Borders

Closing sale :(
I’m sad to see this place close up. I went in and got a few things. I wish the people there good luck.

Saw the signboards on the street about the 20−40% closeout sale. tried to find parking in the lot and no luck. available spaces were too narrow.
guess i’ll wait till they have a 50% off sale befoe i return.

1^st time at this location sadly it was because it is going out of business sale. EVERYTHING MUST GO this location across street from hillsdale 20−40% camon books and dvd’s blu rays also
The staff is helpful, location is fairly large, every section is almost at the point of madness, books, dvd, games all in disarray, the blu ray section remains intact because a key is needed to go through the stock, they also have tv series in these cases untouched unless requested to be opened by the staff.
in the next coming weeks the 20−40% will become 30 – 50 and in the end everything left over even the trays that held the books, dvds, games will be on sale
try to get there now, the book prices are soso you mite still be able to get them cheaper at amazon, they mention no returns when you walk in and when you are in line, this didnt stop the hordes of folks coming in, more or less there is still decent amount of books to look through, games, and some dvds and blurays need homes haha
service **** very helpful staff
price 20−40% at this point 2-​27-​2011 soon to be 30−50%
ambiance ** looking for certain things will be difficult everything is almost at a disarray point
beverage section indefinitely closed!!!

CLOSING :(- we waited in line about an hour bc the close out discounts are pretty darn good!
There is Branes & Noble basically across the street so no need to worry — books are not far away!

Fantastic!
Convenient location, upbeat vibe… Great customer service options. Friendly, knowledgeable staff members (a welcome relief after I got a fierce 40-​minute lecture from the Customer Service desk employee at Barnes & Noble for simply asking about weather or not they would be getting more shipments of a particular item or weather they had stopped selling them altogether)… Great selection of books and magazines… Creative and delicious coffee. Clean, sanitary ladies restroom.
Best of all is their membership discounts! Saved me a ton on my last purchase.
The whole place feels warm and comforting. So much so, I lost track of time there last week reading, chilling out, and enjoying some «me» time. Loved it.
My only complaints are that the non-​book gift section could use a little re-​organizing. Also, occasionally they turn the up-​beat music up a bit too loud to relax and read without distraction.
Keep up the good work, Borders! Your customers appreciate your efforts more than you know. Thanks!

Best place to buy books and since barnes and noble is way overpriced and a dump borders is really the only choice and now with borders rewards plus IRS even better. Only problem is there was this freak that worked here or still does idk but I was buying the startrek bluray for my wife and he started talking to me in what he said was Klingon wow what a freak. ALERT!!! THIS IS FOR TGE MORONS SITTING AROUND READING AND ON YOUR LAPTOPS «DON’T GET PISSED AT PEOPLE TALKING OR LISTENING TO VIDEOS WITHOUT A HEADSET DON’T GIVE DIRTY LOOKS IT’S A RETAIL STORE NOT A DAMN LIBRARY AND CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELVES DAMN SLOBS

I’ve been back here a few more times since my last (not so positive) review so I thought I’d write an update.
The children’s section is a lot more organized now and there are a lot of bargain books to choose from — a great selection if you need to buy a baby shower gift or a gift for a young child.
My husband also found a book he’s been looking for and with the Borders coupon that we receive weekly, we saved 33% off the cover price.
The cashier was really friendly and accommodating (long story I won’t bore you with).
So happy to see the store is back to my expectations!

I’ve been going to this Borders for many years and have spent a lot of money on books, magazines, maps, and other gotta-​have items that a bookstore carries. I love bookstores and just exploring up and down the aisles, even if I was just there a month earlier; there is always something new and exciting.

I come here periodically because they have free wi-​fi and free parking. They even offer additional outlets for the multiple laptop users there. The only thing is if you don’t get a table close to the outlets your lap top cord might not reach. I would bring a small extension cord just in case if you plan on using your laptop.
The coffee is good and the people are nice. And they don’t even bother you. I stayed there for about 5 hours today on one cup of coffee. I normally buy more than one cup of coffee if I stay that long, just to contribute to the business but it slipped my mind today. But that being said I still had no problems there.

