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.