Cal Student Store

Update:
So. it’s been about two weeks since school has begun and, during the middle of the first week, I found out that one of my books were out of stock (they didn’t tell me). They put in a pre-​pay for the book and told me they’d send me a confirmation email when it would arrive. A week and a half later, no email. I walk in to ask when’s the estimate date of arrival – they don’t have one. At that point, I canceled my order, and bought my book through Amazon Prime; the book came in two days. I found out that the StudentStore across the street had restocked the same textbook already. Welp.
The service representatives are nice and I can’t blame them, but their system sure is slow.
If you find out that your book is out of stock, order your books through amazon, if you can – or check the other Student Store. You’ll find that both places will ship faster than this one.

Do NOT order online and choose to pick up at the store. I ordered my books a week before class, and they still didn’t have all my books during the second week of classes. I also waited over an hour in line because they only have 2 – 3 people checking online orders…

Place closes earlier than 8. You guys should really change your hours of operation on here because i tried to get off work early and got there around at 7:35 and you were already closed!

Cal Student Store. This is the temporary location of the store officially associated with the ASUC. I have no idea what transpired at the former temporary location (where the Ned’s Bookstore used to be) and why there are now two separate stores catering to Cal students with books and Cal gear. Something about separate vendors managing and providing products. Whatever.
It is a much smaller space here at this temporary relocation. Eventually the store will move back to its permanent space at Sproul Plaza when the construction is finished (expected) by Fall 2015.
They have different yet similar styles of official Cal clothing as the Student Store directly. They have a whole lot more appliqued sweatshirts than printed. Many possibilities to ponder and acquire during my time at UC Berkeley.
They have similar Cal accessories, supplies and products as the Student Store. Binders and folders with either the Cal or UC Berkeley logos. And all the essential supplies like pencils, pens, and highlighters needed for classes, midterms, and finals.
The staff here are all right. Very welcoming and friendly. At the till in the rear, there is a tad bit of confusion of which student behind the register is ringing up purchases. If you are buying books, they ring up in the rear. Buying Cal Gear or other items, either the front or the rear counters will do ya.
I was looking at the other reviews with regards to purchasing books. Honestly, tis cheaper to buy used online or if possible, go electronic and paperless either renting or buying.
Another source for Cal Gear for sure! For reals.

Cal’s new bookstore is a bummer. It’s small and you can’t browse their books at all to see what is in stock. .
Every interaction I’ve had at this bookstore has been a fiasco. First, I ordered a used book from them online since the advertised price was less than I could find on Amazon and other sites. About a week later, I was advised by e-​mail that it was ready for pick-​up. After taking the bus up to campus and waiting in a long line, the cashier rang me up for a NEW book and said they didn’t have any used ones in stock and if I wouldn’t mind paying $ 20 more for the new book. I think not. Ended up getting a refund and ordering the used book from Amazon anyway. Total waste of my time.
The next time I went in was to pick up 8 required textbooks. Only 3 were in stock. I was told by a manager that they can’t afford to keep 100% stock of all the books. The rest of my books would have to be special-​ordered and I would be «up-​charged» for the expedited shipping. What? They wanted to charge me roughly $ 100 extra for shipping of books they are supposed to stock. After arguing with the manager, I was able negotiate to pay the advertised price as long as they didn’t expedite shipping so now I’m waiting for my books to arrive via slowest shipping.
Cal should really be more selective in choosing its vendors.

This store is the new, official Cal Student Store, not to be confused with the Student Store (although how could you not be confused, given that they’re only a block away from one another, named almost the same thing, and the Cal Student Store used to *be* the Student Store?) Basically, Cal used to contract with one company to run their student store, and when they switched companies, they moved locations, while the old company continues to run a now-​unaffiliated store in the exact same location. This review is for the new store, the one affiliated with the university in the new location by Copy Central.
I’m going to try to keep this constructive, but, seriously, this store is a maddening, Kafkaesque experience, and it is fundamentally unable to perform its basic function: to sell you books. You can purchase books online, and the website doesn’t tell you that (1) your book is not in stock; (2) nobody at the store seems to have any idea – and I mean *any* idea – when the book will be in stock, but (2b) they have no problem telling you it’ll be «sometime next week»; (3) that if you pick up in store, you shouldn’t just come by the store – instead, you’ll be notified your book has arrived by a phone call (because of course it’s not actually there already). Customers can’t peruse the shelves; you have to wait in line to even ask if the book you want is available, which makes it possible for you to waste whole hours of your life just standing in line for a book that isn’t there (but they have no idea when it’ll be there – sometime next week?).
I went to the store repeatedly over the course of three weeks looking for two books. I tried to buy them at the store for a couple weeks, then purchased them online and tried to pick them up after that. After four visits, at least three hours waiting in lines there, being told by five different people that my books would arrive «sometime next week», being assured they would show up any day now, finally being told that *one* of my books had arrived (only for it to be a used copy, which was a problem because I’d already paid for a new one), watching them struggle to give me a refund for my order because they somehow didn’t have my billing information, and being asked to remember offhand which credit card I had used to place the order three weeks ago, I am simply amazed at the level of sheer incompetence at play at this store. The people who work there seem nice enough, and the student staff are obviously doing the best they can, but the infrastructure of the store is so profoundly broken that you’re left feeling very, very disoriented by the experience. Like, was it weird to think that I could *buy* things there? Have I somehow misunderstood the concept of a «store»?
This is the only one-​star review I’ve given on Unilocal,because I generally hate the idea of semi-​anonymously tearing down businesses with good people working there. But the experience here is so terrible that I honestly feel like it’s kind of a public service to tell you all to stay away.
Suggestions for the store:
1) Be in possession of the books for which you accept money. Seriously, you’re a bookstore. Have books.
2) If books aren’t in stock, mark that clearly on the website and have an accurate estimate for when that item can reasonably be expected.
3) Let students browse your shelves, so we can see quickly whether you have what we need. The line is a huge, needless waste of time. Waiting at the store for an hour just to be told that they don’t have what you want can really ruin your day, especially since it’s so unnecessary.
4) If you don’t know when something you supposedly stock is coming, (a) fix that, please, and (b) don’t lie. «Sometime next week» was repeated so often (over the course of weeks) that it was clear nobody really knew, and it was just a stalling tactic, which makes the whole experience that much worse.
5) Don’t spend ten minutes telling me you can beat Amazon’s price. I don’t care if the book is cheap when you sell it to me if *there is no book*.