Someone suggested we meet here to go over some business ideas. Next time, I’ll do the suggesting. I haven’t been to this Borders in almost a year and I remember why. Last time I went, it looked very cluttered and I thought it may go out of business. I’m not a fan of this store, small layout, little area to lounge, very limited tables for people so like today, we walked around before getting a seat.
The coffee store is just OK. Driving out you have to go north before doing a U to go south. This place needs a face lift.
I don’t plan on going back.

This place had plenty of seating and the staff at the café was friendly. I had gone to this place with my goddaughter to study and their children’s area was nice too. Simple but at least their is lots of room to just hang out on the rug and read a book or two. The bathrooms are clean which is a plus.

I guess the only competition in town for Borders is the Barnes and Noble down the street. While I basically like both places, I prefer Borders because half the reason I go to either place is to sit down and surf on my laptop. B&N has next to no outlets available for this.
On the other hand, Borders’ Wi-​Fi hasn’t worked for me about 2 out of 5 times now, and I know other people have had problems too.
My only real complaint is the air conditioning at Borders. I know I’m going to be chilly if I decide to sit down at their café for any length of time — and its annoying.

Borders or Barnes & Noble? Ah yes, the age old question for your local beatnik/​hipster/​hypebeast or the ever so disappearing book lover. While each establishment has its pros and cons, to me the battle between this Borders and the Barnes & Noble down the street would be perfectly described by the title of Alfie Kohn’s masterpiece as «No Contest.»
Let me explain why I feel that this battle between super bookstore titans is so one sided.
I’ve frequented the Barnes & Noble down the street more times than I should admit and I have even gone on to Unilocal it (
). So I feel I can provide a pretty objective assessment of what makes this Borders that much better.
Firstly, the café although much smaller and less extravagant, is so much more useful than that at Barnes & Noble. For instance there is proper lighting everywhere you sit, unlike Barnes & Noble where it seems like half the café is covered by a solar eclipse.
Secondly, there are seats with tables for people who plan on doing work or using a computer, and there are also loungey seats for those who wish to sip their drink while looking over a magazine. I have literally sat on the floor with my laptop at Barnes & Noble while the tables were taken by couples discussing where Jon and Kate went wrong.
And Lastly, the most infuriating thing, the most unexplainable thing, and the main reason why Borders trumps Barnes & Noble, the whole WiFi/​wall outlet situation. Recently both franchises have promoted their free WiFi, which is pretty damn cool, that is if Barnes & Noble’s ever WORKED! The internet network at Barnes & Noble has gone down more than a 3 bit hooker from Eastern Europe. If Barnes & Noble was a girl, she would be a down ass bitch! However, the internet being down at Barnes & Noble isn’t that big a deal because half the time your computer is out of battery anyways. There is literally two outlets in the whole café, two Outlets! I’m not talking about two places with outlets, no! One place and two outlets! I have a better chance winning the Mega Millions than getting one of those outlets. It is just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
Borders on the other hand has also two outlets, but they connected a surge protector to one of the outlets and another one to that surge protector so basically you can have up to 10 or 12 people using the outlet. Not to mention their internet has been superb, never falters, and is a pretty strong connection.
That is the main reason why I feel Borders is a lot better than Barnes & Noble.
I’m pretty sure Barnes & Noble has a better book selection, but I am sure Borders multimedia selection puts Barnes & Noble’s to shame. As for the café Barnes & Noble boasts its Starbucks brand which you have to admit is pretty good, Borders has Seattle’s Best which is not bad itself.
Overall if you are looking for a book you can’t go wrong with either, if you are looking for a movie or CD, I’d advise you to come to Borders. However, if you want the best overall experience from your local bookstore then Borders is the best OUTLET for you!

It has been painful to see the slow decline of the San Mateo Borders. The inventory continues to shrink, especially since their recent remodel. (Why do they even have CDs, at this point?) The percentage of misfiled books is pretty high. If you search for an item, you’ll get the useless «Likely to be in store» message, which is equivalent to saying, «Good luck finding it.» Yesterday, the music selection, an indie rock band played way too loud for a bookstore, made it difficult to concentrate.
Plus, a couple of clerks really need to ask themselves if they want this job. When I told the clerks at the cash registers about the number of misfiled books, they claimed there were too many books and too little time to reorganize them. Worse, they blamed the problem on the manager. Yesterday, when I told one of them that the music was making me spend less time browsing the store, and therefore spending less money, his response was a cryptic, «Yeah, we try to mix it up a bit.» (And no, I’m not complaining about the SF-​loving guy who talks too much, but is relatively harmless, and often helpful.)

