Borders

Too bad… sooooooo sad! Borders is closing up shop. I walked in to check out what kind of close-​out deals they had and they are almost completely empty. But note to those who are in need of some furnishings, they have a a ton of their book shelves for cheap, some Seattle’s Best coffee (huge bag of beans for like $ 20), cards for 50% plus an extra 10%, and some Dell monitors for about $ 100. It’s a good deal if you’re looking to pick up some handy items…
We will be sad to say goodbye to the end of this era of books. But I have to say, I am in love with my Kindle…

It’s going to close. =(The bathroom is already closed. =(

I give this two stars because it is closing very soon. I couldn’t even use the bathroom, Seattle’s best coffee is long gone and yet people still find places to sit and read the books. Eh yobos this is not the library!
I did score some good deals on journal books, gift wrap, gift tissue and magazines. It is slim pickings for everything else…
Rosetta Stone, still pricey at $ 500-​$ 700? Should I wait until you are 75% off? Wow I thought you were cheap, Rosetta? I guess I could get by with books in other languages…
Well, this book store was fun while it lasted but now the Pike will be even more of a ghost town after this place shuts down.
Where’s the clothing stores, Pike management? Or something decent!

PROS: The bookstore itself is great. Comfortable chairs, great selection, extensive magazine racks, free WiFi, and a decent coffee shop (Seattle’s Best). I can’t speak for the coffee, but the pastries were good. just underneath the Cinemark theaters and easy walk to nearly a dozen restaurants.
CONS: The bathrooms? Disgusting. Their own employees suggested using the facilities in another building.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Borders. No other bookstore gets my money usually.
But the bathrooms in this store… absolutely and positively disgusting. Out of toilet seat covers? Okay, I can improvise. Out of SOAP?! Come on now… it says the «hourly inspection» was completed, for whatever that’s worth. I was totally grossed out and will not forget about this bathroom experience.
As for the rest of the store, you would never guess they have disgusting bathrooms. Just as clean and organized as any other Borders. I always find what I’m looking for and I usually have at least one coupon at any given time in my email from them. I’ve gotten so many good deals.
Bottom line: the store is perfectly fine and good, as long as you don’t go down that bathroom corridor.

Came in looking for a NCLEX (RN board exam) study book. The employees were very helpful and willing to help me with my search. I renewed my membership and saved $ 10 on my purchase AND got a coupon for a free drink from their coffee shop (Seattle’s Best Coffee). The barista was very cheerful and nice, which rubbed off on me and put me in an even better mood. I left the store feeling so much more happier than I had entered it. That’s how all businesses should make a customer feel.
On the down side, the store is a little smaller than your average Borders and the book selection is limited. But what they lack in size, they make up with personality! HA! :)

I love Border’s over any other bookstores. This is the closest bookstore close to me, but I dont even go to it much. I guess maybe cause I’m fat & lazy, parking is a hassle. If your lucky then theres an available meter parking right infront, if not … then gotta head to the parking structure & walk yourself all the way back. Okay maybe im exaggerating with distance but still its a lot of work for me just so I can get a book

The main reason this Borders doesn’t get 5 stars from me is that the parking isn’t very convenient, there is electronic meter parking in front, but it is very limited for all the shops in that area. Other than that you need to park in the structure and walk about a block.
There is a Seattle’s Best Coffee Shop inside and it is usually PACKED with people on laptops and readers and people from the convention center. There is outdoor seating that actually is covered so you don’t have to worry about rain, but you can still bring your dog.
The sections are clearly marked with ceiling signs and the lines are never very long, they have a lot of great gifts for booky people or people who love stationary, games, art.
There is a lot of seating everywhere and people make the most of it. I myself find it odd to sit in a book store and read magazines, but some people do. I mean, it’s not a library.
The energy is good and they have terminals where you can look up what is in stock. The staff member who waited on me was very helpful.
I think the main thing they have going for them is that they are at The Pike, so if you are going to hang out, chill, shop, walk around, you might as well stop in and have a latte and buy a book…

This is a nice Borders for the area. It gets good walk in traffic. The layout makes it feel larger than it is. Shares the area with a Seattle’s Best coffee (like most of the Borders).

This Borders is a little small. The selection of books is not that big. What I do like about this place is that they have tons of books on sale. You could get books for $ 1.99 -$ 5.99. Audiobooks too.
There are some places to sit. but not much.

Not gonna lie, I always preferred Barnes & Noble over Borders. But since discovering an amazing thing called Borders Rewards and hecka coupons you can find online/​get e-​mailed to you for 20%, 25%, 30%, or even 33% off any regular priced items, this makes purchasing books so much more affordable! Geez, I haven’t bought a book for full price in yearssss due to these lovely coupons that help me $ave. So get on it yall, it’s free to join! (Shameless advertising :])
I particularly like this Long Beach location because of my experience here with such great customer service. The people that work here give you the kind of assistance that librarians would, if not more (they know their books)! Plus, I’ve come here for a few of the events they host like the Twilight DVD release party (yes, don’t judge). Despite there being nothing but young girls in their Team Edward & Team Jacob shirts on answering trivia questions and playing games posed by Borders employees – as their parents anxiously await for the stroke of midnight – it was a pretty fun experience and was well contained! Good job workers!
Also, if parking worries you and you’re coming just to pick up a book or browse for a bit on a weekday, come after 9pm: free meter parking & you beat the crowd! This location also has less of a college crowd compared to the one on Bellflower. Thus, a great new study spot with free wi-​fi? Yessss!

