i was at the local barnes and noble earlier this evening looking for some books. i eventually pulled out about 10 books that i might be interested in purchasing and decided to sit down, look through them, to make my final decision. so i walked around the whole store searching for a vacant seat, and it appears that nearly every single one of the seats in the store were occupied by someone studying. now by the look of them, they have no intention of buying anything at the store, yet they feel completely fine using the store's premises for their own personal use. furthermore, as i finally settled myself on the FLOOR by the window (since i could not find a seat), i noticed a couple standing by a bookshelf talking about some book that they were planning on buying when all of a sudden, one of the individual sitting at a nearby table studying goes "SSHHH!!" at this point i was really annoyed. i mean, WTF?? not only is this person occupying the premises with no intention of buying anything from the store, while at the same time inconveniencing the actual "shoppers" there, but they feel that they are also entitled the peace and quiet of a library??? the bookstore is not a friggin library!! i cannot believe bookstores allow people to go there for the sole purpose of studying. on top of that, as i look around, i noticed that many people are using their laptops, and guess what?? a good percentage of those laptops are plugged into the electrical sockets on the walls of the store!! so these people are not only there to study and take up the space that are meant for customers, but they are also stealing electricity from the store!! i got so disgusted, i got up and left the store without buying anything. is it just me, or is it wrong for bookstores to allow people to use their space for personal studying??

 

Maybe they spend all their time searching for books online, that instead of buying from Barnes and Noble online, they go to the store and are like hey I need that now.

 

^ HA!! if only that were true...

 

It's marketing. I'm sure research shows that the more time you spend in a place the more likely you'll buy something. If you need a book in the future, where are you going to buy it? Most likely that store you study at. While you are studying and get the munchies what are you going to do? Buy overpriced coffee and eats. Trust me, they wouldn't be doing it out of benevolence.

The person shushing someone is ludicrous though. I'd have told the to shut the up or go to the library!

 

yeah, but they are turning away actual customers like myself, and i'm sure i'm not the only person who has refused to do business with the store because of the situation. an actual customer should not be "forced" to sit on the dirty carpet. furthermore, i go to bookstores very frequently, and the majority of the people studying there are not buying coffee and munchies from the premises. in fact, it has become a trend where people are actual bringing snacks and drinks from home and eating/drinking it at the bookstore. so not only are these people not spending money there, but they are driving a percentage of the business away from the store, as well as stealing electricity, and filling up the trashcans with with food wrappers and containers that they brought in from somewhere else.

 

When B&N decides it's not making them money, they will put a stop to it.
You might want to drop a polite note to corporate HQ with your concerns. Maybe they'll ignore it, maybe they'll send you a 10% coupon. Either way, the bean counters hear from an unhappy customer and put that into the equation.

 

I agree with you vtec junkie - I have seen people spend $3.00 for a coffee, then take about 10 magazines to the cafe....they read all 10, put them back and leave.... or they read the entire book while in those comfy chairs...... seems odd to me.

 

uh, I think they buy coffee there so it's ok to sit their ass there all day and study or pick up chicks

 

When I was in school i studied at Barnes and Noble all of the time, that place is a nice quiet place to read and study----i'm not a shhh'er though, lol.

 

Is it close to a school campus by any chance? I never really see that up here.. And I wouldn't even think of Barnes and Noble or Chapters or any bookstore to be a nice and quiet place to study.. Most people use the library