Tell Me What You Think.....

[iluvcarats]

OK. Here is my rant.

I really hate when I go into Barnes&Nobles, or Starbucks, or the mall, and people are hanging out with their crap everywhere.
They get all comfy in a chair with their books and laptops and food, and hang out ALL DAY. If you want to hang out there all day fine, but please keep your shoes on, don''t take up multiple chairs for your stuff, and keep the garbage to a minimum. This is not your house, it is public space. Be respectful of other people. Every time I go to B&N to buy a book, there isn''t any place to sit and take a look at it because all of the chairs are taken by people "studying". Whatever happened to studying in the library? All over the store you have to navigate through piles of books, magazines, and coffee cups. And of course there are those people who stake their claim on a comfy chair or two, and then disappear. I just don''t get it....

 

[Circe]

Amen. I don''t have a thing to add aside from agreement and similar befuddlement ....

 

[zoebartlett]

One of my favorite things to do is go to Borders or B&N, find a comfy spot, and read while sipping on something. If I was a student, I''d totally go there to study. No, it''s not a library, but there''s a little more buzz in these stores than there is at the library. I like that. Libraries are too quiet for me. I can see where it would be annoying if someone did take off their shoes, left garbage out, and took up a lot of space though. That''s not right, but I don''t see anything wrong with spending time there reading and hanging out.

 

[icekid]

Haha, I am with you iluv! So often you want to grab a cup of coffee, relax and chat for 20 minutes. But how can you when people are camped out all day? I wonder why stores tolerate this??? It cannot be good for their bottom line.

 

[Haven]

I have no problem with it. The more people who enjoy hanging out in bookstores the better, as far as I'm concerned.

And, stores like it, too. It's a part of their business strategy: Create a space where people will want to hang out and spend some time, and they're more likely to spend more money. And they do.

ETA: Of course, I got through my BA degree, a year of law school, an MA, and an MEd by studying in a bookstore, so perhaps I'm biased. I also take teenagers to bookstores on field trips every year *just* to encourage them that hanging out in bookstores can be cool.

I never took my shoes off or left garbage behind, though. That's just plain rude.

 

[TravelingGal]

Doesn''t bother me because of one little word:

Amazon.

Haven''t bothered with B&M bookstores in a long time.

 

[wsu12]

That store has purposely cultivated that environment. They want people to buy their hopped up sugar drinks and processed pastries, sit down with 17 magazines and lounge. Albeit, annoying it is here to stay.

I used to manage Pottery Barn Kids...talk about annoying. Parents would come in for hours, not buy anything and let their kids destroy the place. That job was the best birth control.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 11/10/2009 6:11:29 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett
One of my favorite things to do is go to Borders or B&N, find a comfy spot, and read while sipping on something. If I was a student, I''d totally go there to study. No, it''s not a library, but there''s a little more buzz in these stores than there is at the library. I like that. Libraries are too quiet for me. I can see where it would be annoying if someone did take off their shoes, left garbage out, and took up a lot of space though. That''s not right, but I don''t see anything wrong with spending time there reading and hanging out.

Ditto. I HATE studying in a library - all the silence and the lighting makes me feel like I''m in a morgue or something. On the other hand, I love bookstore cafes and coffeeshops - I like having a bit of background noise as I study or write papers. I do keep my shoes on, and my stuff confined to my little table however

 

[Octavia]

I sometimes camp out at B&N or coffeeshops to study, but if it''s really busy I''ll pack up and let other people have the spot. I know that not everyone is courteous about it, but for the most part, I don''t see a problem if the store doesn''t.

 

[zoebartlett]

Kind of an aside: I used to work in an awesome children''s book store for a few years while in grad school and it was heaven. There was a big comfy couch and chairs throughout the store (a fairly small place), and the back of the store overlooked the river. I''d always open up early or stay after closing just so I could take advantage of the cozy store. I''d read as long as I could before it was time to either begin working or go home. I loved it when customers came in and spent a long time there, even if they weren''t going to buy anything. I loved it there.

 

[icekid]

Date: 11/10/2009 6:47:35 PM
Author: Brown.Eyed.Girl

Date: 11/10/2009 6:11:29 PM

Author: ZoeBartlett

One of my favorite things to do is go to Borders or B&N, find a comfy spot, and read while sipping on something. If I was a student, I''d totally go there to study. No, it''s not a library, but there''s a little more buzz in these stores than there is at the library. I like that. Libraries are too quiet for me. I can see where it would be annoying if someone did take off their shoes, left garbage out, and took up a lot of space though. That''s not right, but I don''t see anything wrong with spending time there reading and hanging out.

Ditto. I HATE studying in a library - all the silence and the lighting makes me feel like I''m in a morgue or something. On the other hand, I love bookstore cafes and coffeeshops - I like having a bit of background noise as I study or write papers. I do keep my shoes on, and my stuff confined to my little table however

haha, I was totally a library girl through undergrad and med school. Places like bookstores hold far too many distractions for me! Fortunately I had friends who were library-goers as well, so I was always in good company.

