Borders

Came across this Borders on my trip up to LA today. They had a sign waver on Hollywood Blvd advertising the store closeout sale. Apparently this location will be closing sometime in May.
The store is still decently stocked and the prices are not bad. Discounts range from 40% to 70% with more markdowns to come. Not a bad place to swing by if you are in Hollywood looking for some book, music and DVD deals.

Going out of Business is not a good thing for the company or the employees but its a great thing for me!
30−40% off most everything… another great thing for me!
I bought a few books… spent more than I wanted to… but when I see that the books are up to 70−80% off… i’ll be back!
If you haven’t been recently… there are still a lot of good books/​games/​etc available. It doesn’t look like its all been picked over… yet?!
*parking sucks

This Borders stretches the definition of a bookstore, but I will still mourn its passing. I hate to see all the Borders in the city close one by one, but I guess that’s how it’s going to be.
This particular location seems to have attempted a change into something more profitable, with CDs and DVDs and an extensive, prominent paranormal romance section. The literature section is almost hard to find, and though it has a decent selection, it’s not big and if you have specific titles in mind you may not find them. I’ve also noticed that many of the books are a little bit tarnished.
Right now, though, it’s definitely worth checking out as everything in the store is marked down for the closing sale. A lot of the stock is cleaned out, but there are still some good books to be found. I managed to spend all my gift cards on stuff I actually want to read, but I noticed that whole authors are just missing from the shelves.
Customer service varies, but this time around I had a listless cashier who seemed to resent that I came in with a big stack of books and several gift cards. To be fair, it wasn’t an easy transaction, but I think one of my $ 10 gift cards got skipped in the process. I have no way of finding out, and I had a feeling that complaining was going to get me nowhere as she seemed very annoyed when I pointed out that the final total didn’t add up.
Anyway. Farewell to another bookstore. I will miss this one less than others, but it’s still a loss.

This is my go-​to place in Hollywood to buy books.
It has parking in the mall (albeit a TERRIBLE parking lot) and it is located close to any movie theaters and other attractions.
Another gripe is no bathroom. That’s just lame for a bookstore of this size.
With those two gripes out of the way they have a ton of books and it is nicely organized. They have a ton of computers so you can look up books without needing to ask a staff person for help (though they are very nice and helpful).

I really like how they have an outside sitting area. I love going there for coffee and a laptop to do my work. They have a great selection of books and magazines.
Parking is in the back and they validate.

No Bathrooms by Order of the LA Health Department. ONE star.
The most incredible helpful person that took me over to the arts-​crafts section and right to the knitting books. FIVE stars.
That averages 3, I know, I did the math but I liked the markdown section and the general cleanliness of the store. The books are sectioned off and kept in good condition. Had I not been on a date, I would have been calling my bank to check my balance and then sitting on the floor and weighing out my purchase from the stacks of books I had pulled in the first 5 minutes of being there.
But I couldn’t carry a knitting book on a date, I mean, how sexy is that? I would have had to wear an even lower cut shirt to get away with that.

This is the smallest Borders I’ve ever been in. There’s no seating anywhere so everyone sits on the little stools to read. That works out horribly since the shelves are super tall and there’s no way to reach up high.
Plus no bathrooms and no parking unless you want to park at the Arclight or the Trader Joe’s.
It’s fine if you’re killing time before a movie or if you know just what you want but it’s not a place conducive to hanging out or browsing.

A bookstore is a bookstore… Well it’s a bit better than others if it still manages to stay open compare to other Borders that are going bye bye. Books? Yup, they got it. Drink? You know it. Patio area? Yeah, but it could use some improvement a.k.a be closed off from all that dust. Only thing is that it’s likely a homeless has passed through and touched at least one of those books you almost, or did, lay your hands on. But it’s still in business, so I guess that’s what matters most today. it’s a bookstore, you either go there or you don’t!

I love that this borders and shopping center has 1 hour free parking with validation but I can stand the crappy barista service. Half of the time the pastries are stale and hard and when you ask them to warm the pastry in the handy commercial microwave, they give you a dirty look. And dont bother asking for whip cream AFTER you have paid and they’ve made your drink, they charge 50 cents. Most likely they wont charge you, instead, she’ll say, «just so you know in the future, we charge 50 cents for whip cream.» Shut up lady, just take my 2 quarters and dont belittle me! What happened to good customer service!!! The borders staff is friendly and helpful but the poor service of seattle’s best staff leaves me no choice but to give them 3 stars.

