Indigo Books Music & More

I’ve often meandered the sections of this Indigo while waiting for a movie to begin in the Varsity Cinemas. Tonight was one such occasion.
I am not a Kindle user, nor do I read anything but articles on electronics. There is something too important about the written word on paper. This pretentious rant is probably too much for a Unilocal review, but as you can probably tell by my star rating, I love a decent Indigo. In an ideal world I’d only buy books from a local seller, but once in a while, Indigo is a perfect one stop shop.
This evening I bought two moleskins, two boxes of holiday cards, baby pajamas and a book. This list alone makes me question if Indigo is really even a bookstore anymore. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed thumbing my way through here. Did I need any of these things? Nope. Am I smitten with all of them? You bet.

They get customer service, it is a pleasure to shop here. The staff are super helpful and convey a real sense of care. Wish all shopping experiences were as rewarding…

This is the best Indigo. It has a great selection of books and gifts. The staff are really knowledgable and friendly and especially nice to our Scottish Terrier dog. You’ll see Indigo CEO Heather Reisman here frequently.

This is an awesome location in the Manulife Centre. It’s two floors with cozy Starbucks on the top ground level. Well lit with chairs to sit and read. Free wifi. And they had an interesting speaker when I walked in once hosted on the bottom floor with media and bodyguards. * gulp *

I had a horrible experience here this evening. I parked here because the lot I usually park at was closed for construction and my back-​up lot is closed on Sundays. I was in a bit of a rush, otherwise I would have driven a bit further to park in a different lot. The parking rates here are exorbitant. $ 20 daily rate on a Sunday! If you’re going to charge $ 20 bucks on a Sunday, you should throw in valet service and a car wash. Sheesh.
Anyway, after I was finished hanging with a pal I walked into the Chapters in the Manulife plopped down my parking receipt on the counter and asked the girl, «What can I buy so I don’t have to pay the $ 20 for parking.» She looks down at my receipt and responds that I have to buy at least $ 25 worth of merchandise. I say, «Fine, I’d rather buy a $ 25 gift card than have to pay $ 20 bucks for parking. I hate paying for parking.»
She tells me where to get my parking validated. I get it validated by this dude beside the elevators and then I head down to the garage. On my way out of the garage the incredibly rude parking lot attendants (Three in a booth, by the way. I have no idea why you need three attendants in one booth) demand that I pay $ 19.50. I tell them that I just bought a $ 25 gift card from Chapters so I wouldn’t have to pay for parking. They get all aggressive and tell me that my purchase merely covered my first two hours of parking. I now have to pony up for the remaining time on my ticket. I say, «So my $ 25 purchase validated me for fifty cents? That makes no sense. The Chapters girl didn’t tell me it was only for 2 hours. I wouldn’t have purchased a $ 25 gift card for a fifty cent validation.»
The parking attendant smirks at me, «She didn’t have to tell you!» Well, I suppose she technically didn’t have to tell me but she knew I was only buying the gift certificate to avoid paying parking so it was incredibly unethical.
A very unpleasant experience all around. I will never park or shop there again. Luckily I’m not in the geriatric set so it’s not really my scene anyway. Rude, rude, rude.

A wonderful establishment located conveniently in Yorkville.
A huge collection of books that will satisfy even the darnest bibiophobe. What’s great is that after you’re done reading (and purchasing it when I deem that you like it of course), you can pop down to the retailers nearby, e.g. the LCBO or Ron White to satisfy all your needs.
It’s near impossible to get a seat inside though — have fun hunting!

It’s worth it to wait for a seat in Starbuck’s here. But be ready to swoop in when a table is free!

If you still shop in book stores and don’t want used, than this is about as good as it gets. You wont find a better selection anywhere.

This is the best Chapters to sit down in a quiet corner to surreptitiously read a book you will not buy. I am keeping my preferred corner, a secret.
I usually come here when I want to kill time before the movies. Arts, fashion, cooking, magazines, fiction and the assortment of housewear items are located on the main floor, with pets, culture, religion, history, biography, children, amongst others, located in the PATH level. The PATH level is a labyrinth of sections which I have not explored in detail.
The staff is super friendly and helpful. I typically choose this location to pick up my online orders. The desk service is quick and friendly. I can’t complain. I enjoy spending my time perusing the various volumes and items on sale. Some do line up my shelves. Others make for interesting reading to pass the time.
There is something I can complain about, which is shared by all Chapters: the Wi-​Fi is not free. It’s linked to Bell and you need to create an account, and I think you get charged. I like my free Wi Fi.

This is a pretty good Indigo.
Very accessible (in the Manulife Centre), so you can walk through the underground to it from Yonge/​Bloor subway.
Has a good selection of:
— books
— other sundries including costume jewellry and household items (I even saw a hot water bottle!)
— they had a great selection of Kobo readers
— a nice coffee shop
There are two levels and they also sell music.
Basically a great place to have a browse for an hour or two.

