I got closer to the front of the line, a lady was paying for her purchase and asked the cashier to please put her items in a bag. The reply from the cashier was “We don’t have any bags, you can buy one of the B&N bags for your items.”

Excuse me???? I have to BUY a bag to carry the merchandise I just paid for? I put down everything I was carrying, paid for one book and walked out.

Step it up, B&N. The customer matters and to ask someone who just spent almost $100 to BUY a bag is just complete disregard for your customer.

Love this Barnes & Noble bookstore. They have all the latest books & offer 30% off New bestseller hard covers. The kids books & games/toys are great. The Cafe is awesome, better than most SBUX. They just added lots of new muffins & other breakfast items. They often have Buy 1 Get 2nd one half price! Tanya, at the Cafe is so sweet, it's always so nice to see her!

Everything was tidy and well-organized. We enjoyed a delicious cup of tea from the cafe while browsing about.

Rob at the checkout was great. We had a nice chat about some of our favorite books.

The cafe is FILTHY. The bases of the tables are caked with filth, the banisters have food particles and dust that appear to be accumulated for years, they store boxes on a baking sheet that is then placed on top of the oven like it’s a pizza place. The lighting in this cafe is a hospital-like fluorescent white, yet it’s still dark and dreary. Its pretty gross and the employees seem to get stressed out when there are TWO people in line. That said, the bookstore itself stock very little which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because it drives customers to order from Amazon where purchasing is easy and delivery is fast. On the odd chance they have the item you need, they don’t even put it in a bag anymore…. which is wonnnddderrrful when it’s raining. They literally just hand it to you. It’s tragic to watch the slow decay and eventual collapse of Barnes and Noble. One would think that they would try to ATTRACT more customers. Instead, it seems the employees are just riding the wave until closure. It’s clear no one at BN reads these reviews as the complaints are all very similar and no one responds. It’s also an impossible feat to reach corporate.

Beautiful location & very helpful staff! Especially loved the brick architectural elements on the outside. Large selection of books, activity sets for kids/children, cards, journals, magazines of all subjects, (& things on sale!)

This is one of the coolest stores you could go to for Christmas gifts for children. They have an incredible amount of really interesting and educational toys and also a lot of dinosaur stuff and stem toys. They have lots of artsy toys like looms and pottery wheels. Of course there are a bazillion books in there and the selection is quite good. Every magazine, nice travel books, lots of games and puzzles and fun stocking stuffers. The children's reading section is quite extensive and comprehensive. More people need to read, there is a lot of motivating stuff in this store to get your kids off the internet.

Unhelpful and rude staff and they never have anything in stock, always “order online”. Not even the classics are in stock most of the time. Not worth the visit, it’s best to shop online. Also, they don’t provide shopping bags anymore, you have to bring your own or purchase their tote. It’d be nice if they let the customers know in advance so we could bring our own bags. They don’t provide shopping bags and yet the prices of the books have increased, even thought they don’t have that expense anymore. Do yourself a favor and shop for books elsewhere.

I've been coming to this Barns and Noble for years and have always had a nice experience though more than once I wasn't able to find what I was looking for but they are really working on that lately I've noticed it's gotten much better.