Let me edit myself to say that I, too, enjoy hanging out in bookstores. It''s just that when 10 people sit there all day studying, then no one else has that opportunity. When the tables are full, I browse for a few minutes and leave without buying anything! I would assume that the one person who sits there all day buys a couple coffees, while others who would occupy the space would turnover more quickly thus generating more income? I have definitely been to some places where they do place time limits, or require folks to buy food/drinks to occupy the space.

 

[steph72276]

Doesn''t bother me at all....if I spend $6 on a cup of coffee, I think I deserve a comfy chair

. Although I have never stayed all day, maybe an hour or so at the most and I have never seen anyone with shoes off...gross

 

[iluvcarats]

I don''t mind when people sit in a bookstore and read. That is what one does in a bookstore. I don''t like it when people bring their lives into a bookstore, and make it their home away from home. By all means, browse, read to your children, look at books. But making it your own personal study carrel, I think, is inappropriate. I suppose B&N encourages it. But this is at the expense of others who just want to browse or buy books IMHO.

 

[mochi]

I love bookstores, unfortunately the little town that I live in doesn''t have one. Boy, I sure miss PHOENIX!!

 

[zoebartlett]

SDL -- that''s what it was like! What a great store (and movie!).

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Guilty

!

I use to go to coffee shops in college and med school. I needed background noise to study. At home I would get too distracted, and the library was too quiet and I didn''t like being around all the "gunners."

I briefly did it again while studying for the boards, but I am getting old now and can''t study for more than 3 hours at a time.

Sorry to all those people who I annoyed in the past.

But I do see why the coffee shops allow it. I no longer hang out in the shops, but I am a coffee addict (I used to drink sodas before I started the studying habit).

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 11/10/2009 7:49:21 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

Date: 11/10/2009 7:19:04 PM
Author: ZoeBartlett
Kind of an aside: I used to work in an awesome children''s book store for a few years while in grad school and it was heaven. There was a big comfy couch and chairs throughout the store (a fairly small place), and the back of the store overlooked the river. I''d always open up early or stay after closing just so I could take advantage of the cozy store. I''d read as long as I could before it was time to either begin working or go home. I loved it when customers came in and spent a long time there, even if they weren''t going to buy anything. I loved it there.

I sudently got the visual of The Shop Around the Corner... Meg Ryan''s little children''s book shop in NY in You''ve Got Mail.. I love that movie.. that bookstore was charming..

Me too, wasn''t that the best?? So cute.

Around here there are many colleges. But the kids love hanging out at B&N Starbucks, etc... It doesn''t bother me, I am not going there to hang on my lap top. I want to get in and out as quickly as possible. I posted a story about a weirdo who came up to me at the book store. I have CRS, but she said wasn''t I a kennedy... I was like nope, gotta run....I think I left without the book I was supposed to get for my god son for colleges. I swear wierdos hang at the book stores here... Amazon here I come!!!!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Date: 11/10/2009 9:13:28 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 11/10/2009 7:49:21 PM

Author: SanDiegoLady

Date: 11/10/2009 7:19:04 PM

Author: ZoeBartlett

Kind of an aside: I used to work in an awesome children''s book store for a few years while in grad school and it was heaven. There was a big comfy couch and chairs throughout the store (a fairly small place), and the back of the store overlooked the river. I''d always open up early or stay after closing just so I could take advantage of the cozy store. I''d read as long as I could before it was time to either begin working or go home. I loved it when customers came in and spent a long time there, even if they weren''t going to buy anything. I loved it there.

I sudently got the visual of The Shop Around the Corner... Meg Ryan''s little children''s book shop in NY in You''ve Got Mail.. I love that movie.. that bookstore was charming..

Me too, wasn''t that the best?? So cute.


Around here there are many colleges. But the kids love hanging out at B&N Starbucks, etc... It doesn''t bother me, I am not going there to hang on my lap top. I want to get in and out as quickly as possible. I posted a story about a weirdo who came up to me at the book store. I have CRS, but she said wasn''t I a kennedy... I was like nope, gotta run....I think I left without the book I was supposed to get for my god son for colleges. I swear wierdos hang at the book stores here... Amazon here I come!!!!

[/QUOTE

Aww I''ve definitely encountered my share of weirdos too. Ironically, I''m typing this in a bookstore coffeeshop (yum, coffee and cookies!). At the B&N at home, they have a huge cafe area and it''s rarely full (small town). Sometimes I''ll be one of two or three people there, and we''re all just studying or doing work (which is great, since I can stay almost all day, drinking latte after latte, since I don''t have internet at my parents'' house). At the Borders in my current city, it''s almost always packed so I stay a couple hours or so and then leave (and make sure my earphones are in so no one is tempted to talk to me - apparently I look very approachable). Though speaking of studying, I should really get my butt off of PS and start writing my essay!