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Waterstones
by jojo8948
I have just visited a waterstones store and had a great experience so thought I would write a review on them.
The store I visited was Telford, which isn't a huge store, it only has one floor, but it is crammed with books, and I thought I knew what I was looking for and found the section straight away.
I was ... looking for a book for my husbands best friend, who is 30 next week. We were going to get him a book on the Amazon, as he has been there and loved it and never stops talking about it.
After looking in the travel section of the store, I was having no joy in finding anything about the Amazon, there were books on Brazil, but that's not quite what I wanted, so I asked a member of staff, and they very helpfully pointed me in the direction of Nature and found the only book in the whole store about the Amazon very quickly. The book was not what I was looking for so I decided to leave it.
I later went back to the store with a plan to buy a David Attenborough book, as this would be a good gift too. The staff again showed me to the correct section very quickly and talked me through a couple of options. They were so helpful, and really knew a lot about the books. They didn't make me feel silly for looking in the wrong section either.
I purchased the David Attenborough Life Stories book, and when I got to the till I noticed there was a slight mark on the paper cover, so I asked if they had any others in stock. The lady at the till checked for me, without question and said they hadn't but that she would give me a 10% discount as there was a mark, and she did point out that it's non refundable if you accept the discount, which I thought was fair enough.
Every member of staff I encountered was so pleasant, I was really pleased, and would happily buy books from there again, but while I was there I also noticed that the store was very neat and tidy, and the book sections were all clearly labelled and there were a few bargain tables which I would have loved to have a mooch through but didn't have the time. They had a separate childrens section, which also looked like it had some great books too.
I think if you are looking for a book as a gift this is a great store, I would happily buy from there again. They had a huge range of books for such a small store, so
I can imagine the bigger stores are even better. The staff were friendly and helpful, and I came away with what I wanted. The books are clearly laid out, and separated into sections, which are very helpful if you are looking for specifics.
I know that books are cheaper from places like Amazon and various other internet sites, but I needed a book quickly, and the help from the staff was worth the extra money. I also ended up buying a couple of extra little books by the till for my husband as his birthday is the day before his best friends.
I would highly recommend this store. Great customer service and a huge range.
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WH Smith
by anonbg
As the shape of our high streets continues to change some old favourites such as WH Smith continue to exist. The crucial question is can they continue with their success or are they are dying breed a la Woolworths?
WH Smith started its life as a newspaper stand at Euston Station way back in 1792 expanding to other stations ... throughout London and gradually became a limited company with shops. Today it has 565 shops over the country.
In truth the WH experience has not changed much over the years. Today it stocks the usual stalwarts such as gift cards of all kinds, it sells a very wide range of newspapers and magazines - which you can browse through, unlike in some other newsagents and it sells books, more often than not in the upstairs section of the store, if it has one. The books section, depends on the shop you go to, in some Smiths it is quite extensive, in others you just get the main bestsellers and popular authors. In any case, its useful because you can do some browsing and decide to buy elsewhere later if necessary.
The stationary section has been improved of late, these days you buy can buy laminating machines as well as folders. There are also more items in related departments concerning computers such as DVD's. I have noticed that in some stores the music section has died away or downgraded, taking second place to computer DVD's antivirus, games etc. You can also buy gift packages for a weekend away at a health farm for example. If my memory serves me correctly the arrival of confectionary items (thats sweets to you and me!) is pretty recent too. In summary the range of items on sale at WH Smiths is pretty good
Now prices, unfortunately WH Smith is not cheap. You can probably find many items on sale in the high street for cheaper (Wilko's, maybe Waterstones, Clintons) but I wouldn't call it outright expensive When buying cards its usually the right card you are looking for, rather than price so this isn't an issue. Wrapping paper is a bit expensive though and its pricey to buy chocolate here and you might be better off at Wilko's for some stationary items, although the quality might not be as good. My advice is as always, shop around, if you have time. At least WH Smith gives you a chance to hold the item then maybe you can order it online afterwards.
The staff at WH Smith are more scarce than they used to be, I have a feeling that they have reduced average employee numbers over the past decade. But they are polite and helpful when you can find them. It is also one of those shops to be avoided at lunchtime as they queues can get long.
The million dollar question for Smiths, can it maintain its place on the high street? My feeling is that it will have to continue to diversify in order to keep pace with the changing high street. They rely on the fact that people come in quickly to find / buy something, without checking on price and my suspicion is that their stores at various stations provide much of the income, whilst some others struggle to break even. They might even consider making a basics range to compete with Wilkos on some items, if they believe they are losing customers to them. It is a tough market out there and even if WH Smith is a byword for tradition, it can't rely on its reputation but has to move with the times.
They may not have quite the same warm feeling they used to, but I wish them luck. I personally like going into shops that used to be around in my childhood. I'd probably give them 3.5 if it was an option.
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WH Smith
by pal60
I often pop into this store to see if they have any good books as I work away from home sometimes and a good book can pass the time away while in hotel rooms as it can be a little bit boring at times but I always go for the bargain books as some are very good value for money.
They sell lots of stationery, books, papers, ... magazines, Dvd's, Cds, toys and much more, and the store has been around for a very long time and have stores all over the country.
I remember going to them on a regular basis many years ago with my Christmas vouchers and they still sell them and they are very handy for people to give as gifts so they can choose the items they want themselves.
The book selection depends on the size of the store but most of them are quite a large size, especially the ones that are in shopping centres. The High Street ones can tend to be just a little bit smaller and not stock as much.
They sell birthday cards and wrapping and at Christmas they sell the festive seasons cards as well as the wrapping paper, they also sell toys and games for the children and they do a good selection wooden toys and I bought some last Christmas in the sale for my grandchildren and I bought many of them half price.
They have a wide choice of stationery and the selection is very good but the prices I think tend to be sometimes a little expensive and if you have children and they need them for school it can be quite an expense at times.
Some books when they first published can be priced with a lot of discount off the original price, especially a Biography book.
I have noticed it can still be very busy in these stores but the amount of staff has reduced a lot over the past year or so, probably because of the recession and so sometimes the queues can be very long to pay for your goods.
I always find in the stores I visit the shop assistant always asks me if I would like to buy a bar of chocolate and me being me with a very sweet tooth always say yes lol but it can be annoying at times as they sometimes have it almost in the bag before I can say yes or no lol.
I think this is a very good store but sometimes over priced and the goods can be bought a little bit cheaper elsewhere.
I rate it 5 stars.
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