This Review is for the Seattle’s Best Coffee inside of Borders.
It’s nice that there is an enclosed patio and an outdoor patio. The service was a little iffy — the one person working the register was slower than molasses but then some guy came out of the back, saw a line, and dropped everything (not literally) to work the other register. He was much more competent with the product offerings and even brought out a full container of milk for someone and just said ‘take as much as you’d like and bring it back up when you’re done’.
TONS of people sitting in there with laptops and I agree with other Unilocalers that there is no place to sit because of this. Lucky for me I was taking my tea with me while I walked.
This is the only coffee shop within blocks of Hollywood and Vine.

:-|
I’m conflicted because although I got everything I needed, experienced great service, and actually didn’t have to wander in the store so much, I think this is the smallest Borders I’ve ever visited.
I like this Borders because it’s different and smaller and I don’ have to get lost in it to find things. BUT at the same time, I’m used to the bigger stores that have everything! … including your Grandma’s lotion…
3 woofs for the actual store… 4 woofs for service (she looked up my membership and discounted my book! And I just used that discount last week.)
(I noticed they have a whole section on Vampire Books. WTF?)

So, this Borders does not have the reading chairs strewn about the first floor that most Borders have. That’s disappointing, but it does not affect the overall rating for this place. What affects the overall rating for this place is that they once featured a book signing with Tila Tequila.
I honestly didn’t know that she could even read.
Still, the clearance section is awesome and their café is better than at most Borders. The staff is friendly and not as annoying as at some other locations, which is sweet.
Three stars.

I came here to buy a book, but not because I wanted to – I had to! Due to my inadvertence, I’d had left my book that I’ve checked out from a local public library inside Wendy’s and it was gone for ever! The next day, I told the librarian of the situation and my tab would have been $ 43.00!
The librarian told me to go and see if Borders have a copy of this book and the replacement would cost you less than half price. Apparently, the public library charges double of what the book cost. Cost of book; plus, the fine!
So, I go there and what do you know; there was a copy! How lucky I was I thought, after spending less than $ 20.00! What a bitter sweet saving! Brought the book back, and thanked the librarian! Usually, they don’t do this as he stated.
Again, lesson learned; never again, this is going to happen, and it hasn’t. You take simple things for granted, when you’re inadvertent. Now, I’m very meticulous where I keep my books; it’s always in my Jansport backpack!

I hate that this borders is even here… its the tiniest borders i have ever seen and its so crowded…
i came here when we were bored because we came early for the Brand New concert at the Palladium… it was so packed with books it looked like one good earthquake would do this place in…
and they don’t have a bathroom… wtf? no bathroom? why the hell don’t you have a bathroom? basically telling you to buy a book and get out… i’m glad their are other borders where i go to study and hang out… this one sucks… the only thing to do here is people watch and buy books i won’t read…:(

In the grand scheme of things, Borders is pretty lame. I mean, you will almost always get a better deal on Amazon even if you are using the Borders Rewards coupons. If I had to choose between the two evils, I’d always go to a Borders instead of a Barnes and Noble because I am too much of an idiot to navigate through B&N and ever find anything. And I simply cannot tolerate buying things off of Amazon because I am impatient and figure the difference is a convenience charge.
Perhaps I am spoiled coming from San Francisco, where there are like, three Borders locations all within walking distance of one another downtown, supposedly the larger, multi-​level location could be regarded as a flagship store. It is only since coming to Los Angeles that some sort of irksome realisation has come over me, and it’s that LA simply does not like Star Trek. Really, come on, you have like, what, four Star Trek paperback novels out but like an entire case dedicated to Star Wars? What’s up with that? And obviously the point of going to Borders is to forgo the waiting time when ordering crap off of Amazon, and it’s completely nulled when you have to ask Borders to order something for you. which in the case of this location is pretty much everything I’ve ever come here to get.
Chances are, even if you do find the book you came here for, it will somehow be lodged behind the genre sign on the highest shelf so you’ll have to actually be on your tippy toes, trying to rearrange all the heavy hard cover books just to pry the one you want from behind the goddamn sign. Good luck actually finding an employee to help you as they are all off somewhere picking their noses and chatting it up with one another.
And they really, really try to push the Borders Rewards crap onto you. I’ve been a member since they introduced the service, but they constantly feel compelled to tell me just how much credit I’ve worked towards (which is basically nothing since I almost never purchase anything here) and other worthless statistics about my account. Good luck if you forgot your coupon, because even if you show them your card and explain that you know about the promotion, they still won’t credit you which is total bollocks. Numerous times at SF locations, I’ve gone without prior knowledge of the weekend coupon and the employees will still scan the coupon they have right next to the register anyway.
Back in ye olden days, I recall they use to run their employees through a personality screening exam (I figure it’s similar to the Oxford test, where either way you’ll get a bad score, lol). I’m guessing they stopped doing that a while ago considering the type of service you experience at most Borders locations now a days. Sad.