I really like this Indigo. It’s really, really big. The starbucks is also great. I also really like the assortment of gifts. They have great things for your home, but if you’re trying to declutter, it’s just a giant store filled with temptation.
I feel like this is their flagship store, and they often have book signing and things. An author was there when I was there, and they had a table set up for him, and a poster (all the stuff you expect to see at a book signing, thanks to TV), less the podium for a book reading.

Great location, great selection and most of the time; great staff!

This is my local Indigo and I have nothing but good experiences here aside from a few small, negative aspects.
Let’s start with the bad — the store is poorly designed. An escalator down but not up? Or maybe it is the other way around. Either way, you have to circle around quite a bit to get anywhere. It is also crazy busy at this location, particularly during the holiday season. Today, the line wrapped around the top level.
BUT, I find the staff extremely friendly, knowledgeable and willing to go the extra mile to help out. Once, when I was moving I dropped by to see if they had any boxes and they had a bunch already broken down in the basement. The salesperson went down and got them for me! So nice! And, when they couldn’t find the mini-​version of the product I was looking for the salesperson literally took 10 minutes trying to figure out where it went to and how I could get it.
They have excellent products at Indigo, along with a good selection of books and I always enjoy my experiences here. Heather Reisman has basically taken a bookstore and made it your one stop shop for gifts, wrap, entertainment and reading. Heck, they even sell winter booties now. You can easily find a lovely gift, book or other, in this store.

I like Chapters/​Indigo for the most part. They have good clearance sales on-​line and I love their housewear stuff.
My only gripe with this location is their pick-​up system for orders placed on-​line. When you can finally track someone down to help you at the «special orders» desk, it takes them so long to actually find the item (s) you’re picking up! There’s no organization or system for how they store people’s stuff while it’s waiting to be picked up, just a pile of boxes to be sifted through before they find the right one. Just today while picking up an order I was told «well here’s one thing but I can’t find the other one…» Like, duh, I just got an e-​mail that my order had arrived and was waiting for me to pick up. Of course upon taking a closer look my other order was indeed there, just buried under a pile of crap. You’d think she’d look around for more than 8 seconds before telling me they just didn’t have my order. This isn’t the first time I’ve had a problem with picking up items at this location. I once showed up after receiving my confirmation e-​mail that the order was available for pick up and they couldn’t find it at all! After 15 minutes of looking I was told to come back! Fortunately it’s not too out of my way but what if it was? No apology or anything from the staff. Told me they’d order me a new one but it ended up being there the whole time, got a call 3 days later telling me to come in again… Then when I came in again the employee couldn’t find it and I had to point it out to her from across the counter.
Speaking of their staff, that’s another thing I’m not too keen on here. While they’re not blatantly rude to your face, I can’t help but feel they’re all judging me for what book I’m buying and if it’s «intellectual» enough…

I’m basically only here to browse the housewares section for gifts. In that sense, it’s very good. It’s also pretty easy to find books on the rare occasion that I’m looking for something specific.

This Indigo’s location at Yorkville is the happening place.
Seems like most of the book signing or meet the authors are held here. If you want to get a signed copies of some of the cookbooks or novels by celebrities, you can pick up one on the shelf!
Even the Starbucks here a lot of quietly… people talks more softly and feels more like I am in a library… in a way yes! The book collections here are better than a lot of the libraries I been to.
I definitely will be come back here to chill!

I have been loitering in and around this Indigo location for about 12 years… or however long it’s been open.
When I was young, we lived on Charles street, so the weekends we spent at Indigo reading the magazines, etc.
Even now it’s the only Indigo location I like mostly because it is vastly superior to the rest.
Most of the time I don’t buy stuff because it’s way too overpriced, but now and then I will.
Now that I’m old enough to drink coffee, I have moved on from chairs around the store to reading in the Starbucks.
Look at me! I’m a grown up!

This location is my regular book store as it is close to my house. It is not quite as large as most but it still has the selection you need. from time to time they hold various events here. Most recently when they were launching the e-​reader they had a private event to tell people all about the new product.
The staff can be a little sparse at times, but when you do hunt one down they are very knowledgeable and friendly. The cashiers are always quick to get everyone through. No matter how long the line is you won’t have to wait very long.

This place is happening for a Saturday night!
We have: the young moms and dads using Indigo as a playground for their children; university students using the in-​store Starbucks as an office; and fiscal conservatives like myself using this establishment as a place to catch up on my Hollywood gossip.
The initial reason for coming here was to find books on volleyball because I’m coaching the school team. In the chaos, I was lost, but the helpful employees of Indigo were able to help me find all the books that I needed. If you spend over $ 25 at Indigo (or anywhere else in the Manulife Centre), you get free parking for 2 hours… bonus!
Yay! I’m a fan.

To me, Indigo is more than just a bookstore. It’s also a shelter to escape the rain, the snow and the heat. A place to meet with friends for a cup of joe or an iced cold drink.
Love the openness of the upper level and the convenient check-​out/​cashier on each floor. The fresh flowers in the washroom are a nice touch.
What I love even more? Free WiFi.