cheap books, but 70% of them are rubbish! (The Works)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	The Works
Date:	29/01/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: some real bargains to be had

Disadvantages: A lot of rubbish too

THE SHOP:
The Works is a discount bookstore that specialise in selling books very cheap. Ours in Plymouth is jam packed on all available floor and wall space, with a wide variety that tends to focus mostly on childrens/music and reference. They also sell some art equipment such as canvases and paints.

THE GOOD:
At its best, The Works is a real treasure trove where you can find absolute bargains. For example, just at the time of the first Narnia film coming out, I found a lovely harback edition of all books for around a fiver: perfect. There are many times when I've found a great book here for a couple of pounds.

The best part for me is the 'reference' section, which is ideal for bizarre Christmas or birthday presents such as 'the world's 100 biggest machines' (a colourful guide) for around £3.

THE BAD:
Sadly, it's very hit or miss with this shop: stock is constantly changing, but around 70% of it tends to be what I would term 'rubbish books', that is books that are handy for stocking fillers but little else, mostly by unknown authors, cheap quality, very little effort seeming to have gone into making them.

The shop is very crammed, and I was unable to move around with the baby in the pram which was a real pain.

Strangely, the shop sometimes has popular titles at ridiculously high prices - more than Waterstones even. I feel this is against the whole idea behind the shop, and I can only guess they are trying to lull customers into a false sense of security that they are a good price.

IN CONCLUSION:
At its best, a great place for interesting, well priced books BUT expect to have to hunt through the tightly packed store to find them.

Summary: worth a look