Here is why I don’t like you — Borders at Vine and Sunset. First of all, you don’t have a bathroom because you think we’re all homeless and we stink. Because you are on Vine and Sunset. That’s not OUR fault. Okay moving on.
Let me talk about Seattle’s Best — which apparently is owned by Starbucks and is inside this Borders. Cute little story.
One night I entered into this place after my children performed in the Lampshades (www.thelampshades) if you aren’t familiar.
There were over 18 people sitting at tables on their laptops on this Saturday night. In fact, there was nowhere for me and Lily and Liam, my little live perfroming stars… to SIT, after a hard night’s work.
So…I remarked (in a voice that was… okay, audible) that this was a COFFEE HOUSE and not a COMPUTER LAB.
I got a few dirty looks and a «SHHHH» to which I retorted that this was a COFFEE PLACE and not THE PUBLIC LIBRARY!!! I then went to the counter to place my order for hot chocolates for my offspring and a tripple cappucino for myself. At this time, I was approached by a small uniformed SECURITY GUARD who told me that some customers had complained. About me. «No problem sir. I was just confused. My children and I had no where to sit because of the LAP TOPS everywhere and the PEOPLE who have been on them for THREE HOURS.»
The coffee wasn’t even good. And so we stood there without seats while everyone wrote or googled away. And then we took the Metro home.
At least on the L.A. Metro you can ALWAYS get a seat.
Closing Comments: In the past, Coffee Houses were the place from where revolutions and overthrows and cous and anarchy movements and folk songs were sprung. Now they are hide-​outs for people who don’t want to be at home. Including me.

Walking in from Sunset and Vine, all I saw initially were DVDs and CDs. Woah, where are the books?
Well, past the gift wrap and the journals were lots of tall bookshelves. How some of them were arranged (especially the fiction books) made some cozy nooks. I didn’t actually see the point of such high shelves though. I normally could reach even the highest shelf at other stores but these would require assistance to retrieve that oh-​so-​lovely book from the top shelf.
This store is a multi-​level store, separated for a few steps. The other «floors» are much brighter and welcoming. There’s a decent cook book section right next to the main registers. And a somewhat largish magazine section. I thought it was funny they did put some toys on the very top shelf next to the sci-​fi books.
Overall, I suppose this might be a good store to stop by for a cup of coffee (Seattle’s Best) and something to occupy your brain. I just didn’t find anything that floated my boat yesterday.

Walked in to use the bathroom on the way to Amoeba, walked out with a Harold and Maude dvd for $ 10. This Borders makes my weakness for bookstores clear because I never leave without something. My favorite purchase to date is Hemingway and Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers, which was sort of impossible to find at another brick and mortar bookshop anywhere close to me.
They always have coupons to make purchases of very unnecessary books and dvds seem too good a deal to pass up. I need to find another nearby public restroom go-​to because this one will leave my credit card companies very happy and me buried in a pile of bills.

I do my best to buy from independent booksellers but every once in awhile something new comes out and I have to have it immediately, like the latest issue of «Bitch» or David Sedaris’ most recent effort. When that urge comes upon me I head straight to the Hollywood Borders. The selection isn’t huge but it’s more than adequate and I almost always find what I’m looking for. Also, for being located in such a busy part of Hollywood, it’s always relatively peaceful in there. Sure, you might encounter some rather «fragrant» local denizens but so what? Everyone needs to hang out somewhere.
The laidback and friendly attitude of the staff makes you feel like you’re patronizing a less corporate establishment.

I managed to kill about an hour and a half here, browsing through books and magazines. Business books, fiction, tons of magazines, and plenty of tables at the café to sort through the stuff before buying it. I walked into the café with about 8 books and 2 magazines… I browsed through them all and decided to get not one. In the meantime, I also was able to read through the latest Business 2.0 and Fast Company without actually buying either.
Seriously, though… I like that. I like having the opportunity to choose what I want to buy before doing so. I ended up picking up the latest book by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, called ‘Rant.’ I’m sure it’s the kind of sick and twisted shit that’ll keep me up at night, but I’ve got most of his books, so what the hell…
The staff seemed cool, funny, and down to earth, too. Now granted, maybe I’ve been trapped in the 818 way too long (I won’t argue with you there!) but seriously… the staff reminded me of the people at Borders back in SF… Fresh, literate, with a sense of humor.
Very cool… come in here and spend a day feeding your brain!!!