Blackwell’s

We visited this store yesterday and it’s fairly large; there are three floors and a good overall selection. Also, the man working at the cashier’s was very friendly.

This lovely book shop is soon to be closed down due to building work
Inside it as all the usually students books autobiograhys and even childrens book.
Theres a place to sit and read before you buy and a starbucks coffee shop
and even toilets (a first)
staff are knowledgeable and very pleasent .
didnt buy anything this time but had my eye on a beatles lyric book
for a christmas gift so that was good !

This shop is brilliant for the student books we desperately need for revision/​understanding further than the lectures. The variety of books available is staggering where you are able to find any book for many degree courses. In addition, they sell the old-​style University of Manchester hoodies and other items of clothing to make it another separate shop to buy your Uni-​branded clothes instead of the union.
The books themselves can be very pricey sometimes dissuading students from shopping here where you can pay up to £70 for a book for your degree which you might only use once.
Brilliant shop to have a walk around if not intending to buy these pricey books.

Despite the fact I barely read, I love book shops. There’s a certain joy about the smell of a book shop that is only matched by a record shop.
Blackwells is a particularly pleasant visit, given that it has a lot of books that smell like books AND a small café.
Booksmell and coffee = ace!
As it’s situated in between a pair of university campuses (should that by campii?), it is frequented by students. Mercifully, as no shots of Apple Sourz are involved, you’ll find them to be rather civilised.
They also sell music at the back of the shop (I got a couple of Kinks LPs for super-​cheap a while back) and a line of nice Penguin Classic mugs and merch.
It really is a lovely little book shop this and worth sticking your nose in if you’re after something. The staff are pretty knowledgeable too.

This is a great book shop in the otherwise fairly drab university precinct centre, home of a tramp or two. There’s a café on the ground floor, which is very handy for dates with clever people, as you can grab something complex off the shelf and put it back afterwards. The computer science stuff is upstairs, don’t forget to check it out!

Every Uni needs a Blackwell’s but how does this one fare?
Well it’s three floors of bookworm and pro-​academic utilities. Throw in a café and University of Manchester memorabilia you have the book stores of all book stores.
If the library is bogging you down and Amazon is just too painful, then nip into Blackwell’s and chances are your needs will be met. If not, just admire the window displays, «keep calm and carry on,» very wise indeed. Definitely is the retailer of knowledge.

Blackwell’s is a great bookshop if you are studying and need textbooks, novels or plays. They work with the University of Manchester and stock a lot of the books on the reading list. This is useful when the library is out of copies of popular books or if you just want something you can keep for yourself.
The staff are really friendly and helpful and can help you find whatever it is you need or will try and get it in stock for you. There is also a great café serving really tasty food including salads, sandwiches, baked potatoes and cakes.
The prices are pretty high, especially compared to a lot of websites which sell books and the fact that a lot of the stock in Blackwell’s is available just a few hundred meters away in the John Ryland’s Library.

As an English Literature student I literally have to guzzle my way through books and so, when I haven’t planned ahead and ordered my pre-​term shelf full on Amazon, Blackwell becomes a weekly port of call. This particular branch is situated within the slightly defunct University Shopping Precinct and consists of three floors of academia alongside your more mainstream reads and children’s books. I love the fact that you can purchase a copy of ‘Hamlet’ on the ground floor and then traverse to the top floor to obtain your very own ‘Yorrick’ model skull from the Medical section. (They also have a really fun selection of pens concealed as syringes, spines and finger bones up here which make great gifts for children.)
There is a lovely little café always heaving with intellectuals and there are well positioned sofas for moments of seated contemplation. If you sign up for a Blackwell loyalty card you’ll earn one point for every pound you spend within the store and when you’ve collected one hundred points you’ll receive a five pound voucher. It’s not the most generous loyalty scheme I’ve ever encountered but beats being poked in the eye with a burnt stick, eh?

