Barnes & Noble — Local services in Atlanta

My elderly, disabled mother, my young daughter, and I went to this store on Wednesday at 3:00. It was difficult for my mother to get down to the children’s area, but she did, only to find there is not ONE adult sized chair. My daughter began looking for books, and a man in the children’s section began POUNDING on a metal shelf with earbuds in. Another family was sitting down reading a book together, and they left immediately. I commented to my mother that it is ABSURD to have someone doing that during business hours, and she had to begin the walk up the long ramp to escape the noise. Next, this man walked into the center of the reading area and loudly proclaimed that he was “going to make noise because [he] had a job to do.” Since he was clearly responding to what I told my mother, I said that his construction work should be completed when customers, especially young children, are not in the store. He continued shouting that, “Baby, I ain’t in the store after hours.” I then said that driving away the few customers the store has was a mistake, and that construction is for when the store is closed. A store employee heard this man (a contractor, I believe) and immediately addressed him. Suddenly, it wasn’t necessary to pound shelves into place while listening to music. He was able to tap them in gently.

Next, there appeared to be one person at checkout, and one other employee in the entire store. I witnessed a young lady jog to track down an employee, and she responded with, “I’m on my break,” while hustling around said customer.

The one star is for the incredibly kind person at checkout. He was absolutely lovely and overworked. The line was four customers deep when I got there, yet he maintained composure and salvaged our experience.

It is no wonder whatsoever that bookstores are becoming obsolete. The sparse workers, the rudest contractor I have ever encountered, and the overall experience was so unpleasant that I do not think we will go there again, despite the fact that we spend most Wednesday afternoons there. We spent $141 on our books, but we did not receive an apology from the store manager or any other worker. I left the store with my purchases and a dilemma about whether or not I would ever go back. The contractor informed us to “find another place to go read if his work was too loud, and the “other place” may be the public library or my own backyard with books I purchased for a fraction of the price and ZERO negativity throughout...

Very disappointed in your staff today. I have been coming here for years( over 10) and after today I will no longer. I was looking for a book and the section I was looking in was all the way on the bottom, I have a bad back and can not bend over long so I sat down to see the titles. I found 2 books both about $40 and was deciding which one to purchase. I had only been in the store less than 5 minutes so I couldn’t of been sitting longer than 2 when Paige (an B&N associate ) walked by and instructed me to stand up. Said I was not allowed to sit in the store. When I asked why she said because of Covid we want people to shop quickly and leave. I explained my back situation and that I was almost done. She didn’t care and walked off while I was speaking. Nowhere in your store does it say you may not sit on the floor. I was the only one in the aisle and only there for a few minutes. The whole purpose of going to a book store is to look through books and find the one you want. If I knew the book I wanted I would of just ordered off Amazon but I did not so I came to your store. You would think with how much book stores are struggling you would want to retain as many loyal customers as you can. I decided not spend my money there after being berated by Paige. As I was walking out l, I saw her again and asked why that store policy was not posted anywhere. She basically ignored me and went about her work. While standing at the customer service booth you should probably actually be doing customer service instead of running loyal customers out of your store. Clearly we (I) am not important to your staff or company. I will not give my money to company that doesn’t care about...

Went to this location today to grab a drink and a book, and read for awhile. As I was paying for my book, I asked for them to change the music, because it was not appropriate for a reading environment and was very depressing: It was a whole album of some middle age women singing about her man problem and bills and what not. So I was directed to the music department to speak with a guy named Shawn. I asked his if he could change the music to Jazz or something more reading appropriate. I can tell he got offered, but said he will change it. Meanwhile, another associate run to this side of the store and randomly lingers around. Long story short, they change the music to Jazz and two songs later back to the depression R&B album. I don't know if it was him or the other associate that changed it, but it was changed. Associates need to understand that this is not their personal home, this is a professional establishment where people came to read and study (not to mention the many kids that where at the kids book section). This type of music is not appropriate for such environment, so when a customer asks to have the music changed, there is no reason to deny them. I will be contacting head...