Borders

Empty boxes… café closed… no recent cleaning or vacuuming… books strewn over ½ empty shelves and on the floor… what was once a pleasant place to browse has turned into an ugly, depressing experience. I have been a Borders Pleasanton customer since 1994, and it’s been sad to see the long slow decline of this location.
Finally, the end has come for Borders in the East Bay. Maybe it’s time. Recessions suck.

Your typical Borders. Lots of parking out front, came here to blow some time waiting for my car to be serviced. Comfy seats, but limited to only a few up in front near the coffee shop. Gotta be able to find an open chair so I can catch-​up on my fave magazines. This place reminded me of the local library until someone brought in their kid, who started yelling book titles and other stuff out loud. So much for the quiet library atmosphere.
It’s good to browse thru their bargain book tables, there is usually some good book that has been marked way down to use as the latest conversation piece for your coffee table at home.

I’ve been visiting Borders a lot lately, along with my 15 month old. It’s a great place to go to get out of the house… especially if the weather is gross. I’m a member, so I receive email coupons all the time… usually 33%-40% any one item. Awesome! My daughter loves the children’s section. Only complaint is that it’s a little unorganized. Other than that, good bookstore.

I get a good amount of studying here, I buy their books, and their coffee ain’t soooo bad.
Seating is limited and so are outlets.

They sell books here.
Well, I know I won’t get credit for a useful review. Let the world know I was here.
They have a café. A prerequisite to stay in business.
Their bathroom was clean. Are you reading this B&N?
They have comfy chairs to sit in while reading books freely. Another prerequisite.
A nice selection of coffee table books on sale. I purchased one on my last trip.
They do sell digital media on a form of plastic discs, calendars, and board games.
There is a children section that will keep your child’s attention for about 4 minutes.

I come here to study at the café, and have had pretty good experiences there. The café service is fast and friendly, and the tables are large so there’s lots of room for your books/​laptop/​etc.
I came here once looking for some Geometry titles, and to my disappointment they didn’t carry more than one of the titles I needed because they were out of stock.

Best environment for books and cozy, less busy than Barnes. Very friendly staff, very good selection as well. Will go there just to sit and read for hours and much better place to do that than a busier store; I wish it was open later but it’s just because I like being there so much.

Borders is quite often my go to place when I want to get out of the house and the weather is not permitting outside. There is much less people here than at Barnes & Noble or Starbucks at Hacienda and parking is always easy.
Seattle’s Best makes wonderful cocoa trio which beats Peet’s or Starbucks’ hot chocolate hands down. And now that they have free Wi-​Fi, there is even more reason to visit.
Borders also often make it a wonderful experience with their 30 or 40% off coupons. I can buy books cheaper than or comparable to Amazon’s pricing.
Only couple of wishes:
1. That they had later hours. They close at 10 Mon-​Thurs, 11 Fri&Sat, and 9 on Sun. I’d love to gave a place to sit with a drink and book other than Starbucks at Hacienda which is always noisy. But then again, I’d want a 24hr bookstore & café.
2. That pets could be inside. There is outdoor seating which is nice when the weather permits but it would be wonderful if pets were allowed (well behaved and quiet ones of course). Heck, they might even help their bottom line with a policy that damaged books by pets are full responsibility of owner.

An excellent bookstore is going downhill. They have always had a good selection, and the coffee shop is great, but it looks like they’ve stopped caring about the basics. The men’s restroom is consistently a sanitary nightmare in the evening. This is the only one I’ve ever seen where one has to stand on a piss-​soaked floor to use the urinal. The reek extends out into the store. It is worse than any gas station I’ve ever been in. This is not just a one-​time issue either. I have told management and employees about it on multiple occasions, but they have done nothing.

Borders has the best selection of history books as far as big corporate bookstores go. However if you want a serious history book selection you need to go to the bookstores near UC Berkeley.

I love Borders in general, but the service here is really exceptional. Good selection of books, not overly crowded and I like the fact that café has plug outlets so you can work on your laptop.
They also have great deals on books — I frequently get 30−40% off coupons emailed to me, and so they work out to be the same price (and sometimes cheaper) than Amazon (plus no worries about meeting the minimum shipping amount).
Good place to spend a couple of hours on a weekend. Definitely recommend.

or Barnes&
are wayy cheaper, obviously because you can buy used books. But you also have to pay for shipping, so it can all depend on what is a better option.
I came in today to buy a book, and it might be just me, but I always have trouble looking for «that particular book». I was armed with the title, author etc. But is that in the psychology section? Romance section? History section? I always limit it down to a few sections, but can never get it right. Anyways, used the handy dandy computers to help me locate. Okay, so it referred to me psychology, but where the heck is that at? After looking around for 5 minutes, and couldn’t spot Psychology, and finally resorting to asking a store employee, I see it in the far right corner. Within a minute of getting to the Psych Section, an employee asks me if I need help. I give him the title and he helps me locate the book. Phewwww.
I also purchased a kid’s book, super cute book about crabs and the beach for $ 3.99. At the front door there are always hundreds of discounted books. These are great deals. Great for gifts, etc.
Overall, this location in particular is great as it always has tons of parking, helpful staff and a decent selection.