I usually tend to don’t like places, instead of liking them. This happens with the book shops as well. Blackwell reminds me a bit (I don’t know why) of the British Programme (comedy) The Black Books. For a student, that needs a book immediately, a book shop across the street sounds like a sensitive idea. Only that, we are talking about student oke? Students don’t have that much money. So, shall we drop the prices for the books? Yeah, exactly, what a great idea. That’s why everybody goes to Waterstones or a different, cheap book shop. Because we don’t fancy paying extra money for the same product. I mean, they do sell interesting books, but I find them way to much. I’ll much rather walk further down, and buy the same thing from a different retailer. Now, don’t get upset if it is your favourite book shop, smile and think that sometimes they do have special offers. Once in a blue moon, but at least, it’s reason to pop in there more often.

Looking for books throughour university? Step in to Blackwells and it is bound have every book from whatever course you’re doing!
Blackwells, is a huge empire of books of any possible genre. Three floors of just books! It is divided in to different sections for easy access of what you’re looking for, so you never have to waste hours trying to search what you want. They also have a great collection of literature, from classics to new age writing.
The fiction section has everything from new releases to old ones. I love book stores and Blackwells’ definitely is amongst the nicest book stores in the city. The only problem here are the prices, they are really expensive, especially the text books for university! But, they are essentials, so you have no choice.

Why all the hating on Blackwells? Booo! Blackwells is a university essential, and I really like this one.
The main problem here seems to be the book prices. Well, I hate to break it to you, but that’s what books cost. Yes, you can get that book for 1p on Amazon marketplace, but that book has been bought at a loss from a merchant or charity shop, and somewhere along the line, someone’s getting screwed over. Blackwells charge the prices necessary to pay their staff, and so that the people who wrote the book or own the rights get proper remuneration for their work. So suck it up, people!
Blackwells stocks everything you’ll need as student at Manchester, because the staff are provided with reading lists for most of the courses, and order in accordingly. Thusly, you can grab that novel for your Monday 9am last thing on a Sunday, and stay up reading it, and make it to the seminar with a semblance of a plot summary swimming round in your head. If on the rare occasion they don’t have your book, they will order it in for you for a small deposit.
The staff here are super friendly and helpful, and they all get along, so there’s a nice sort of instore camaraderie. I like the staff picks shelf, as it gives you an insight into the book folk.
As well as academic shebang and a very decent medicine and science section, this branch has a flippin marvellous craft section (want to crochet your own Madonna (the pointy boob one, not the Jesus one) well, you can!) and a lovely children’s section that reminds you of the wonders of The Very Hungry Caterpillar («and he was stiiiiiiiiill hungryyyy!»).
The sales here are great, but for the greetings cards and stationary rather than books. Oh, and there’s seemmingly always a BOGOF on the Oxford World Classics, jolly good for all you lit-​heads out there.
Oh, there’s a café. The coffee is OK but the sandwiches are weird. Brussel sprout pâté anyone? No, didn’t think so…

Thinking back to my first year at university I remember myself lugging my huge Oxford German Dictionary back from Blackwell’s along with a selection of other books which had been suggested that would be useful for my first year modules. Other than the well-​thumbed dictionary, most of those books are still sitting unopened on my shelf. I’ve not bought anything from Blackwell’s since other than a Moleskin diary and one of those fruit and veg calendars where potatoes are characterised as couch potatoes etc for a bargainous £1 in the January sale last year.
The truth is that no-​one would shop at Blackwell’s if they didn’t need the book urgently, as almost everything they sell can be found for cheaper online. They also don’t seem to have realised that *no-​one* pays £15 for a DVD nowadays.
For those books that you felt you should buy before you spent your loan on booze, but then regretted buying as you never used them, Blackwell’s does buy back books and sells a selection of used books for a slightly discounted price.

