New York University – Main Bookstore

This university bookstore has a whopping one bookcase devoted to all of science and mathematics, as well as a labyrinth-​like textbook section organized by author (wtf?). Prices are high.

I am a Asian female consumer, also one of the clients who bought a book in the downtown bookstore (726 Broadway), and have been discriminated by one of your worker named Liz (she said her name is Liz at least, the female worker who always walking around the textbook area in the first floor with short and white hair and glasses).
I feel that I have been discriminated against on the basis of my racial.
I think I have the rights to text my friend in cell phone in the bookstore since there is no sign said no texting in the store. second, I have purchased a book with full price from your bookstore with control# 1.4.189 524.68167.8808.
When I am texting my friends in the bookstore, I found she (Liz) walked around me in a circle with radius within half a meter couple times, and she was watching at me for quite a while. Then she stand right behind me to tried to hide her body, purposely, by the bookshelf behind me and looked at me through the shelf gap for a long time. then I felt very uncomfortable for my privacy, since there are lots of people walking or reading the books between the book shelf, most of them are not Asian, but she kept watched over me and only me for couple minutes couple times.
This made me feel she took it very personal to me against my race and try to violate my privacy.
Then I moved to a different area since she still watching me through the shelf gap and tried to hide herself instead of just walking along the room to watch the big area. Then, to my surprise, she tracked me this time and tried to found me when I moved to the other side of the bookstore. I asked her if she was following me and why, she said she did not. and I said that «why you kept watched me over through the gap between books and hide you self behind me?» Surprisingly, she said that this is the way she worked. Are you serious??? are you a police or FBI or someone who has the permit to keeping watch over me and trying to hide behind me purposely? and I questioned if the bookstore let her kept watch over me as one of here work? she start to yelling loudly and rudely, and arguing with that «you did not see I am watching you. you didn’t! You never see that!». I said that «I saw you were watching me through the gap by my eyes», she shot me out, again, that «no, you are not, !
you are not seeing that!» and shot it couple times. I said «you are following me which makes me pretty uncomfortable», she said «no, you are not uncomfortable. you are not!»
Seriously? How can she judged the way I felt and saw the world and surrounding? This is extremely rude and discriminated against my race. She made me felt that she could do everything and anything in the bookstore just because she worked here and This is the way she work. Is that really true? Even if the book is the one I have purchased from your bookstore???
I am a visual normal person and I can see there is a women who was following me and watching me couple times by my own eyes. and I could tell that She did that purposely and very personally. This is a violation of my privacy and my race. She denied and ignored my feeling and watching, even, she was judging and correcting what I should see myself and the way I am seeing myself just because I am Asian? if not, why she did it so personally? This is a racial discrimination since there are lots of people when I am in the store and she did not do that to other people who have different racial with me. All she did was following me or tried to follow me. I am a female Asian, and I have the rights to speak my feeling and asked question to the bookstore worker. if she wants to make sure what the clients did, she should figure out a polite way to do that and avoid personal judgment and violation of anybody’s privacy regardless their race. even if I have purchased the book in the bookst!
ore. Then I told her that I was going to complaint her, she said «go ahead! I have the camera.»
I have purchased the book in the bookstore and the money was transferred from my card to the book store, again.
so what I did to my own book are still under the judgement of her, or so-​called her work? how and why? I think I could text my friends, used the cell phone or even took the picture of the book since I have already purchased it.
I don’t understand why she following me and watching over me is part of her job as she said?
this is very personal and rude. I even don’t understand why she felt she was working for the bookstore so she could yelled to a client who purchased the book by money from store very loudly and emotionally??? This is the way the bookstore treated their client who have purchased item and paid money to the store?
This is pretty unbelievable and crazy. I felt extremely disappointed and frustrated about my client experiences in your book store.

Apparel is priced as you’d expect but some book prices sometimes actually mirror Amazon, and staff are friendlier than they need to be, though the ‘checking the receipt but not the bag at the door’ thing makes little sense.

Has gone downhill since they started jacking with the coffee shop element on a regular basis. And no public restroom. So they definitely don’t want this to be a student hangout or study spot.
At first glance it boasts a vast selection of NYU goods. Once you’ve visited a few times, though, you realize they rarely get anything new. I guess that’s good for families of upperclassmen who no longer feel the need to rack up a big bill on subsequent parents weekend visits.
They DO host some cool special events. Especially with alumni authors. And you can often spot some treasures on their sale carts.

A good place where you can find all the textbooks or NYU staff like cups, T-​shirts, everything. But the price is not that lovely.

Did you know the NYU Bookstore on Broadway has a Think Coffee right inside? Now you do!
The coffee shop serves coffee and pastries via a window counter to students and faculty in the neighboring building, so if you’re in a rush to get to class, you can take advantage of this nifty area.
However, if you do have the time to enjoy your coffee and pastries, you can grab a table right in the café section of the bookstore.
I have seen a few bums hogging up a few of the seats, so be careful folks!

Katherine, Kelly, and Kumar made some great customer service happen for me recently. I was unexpectedly asked to go on a scrub shopping spree for my cousin’s dental practice, and as he has been invited to guest-​lecture at NYU, he wanted to get logoed up.
I called ahead, asking for 10 pairs to be put aside in various sizes, and was promised that they would be. Unfortunately, upon showing up, only 1 of each had been left in my name. Katherine and Kumar worked quickly together to raid the shelves and storerooms for everything else I was looking for, and although quantities were limited, I left with almost as much as I’d originally wanted. The next day I noticed that I’d gotten a wrong quantity, and Kelly was happy to exchange one piece with absolutely no hassle and a small refund.
The scrubs were not cheap, but looked to be of high quality, and were exactly what my cousin was looking for. Great all-​around service, and cheap street parking made it a very easy chore to do.

