Barnes & Noble

I’m surprised it wasn’t closed earlier.

Kind of a shame that it’s gone. My husband and I always seem to get Barnes & Noble gift cards (just got two for Christmas!), and now there’s not even a single B&N in the city to patronize. Sure, we can use them online, but the whole shipping thing totally stinks. Such a loss in terms of convenience/​location.

I’ve been here twice and loved the fact that it was huge, hidden near Fisherman’s Wharf, had clean bathrooms, and an awesome book selection. The sales staff was also knowledgeable and friendly however they closed last night probably due to eBook sales which is truly unfortunate and kinda put a damper on my new year. As much as I love technology, this is one movement I do not support.

Love this bookstore! I go mainly for studying as I find that the tables in the café area a lot bigger then the one’s at any other Barnes and Nobles that I have gone to. The staff there are super friendly, and helpful, and it’s got it own little parking lot (which for the city is amazing!) It’s a pretty big store 2 story’s and my I love bringing my son over since they have a pretty big kids section here. I think what I love most about this place is that its at a pretty hidden area so I always have a spot to study at during the weekdays. =)

Ginormous Barnes & Noble!!! Hiding in plain sight!
Can’t believe I never knew this was ever here. I mean, I tend to avoid Fisherman’s Wharf like the plague & it was only b/​c I was entertaining a London friend & she wanted to swing by here that we ventured over but BOY, what a find!
Tons of staff to make sure your questions are answered, you’re guided to the book-​area you’re seeking; you’re finding everything you need…
Also, seems to be 1 of the few Bay Area B&Ns that sells the Nook — although please note, unless you have a US address & US credit card, you CANNOT purchase the Nook or any books for the Nook. My London friend was mislead that she’d be ok w/​a UK credit card for books (by *this* B&N actually) & found out otherwise only AFTER she bought & fell in love w/​her Nook
It’s been a purchasing-​by-​proxy logistical nightmare… but that’s what you get I guess, when trying to get something you’re told you can’t have.
Anyway…I digress…
Starbucks IN the store
And, best part — largest collection of «cozy» mysteries I’ve yet to see… Mom is a *huge* cozy mystery fan & we thought we were getting to the point of her running out of material to read — but thanks to B&N, we’ve discovered a whole new plethora!
** for those who don’t know, Cozy Mysteries are a Mystery sub-​genre where murders take place off stage and are often relatively bloodless. No dirty talk & any sex /​violence is downplayed or treated humorously. Think Miss Marple, Murder She Wrote…
Score!

A clerk named Sara and the security guard helped us with the Nook. I checked the office organization supplies. I looked at a couple of travel guides but they’re cheaper online. I might buy a Moleskine city notebook for a friend going to France. I read 7×7 and Wallpaper while waiting.
I couldn’t reach most of the travel magazines. I like the section devoted to Bay Area books. Less people are at the second floor than the first, probably because of limited seating.
Someone asked me about my cute umbrella. Starbucks is selling Harney and Sons tea tins but not the bottled iced teas. The owl bookends are solid but expensive. The restroom is okay. This isn’t the best place to look for a Mother’s Day gift or souvenir but it’s on the same block as the bus stop and cable car.

They get a star for being in a nice, pretty, building. Of course, the inside looks just like the inside of any other B&N (yes, my anti-​franchise prejudices are showing). They get another star for a not horrible selection.
I’d been in twice in the past week, looking for a friend’s new book. Her new book, published by a major house, with co-​op behind it. The first time was on the first day it was out. Not only could I not find it, I wandered aimlessly for a good long while through the empty store without finding anyone to ask, or anyone that would meet my eye. I left, telling myself it was the first day, it probably wasn’t out already anyway.
I came back, three days later. Still nowhere to be seen. At this point, I finally tracked someone down, who discovered that they did indeed have a couple in the back. When I inquired why they were there, and not on the shelf, she curtly answered that they had just received it.
Really? Three days after every other B&N and bookseller in the city? I had been to another B&N the day before, and it was already out and easy to find. Maybe they don’t follow company policy quite as well as they should. Either way, they ticked me off (and the lovely thing about Unilocal is that I can admit this is a personally-​ticked-​off review and I don’t have to be full of impartial journalistic integrity). Take note or not, as you like.

This is a solid Barnes and Noble. It is always clean and well organized and the people that work there are always super friendly and helpful. Now my favorite part of this place is the café. This café is like a fake Starbucks deal… but they serve cheesecake factory pastries. OMG I live just a couple blocks away and I die for these pastries.

Nice bookstore. Great selection of books and magazines. Nice layout of all the kinds of book you want and want for gifts!
Restroom could be cleaner (but it’s probably hard since there seems to be a lot of homeless let in the store and this area). They should have strict laws about this and drinking alcohol in the store. The store and café should definitely make people buy something in order to ‘hang out’ in the store. Maybe that’s why some of the prices on books are so expensive (we are paying for them to sit there for free).
Overall, nice store with lots of products to choose from and great service from the workers/​cashiers. They are friendly and quick. The line is great — one big line that feeds into the next open/​available cashier! All stores should operate this well, this way! Thanks.

By far my favorite place to study in North Beach. I know, I know, it’s a chain. But I need a place where I don’t feel pressured to buy a cup of hot water and bag of herbal tea for $ 3 every time I want to get my nerd on!
B&N is clean, 2 stories, and has a great café (not Starbucks, but serves Starbucks drinks) where you can study until 9 PM nightly! The large windows provide plentiful natural light for studying, and are also high, which doesn’t allow for people watching… a good thing when you’re actually trying to get something done!

«Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?» — Henry Ward Beecher (1813 — 1887)
Hank was onto something. Walking into B&N I am vulnerable; open to the corruption that is bound to ensue. Caffeine corrupts first by way of the Starbucks barista. I enjoy my cinnamon dulce latte and the prowl begins for at least one new book, perhaps a new journal, and a bookmark that will make reading my new book that much more fun. My human nature is weak in this 2 story B&N, but oh the enjoyment, knowledge and caffeine; feel free to corrupt me anytime.

This review is based only on the café:
Nice little café with bright overhead lights which are awesome for studying/​reading. They have a variety of desserts and cookies to choose from (sweets are so distracting sometimes!!!). The employees here are nice and the café is not too big, yet somewhat spacious. You will see students studying here most of the time and its pretty quiet, but be forewarned that there are occasionally old grandmas who sit at their own table and jabber nonstop on the cellphone as if no one can hear em– i’ve encountered this a few times already!
There’s also free wifi if you have AT&T!

Although I’ve only visited this location twice, it is one of my favorite bookstore locations. There are many B&Ns in the Bay Area, but most are in the East and South Bay. So I don’t have enough experience to judge this properly. So far so good.
The atmosphere of the store is comforting; it’s both laid back and orderly (the bourgeois-​industrial décor is reminiscent of the Inner Harbor location). The store is well stocked and clean, and the wood and green tones really work here. The staff are willing to help you if you need it (they don’t unnecessarily crowd you).The location is small, yet it the spacing makes it feel much larger. The café is small and crowded with tables but has all the prerequisite Cheesecake Factory food. The charm of this B&N puts it at top with the other downtown Borders stores. Truly a treat to visit.

This is a store that has something about everything.
In just one corner of the second floor I browsed Wicca, Druidism, Buddhism, Hinduism, European history, and more. We dropped in to find a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, and found four or five editions. I picked out a nice small volume, in verse printed on newsprint, with a color plate on the cover, that reminded me of Indian publications. It was actually a Bantam Classic, priced at $ 6.46, but I still felt like I was buying «the real thing.»

Horrible customer service. The «web store» & «brick & mortar store» are «separate». So if you see an item on sale on the web, it may not be on sale in the brick & mortar store — despite being in stock. So you have to pay extra for shipping & wait to get a sale price. Cheap & cheesy.

We came here because we wanted to go to a bookstore that had air conditioning for sure because it’s friggin hot as hell in SF these days.
This is the second largest Barnes and Noble I have been so. This one’s two levels, and the extensive magazine rack is in the back of the store instead of the usual front. The front had 2 shelves worth of San Francisco, San Diego, and LA travel guides. I checked out Frommer’s 2008 for SF and a few walking guides to get some tips on how to navigate Chinatown.
I was unimpressed by their Feng Shui book selection in their Home Reference section. Less than 10 books! Lame. Only one book by Lillian Too and two by Simon Burns. The rest of the authors I’ve never heard of.
Downstairs they had a Starbucks as usual with seating. It was full when I came in but I managed to grab a table later. They had some bigger tables that seat up to four in the middle area, tables for two on the sides, and then barstools along the back wall. An overall good place to study except I only found 2 outlets if you want to plug in your laptop.
Parking is in the back and free if you purchase $ 10 worth of merchandise. Otherwise, it’s $ 2.00 for 30min-​1hr, and so forth. We ended up paying $ 8 for 2 hours. Overall, this B & N gets an «A-​OK» rating.

I always forget that there’s another BIG Barnes & Noble at the Wharf. This one is similiar to Tanforan– large selection of books. I like this one a bit better because it is SHHHHHHHHHHH… quieter! The staff was friendly and offered to find good readers for us.
We went on a Friday night and Starbucks was passing out samples of their new Honey Frap– YUMM!

Now, I am not a book snob, nor am I am bookstore expert, but I keep trying to make a go of it w/​this store and it just doesn’t work for me. I think they have a sub-​par travel section and you can barely find anything about Europe that is not mainstream and dull.
If you are looking for something off the beaten track, at least in regards to the the literary world, not so much. This is at Fisherman’s Wharf, hence it is all for the tourists. Snooze…

Okay… I love books. I love guys who read. I immediately think a guy who is reading a book is HOT… well not really but most of the times. I mean… he has to be reading something totally influential like War and Peace or Harry Potter.
Anyway…when I grow up I want a wall to wall library!
Oooh…and one of those ladders that run along the shelves from top to bottom!
AND a chaise lounge to read in!
And a cherry wood side table for tea and reading snacks!
AND a big window for natural sunlight!
AND a bear skin rug!!! Oh wait… that’s in my living room for the front of my fireplace. You know… to uh…“hang out” with that hot guy who reads.

Despite being overpowered in the competition against rival Borders, Fisherman Wharf’s Barnes and Nobles still standing tall in San Francisco’s North Beach.
When it first opened 10 years ago, this bookstore was Matt’s place to do his homework, because the store including the Café closed everynight at midnight. Today, on this date of this review, B & N closes at 10pm, earlier closing hours now as opposed to back then when Matt did his H/​W. Matt took advantage of the later closing hours back then.
Like Borders, B &N has a good selections in books, incuding a huge sections in True Crime (Matt’s Fav). The magazine section is smaller than all SF Borders, but this B & N has a huge sections in cookbooks. It is also a tourist-​part of town, so they huge travelling section.
Matt, who no longer lives in the neighborhood, still loves this B & N, although it is a little runned down, but still standing tall in SF.