Somehow Blackwell’s has gained the reputation for being the go-​to for student book needs. This is despite the fact that Waterstones also stocks all the textbooks you would ever need, and the internet sells them at a much cheaper rate. Despite all this, people still buy from the overpriced little book shop below the Precinct Centre.
I can’t say it’s not a nice place though; it has that quaint little bookshop smell and the staff are friendly and librarian-​esque. To me though, that doesn’t compensate the high prices so I rarely go in.
To be honest though, since I’m a medic I used Hammick’s instead most of the time. Which is practically the same as Blackwell’s just more specialised. I’ll save that for another review though.

Pricey very pricey for their intended market. As a student they can often get hold of a book that I needed and they have a wide range covering most the disciplines, but standing in front of the till I often see red. Do you do any kind of student discount? Nope. But the only people in here are students? Arrghhh.
Not a student? Well it is a nice shop like all book spots, it has some cosy sofas and you can easily while away hours flicking through a good book. They’ve got a nice stationary section and a café that does standard to good food. They also have the best selection of DVDs and music all the artists and films which are a little bit more alternative but are considered within their followings to be masterpieces.

Although Blackwells has a huge website that you can order books from, this shop based within the Manchester University campus has quite a bit of stock in that is placed over four floors… perfect if you need a book for immediate studies! When you have bought your book and if you are a bit of a Saffy from Abs Fabs… then there is also a little coffee shop where you can start pouring over your purchase.
They also sell a fairly good selection of fiction & art books, DVD’s and Cd’s! And quite handy for a student is the fact that they sell second hand books, and give you store vouchers for books you don’t need anymore! fantastic when you are living off the earnings of flyering!

If you’re a student based in Manchester, chances are you’ve already blowed a small portion of your grant or student loan in Blackwell’s!
The official bookshop for Manchester University, this three storey building is located inbetween various University buildings and stocks all the official academic and education books for all the courses. There’s massive business, law, economics, nursing, medical and psychology texts as well as history, travel and literary criticism. For those of us that are glad to have our education firmly behind us, there’s also a good section of general fiction from national and international authors. The staff are friendly and helpful and there’s a little café that serves good coffee, hot chocolates and lunchtime snacks like quiche and salad.
I know the books are expensive but remember kids — to paraphrase Huey Lewis — it’s hip to be square!

This is a large store stocking mainly academic books which appear on the reading lists of the universities roundabout, and from this they make a great deal of money. I’ve found the staff in here knowledgeable and helpful, but the prices are rather expensive, personally I would browse in here but order via Amazon used books online.
This said, they do sell some second hand books and give you money/​vouchers for giving them old books however, you really dont get much for your books and again I would sell online or via a univeristy notice board.

Blackwells is basically like a giant Waterstones on the web. However, that said, this is one of their High Street branches from which you can purchase your books direct.
They mainly specialise in educational and academic type books.
Hence when you visit this branch, particularly at the start of term for the local university, you will be swamped with many students trying to purchase their books for their studies.
The do seem to have large stocks of books readily available. I know when I’ve purchased quite a few books from here, I have never had to order it in because they have always had them in stock.

A good bookstore, and very well stocked. Unfortunately if you’re a student it is a place you’ll have to visit once in a while to spend a fortune on a book that you’ll hardly use!

Great little place, good location for all Manchester University/​Manchester Metropolitan staff and students. This is a modest yet quite extensively stacked Blackwells on three floors. The ground floor boasts a lovely little café with fantastic healthy eatin/​take-​away food (I particularly reccommend the roast parsnip, sweet potato and pine nut salad). This store stocks many academic books as well as general fiction, art, travel etc The staff are particularly friendly, maybe because this is a smaller store and they can afford to spend more time helping you out. The range and quality of gifts and cards is pretty good if you are looking for that something special for someone close to you. There is also a mini range of cd’s and dvd’s which are usually quite cheap — there always seems to be a sale on of some kind here. I recently searched for a book for a friend moving to Canada and I was recommended a great book set against the mountainous backdrop of Canada — perfect to give her an introduction! Blackwells is also a great place to just pop in for a coffee away from the bustle of Oxford Road — don’t forget to get your card stamped for a free drink!