My Favourite Bookstore on the High Street (Waterstone's)

Member Name: paulie1975

Product:	Waterstone's
Date:	12/06/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well maintained, good stock, great staff

Disadvantages: Pricier than Amazon

Waterstones is a British Bookstore that is now probably the largest book seller on the High Street.

The Store seems to have been around forever but was actually only created in 1982 by Tim Waterstone on the Old Brompton Road in London. It currently has 303 stores nationwide as well as a huge website and employs 4500 people. It was taken over by HMV group in 1998 and has also taken over a large number of Dillons and Ottokar bookstores.

The Store:

I will use the store in Ipswich as an example. It is really nicely designed sitting in an old three storied building close to the buttermarket. The outside of the store is well marketed with the latest books and details of book signings etc. Inside when you walk in there is a clear map of how the whle store is laid out.

When you walk in there is a reasonably large ficton section, as well as a large shelf for new releases, obviously in larger stores such as Charing Cross or Oxford Street there is a much larger section for fiction.

There are regular 3 for 2 offers on books too, this is a constant in the store and is great value. There is a large section for kids books which is colourful and well designed.

Upstairs you have all non-fiction, from sport and travel to media and cookery, this is a large part of the store and has a fantastic range of books. There are also large sections for history, academia and other items of interest. Overall there is an impressive selection and even more so in the larger stores.

Staff:

One of Waterstones greatest assets is its staff, many stores have people who work simply for the pay, here the staff really know and care about their subject matter, they are encouraged to recommend books and their recommendations are shown on the shelfs and when asked for help they are incredibly helpful and will go out of their way to search for books in store or on their computer database. If the book is unavailable they will try to order it in for you which is great.

The Prices:

Prices are easily comparable to anything on the high street, while they are more expensive than amazon, they are the best prices on the high street and the regualar 3 for 2 deals make their offers highly competitive.

My View:

I thoroughly enjoy shopping at any Waterstones store, its the kind of place where you can find a book and while away hours, from the small classy stores in Ipswich to the huge 5 story version on Picadilly, they have a huge rane of books, provide comfy seating to relax and check out the books and their staff are superb.

Summary: My Favourite Bookstore on the High Street