It’s pretty decent — scored a bunch of books and the staff was helpful. Very nice and tidy overall especially with the huge clearance sales going on. I especially enjoyed the variety of books in clearance or in the buy one get the other half off — pretty good best sellers in there. Overall, nice store layout and nice section design.

Standard Borders. Large children’s section in the back with more space for the kiddies to run around than selection. Competent, helpful staff.
Oh and if you’re looking for the bathroom, just follow your nose. Really, it’s that bad you can smell it a few rows away.

On my way to school I always see this building, so one day I decide to actually go in. Now just looking at this building from the street, it doesn’t appear all that big. But that’s the side of the store. When I walked in I was blown away at how large it really was. Rows and rows of all kinds of books and anything else you might want.
I had fun just browsing and walking through the aisles. After all there’s so much to look at, even their DVD section is impressive, certainly beats Target’s selection.
I remembered I wanted to get The Alchemyst because I was told it was a good book. All I could locate was the sequel. And just finding that proved to take awhile, I didn’t find the computer search all that helpful. It was laggy. Another thing that bothered me was the organization of books. When I was browsing the Science Fiction/​Fantasy aisles, I was a bit confused at the ordering.
Also, I’m sure The Golden Compass is a good book. But when I’m looking for other novels, I don’t want to see the same book in 5 different book covers. Especially since the book was in the Science Fiction/​Fantasy AND the Young Adult section.
I decided to get two books, one which was on Color Pencil Techniques. Normally when I see art books it’s usually covering a spectrum of traditional media, but seeing one on just color pencils was a nice surprise. Not to mention the work inside of it is amazing. I get in the check out line and paid for my books swiftly.
To sum up my review: VERY large selection of books, music, movies, etc; organization could be better, computer search system needs to thrown out, staff is friendly and willing to help, prices are fair.

Notice to all golfers: you should be in love with me. Reason why is because I have a part-​time job at a golf course on the Peninsula.
Sadly, this part-​time job frequently bores me out of my mind, so I often stop at this Borders to pick up a book or 12 to read to keep me from falling asleep. While it is not as large as the one in Emeryville, it still has a decent selection. This week, I was looking for «Bitter is the New Black,» which I didn’t know was in «humor.» Frankly, it irritates me that people put their snarkiness on paper, get published, and make money for it. Although if I saved all my creative energy for something like that, I would be all used up when it came time to Unilocal,and my loyal following would be deeply saddened. Besides, I think you have to have the right connections for it, so I’ll just keep my excellent writing skills in cyberspace.
ANYHOW, why this place gets 3 stars is because their little lookup stations are often broken. Either they are not on (and I’m not patient enough to go look for a salesperson to turn it on, there’s a reason why I use these things and avoid human contact), or a certain key doesn’t work. And it’s not a seldom used key, like «z,» but something I really need like a «b.» How would I know to look in the humor section if all I could type in was «itter is the new lack»?
As I spend way too much time on the peninsula, I will be back.
Fix the keys, please.

The closest Borders to my house and its the one with the weakest selection of graphic novels. Don’t get me wrong they do have some gems like a few Preacher and Ex Machina volumes but the rest is just run of the mill X-​titles. Wahh.
This location has everything you can expect from a chain bookstore so browse on.

This borders is a fairly regular hangout spot for my fellow Shrunken Head Men and Women because of its balcony. People come here to sketch coffee drinkers and book readers all the time and I can see why.
I came here to hang out with my boyfriend at the Harry Potter event. Don’t read the overhyped kids’ stories myself, but I still had fun at the event (and yes, I know I just made 2000 enemies). Why, do you ask? How often does one get to stay in a book store till 2+ AM? I sat around drawing, socializing, and reading till late. It felt awesome!
I know, I’m such a dork.
Anyway, this border’s creates a wonderful atmosphere (event or no event), so it’s very pleasant to come here to buy a book or just hang out reading or drawing.