I remember the old bookstore with its sweaty basement filled with books piled to the ceiling (back then you could buy new or used textbooks). This new bookstore is a complete revamp, now catering to a more generic walk-​in crowd rather than your typical NYU students (books are way too expensive here). While it may lack the character of the old store, this one is large, well stocked and has a huge computer and gifts section. Sadly, there’s only 1 dressing room which was abnormally heated even for a cold wintry day like today. The Alumni discount of 15% was greatly appreciated.

I am an NYU alum, WSUC ’90, and I remember the old bookstore on Washington Place fondly. I was a comparative literature major, so often I’d buy books that were more widely available at the Strand or from my boyfriend, who worked at another local bookstore and could get a discount, but I’d buy all my German language books there, and any textbooks that i needed for core classes. The store was old, quaint, and a little gritty, just like Washington Square.
The current NYU bookstore is pretty much a t-​shirt store. I can’t imagine being a current student and buying my books there. The Washington Place location had a small selection of t-​shirts, sweatshirts, etc., but I felt positively assaulted by the violet torch after about five minutes in there. I did see some books around the edges, but I really had the feeling that I was at a Sports Authority that had been decked out by John Sexton.

It’s funny — I wear more NYU gear as an alum than I ever did as a student. Maybe I feel like I’ve earned it now? Anyhow, I still stop in here from time to time to pick up the odd baseball cap or t-​shirt. You can usually find shirts and stuff on sale, especially at the end of the season.
Because they sell at list price (or higher, for some textbooks), I’ve only bought books here a few times:
1) When I couldn’t find the edition I needed anywhere else at all.
2) When the edition I needed was more or less the same price everywhere else.
3) When I had those pesky classes where we didn’t get the booklist until after the first class, and I needed the book that night for homework.
4) When I’ve been in there shopping for other things and they’ve had insane clearance sales.
The service is good, but not remarkable. The prices are obscene, but not surprising. I’d recommend sticking to the NYU gear when you’re here — Shakespeare & Co. next door and The Strand up the street are definitely better options for books.

I like coming here when I have awkward breaks between classes, or when I just feel like browsing through NYU apparel and other miscellaneous NYU-​related things.
Books are expensive so unless you need them immediately, you should go elsewhere for them.
There’s a Think coffee inside where you can get something to drink or a quick bite to eat.

Don’t come here for the books. Come here for the NYU swag and the MAPS!!!
Best place to buy an NYC map especially a small one for your wallet for the subway lines.
Sure, you can just buy all the books via Amazon but there is something special about pawing through a book in a store.

This bookstore is huge! It’s well laid out, and the people working here that I spoke with were pretty knowledgable and chill. As with most university bookstores, you can find tons of stuff emblazoned with the NYU logo. It’s fairly easy to get lost… signage is good but not stellar.

I’m an NYU student, so have made several visits to this store. On the plus side, it’s big and nicely laid out, has a good selection of apparel, supplies, and other school-​related gear, and has a nice coffee shop in the middle. However, it’s part of the Great American Textbook Racket, so I cannot love it. Every visit is a painful experience that leaves my wallet empty and my desire to stick it to The Man at an all-​time high.

This new location for the NYU bookstore makes it feel much more accessible to the public.
Obviously, it caters to NYU students and carries lots and lots of textbooks. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the test prep guide we were looking for (although they seemed to have all the others in the series.)
There were also plenty of non-​textbooks, NYU-​branded merchandise, and a coffeeshop.
Staff were reasonably helpful, it’s spacious, and they layout seemed fine. I don’t know if it’s the first bookstore you should check out in the neighborhood, if you’re not an NYU student, but bookstores are simply inherently cool, in my book!

They have so much stuff but it is all expensive, not like students don’t pay enough for tuition. But it is a nice place to go use the free wi-​fi and get a coffee and a snack at think coffee

As an NYU alum, I love looking here. Everything is so over-​priced though that I usually walk out without buying anything. And the clothing is sized pretty small. I’m sure there are bigger people than me who’d like a T-​shirt from their school. I do find some interesting books here though.

When are people going to learn to buy books from amazon and not University bookstores? The NYU Bookstore is no different. With marked up prices and low buy backs, this place is the typical University money pit.
That said, they do have a good selection of NYU apparel and it is a larger than usual bookstore.

This place would get lower ratings, but the think coffee and large space make up for it. Relative to our old bookstore on Washington Place, this place is 5+ stars, but we’re looking at just the new store and nothing else.
Prices are still too high. Their security has increased due to their location. Their selection accommodates to the general public. The space is organized well, with periodicals and popular novels in the front, clothing in the center, and the NYU course specific books in the back.
Overall, great job, as a bookstore. Sorry to say, I’ll pass on purchasing anything. $ 50 dollars for a book I can get on amazon for $ 7 just doesn’t work for me.

Anyone who buys their course books here is a moron. However, there is a Think Coffee inside to satisfy your coffee addiction.
HELPFUL HINTS FOR THINK COFFEE: a small coffee is $ 2, and a large is $ 2.35. Also, if you bring your own mug coffee is only $ 1.96.