I go here to hang out with my friends alot. They have a little café there where I can relax and read books. But also if I need a little privacy I’ll sit at the chairs near the windows. Not at the café but chairs off to the side. Find a spot by yourself if you want a sitting area near the windows. It’s rare to find two chairs empty. You can read manga to your heart’s content. Look before you buy any books here with bent covers. Up to you. They also have the Borders Reward Card with coupons that give you discounts. I bought the DVD Spirited Away for 10 bucks with discount. Coffee here is cheap for small cup. I think around two bucks. A bigger size around 5 bucks.
They have an impressive book collection, music dvds, magazines etc. Explore the wonders. Children’s books I adore that section as well as the game aisles. Come to Borders and enjoy the day.

Surprised that the staff is very friendly. You don’t see a lot of that in corporate-​chain bookstores. Bought VegNews after looking for it in 2 other Borders and a Barnes and Noble. Yay!

I am simply here to comment on the Seattle’s Best Coffee that is inside of this Borders.
I did not have a good experience at the coffee shop here at all. So my mom, cousin, and I came here to get some coffee before we head out to the Pike to walk around. My mom got a cappucino, my cousin got an iced coffee, and i got an ice mocha with hazelnut in it.
First of all, the area where u get the lids, straws, sugar, etc was a complete mess. Like it just looked disgusting. there were unopened sugar packets laying around, there was spilled milk that was unclean, there was all this sugar just spread out, etc. I can understand that someone else made the mess and all that, but honestly, an employee should check up on the bar area and make sure it is clean. it wasnt even that bz at this coffee shop. we came on a wednesday afternoon at 1pm. honestly, not many people are goign to be there at that time. I’m sorry but it was such a mess that i was compelled to take a napkin and just clean some of it up cuz i couldnt even stand looking at it.
On top of that, the messyness does not stop there. u know how at coffee places, u can look on over at the barista? let me tell u, the barista’s area looked like a mess as well. and the way she was just going about making the drinks, just did not put me at ease at all. maybe the barista was having a bad day or something. i used to work at a coffee shop and i know that usually what u want to do when ure making something like a mocha, u want to put all the syrups in first and then put the milk and expresso in. nope. not for mine. for some reason, i saw her make the mocha and then at the very end, she pumped in the hazelnut and just stirred it a bit. eh… no good. but i didnt really say anything because honestly, i just wanted to get out of there.
sorry seattles best. not a good experience.

The staff is friendly and helpful. Within 5 minutes I had 2 different workers ask me if I needed any help. The one thing I had an issue with was on their holiday sale table, when I asked if all the items were 40% off, I got a yes, but once at the register it was a different story. It was really not much of a big deal, but I was bummed that I didn’t get the super cool holiday discount.
A nice deal through Christmas is if you donate $ 8.99 towards the children’s charity they are supporting you get a free admission to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I wish I went here before the aquarium earlier…

About %20 of the time I come into Borders looking for a specific book. About %80 of the time I just come in to browse, relax, and feel comfortably surrounded by opinions and knowledge.
Thus, it was this time that I came in to just get away from a conference that I was attending across the street at the Long Beach Convention Center. This Borders made me feel right at home. There was a very diverse crowd in age and ethnicity. And the setup of the bookstore felt almost like one of those used bookstores that runs in an elongated room rather than the normal huge gigantic square of a space. A side of the store is lined in glass walls, letting in lots of natural light. There are pretty comfy seats throughout the store. And they now have free wi-​fi that works really well. I could have stayed there all day.

I meant to write a review about this Borders a month ago…
I love to go in book stores a kick it for free. In the summer it is awesome because these places have the best air conditioning if you are bored with sitting in the house. I love to go to the Romance/​Adult section and spy the young boys looking a sex manuals like they have a clue what a girls nether region is all about… hilarious. Anyway this Borders has the Seattle’s Coffee Spot and since I don’t drink Coffee I could careless but my girl will come back as coffee bean in her next life and she loves that crap. ME ON THE OTHER HAND… LOVED THE MUSIC!!! This Borders had Kings of Leon playing and I am not just talking the radio play songs, the were playing Muse, Pearl Jam… I was like yeah I could so kick it here at least once a wee and catch up on my reading of all those trashy grocery store tabloid magazines.* are Brad and Angie fighting again about all those damn kids*…* what is octo-​mom up to?* You know all the good dish… Anyway they had alot of books on sale as well which was cool and the staff wasn’t stalking us like we were trying to pull off the great Book Caper… 4 stars!!!

As far as Borders go, this one is nice enough. Really nice staff, good selection of some pretty hard to find books, but I would have never known if I hadn’t asked. I was really impressed that the girl I talked to knew off the top of her head just where to find them. I have a major warm n fuzzy for people that take pride in their jobs, so keep it up!
The bums and weirdos lining the seats in every section was sort of a turn off though. and speaking of the chairs, they stunk pretty bad. It’s called soap. heard of it???

Just for the Seattle’s Best Coffee…
I had a bad experience at another Seattle’s best so wasn’t expecting good coffee here at all, was totally wrong. Coffee was great and their carrot cake was even better! Snickerdoodle cookie was a bit greasy though, so I think whatever bakery they are using likes to include lots of the bad good stuff in their pastries, just a warning.

Quick & Dirty: Warm Snickerdoodles!!! No I’m not exlaiming that, they really do warm your Snickerdoodle at Seattles Best Coffee, located inside this Borders.
Long & Warm:
So me and a buddy stopped in here after movie hopping at the theater above Borders. We proceeded directly to coffee because we were both jonesin’ it. So in the case there is an assortment of cookies and they were big. I want a cookie. I got a Snickerdoodle and he got some gingerbread cookie p.o.s. Mine was better. So get this, no asking, no nothing and I get my cookie and it’s WARM! YES!!! Warm cookies are like the best thing EVER! Oh my love of cookies runs deep, and a warm one is orgasmic.
So needless to say I added a star to this update just for the warming of my cookie. The rest of this place is still a big turd.
YAY!