For the tri-​valley, I like this bookstore more than Barnes and Noble because I can always find parking and avoid a lot of the crowds found in the Hacienda Barnes. The café is ok, since I add cream and sugar to my coffee, there doesn’t appear to be anything better than our own Bay Area Peets.
It’s an average size Borders, with a decent selection of magazines. The Borders rewards program is also superior to Barnes… i think because it’s free. I never understood why Barnes made you pay a fee.

I’m a teacher. I get a discount on books I use in the classroom. Every book I buy eventually ends up in the classroom because my apartment is too small for my books. That being said:
Lalala, killing time in Borders, oh, I want that book, and that, and that. Yay! All finished, going to go buy my three new books.
Cashier (name tag said something about being a travel lady) offers me a Borders rewards. Check, have one. Then sees my teacher discount card.
Snarls rudely, «You know that only applies to books being used in the classroom.»
My response: «Yes, these will end up in the classroom. I teach English and History. Every book ends up there.»
She says nothing more, rings me up, I save the world by not getting a bag, and leave.
You may think, Mindy D., she’s just doing her job. Blah blah. And to this I ask you: does my discount come from her pocket? Did I not buy $ 34 in books? Do teacher make soooo much money that we have to monitor their discounts? Are there are just too many perks to teaching, like spending the past 5 months now knowing if I’d have a job (thanks Arnold!), that I should expect people trying to save the innocent Borders corporation $ 6?
On the flip side, I went back the next day, bought another book, and was not harassed when I used my teacher discount.

Came here because I had a bunch of giftcards I never used. I usually try to get books on
or amazon since they’re such a better deal. We went on a Saturday at about 1:00 and it wasn’t very crowded. We even got help finding a particular book when we asked. If you’re a teacher you can apply for a discount card and get 20%. The associate at the counter was very helpful with setting me up with the discount card. I’d definitely return in a pinch since now I know I can get 20% off.

I love books and I love giving books to my ittle nephews and nieces!
Crazy busy — there was 40% coupon for Borders Reward customers and everyone was cashing it in the day i went in.
They had everything you need — not as big as a B&N but a lot eaiser to shop in and take your time.

I will make this quick, simple, and a very small review based only on a small part of the Border’s establishment.
I used to live close by Border’s, and I frequented their café. I went almost every day just to have one of their blended coffees. Back then, it was Border’s coffee, a last minute addition tossed out like Ben Stiller’s antics. I loved that place. It was horribly lit, the tables were ratty, it was small, the employees were themselves, happy, and not busy, wearing whatever the hell they felt like wearing, and the manager was care free. The employees were the people who worked the floor by day, worked the café by night. Their coffee? 3 times cheaper then Starbucks.
Close curtain.
Open curtain.
38 days later, my love is gone, and is replaced with a «Seattle’s Best Coffee». They revamped the floor plan, replacing everything with new, contemporary objects, replacing everything. New colors, new everything. The prices spike up, they are all now more expensive then Starbucks, they fire half the staff and replace it with exclusive staff. No more familiar faces. Dress codes imposed, new management, the old manager becomes bitter like an unprocessed cocoa plant, and soon, it just becomes a corporate pawn.
A part of me cries even now.
The bookstore is alright, though.

Going into the store is so much better than shopping online… in this case for me.
I dropped over 300.00 last month just on books.

I prefer shopping here over Barnes & Nobles because it’s less busy. If you like to read, there are plenty of books to browse. If you like music, go ahead and go to the listening stations before you buy the album. Like movies? They have shelves of DVD’s for you to browse. It’s a great place to have your coffee, read a magazine and relax on the comfy couches in the café. There’s something for everyone and the staff is generally pretty friendly. Don’t forget to sign up for their free rewards program where you get a bunch of free coupons via email for free.

When you’re stuck waiting for someone, you can just walk in here and read whatever you want. No one will hassle you for loitering because they think you’re getting smart by reading as opposed to video games. Unless of course you’re reading the book that tells you how to steal using computers. I guess that’s learning. Silly me.