Books-A-Million — Local services in Concord

Never been more uncomfortable and furious by such rude customer service in my life! I was in shock by this women’s display of unprofessionalism and ignorance towards my 8yo niece’s and my 5yo son’s disability of autism. Yesterday, we were in this store (my mother who has Dementia, my sister in-law, my 7yo autistic niece, 4yo niece, my 5yo autistic son, and myself) to just get out of the house- which in itself is a difficult process if you can imagine, but as two stay at home moms of children with disabilities we needed to change the scenery. While one of us shops, the other two adults manages the kids in a quite corner of the store next the kids toy corner with two chairs, they had the toys the my picked out and books, self entertaining, and enjoying themselves so to not get bored. At one point the two littles got a little too loud and chased each other around the two chairs (no other customers around) with my sister in-law there to yell at them to stop and be quiet. BUT at that same moment, an employee that was 4 aisles over restocking shelves, yelled over her shoulder at the children to stop running and quiet down! My mom said, “Excuse me?” With which the employee responded, “Someone is on the phone and can’t hear!” There was another employee who came over shortly after and apologized for what happened because she was on the phone, but the employee that yelled at us never apologized, instead she continued to target us. Minutes later, my sister in-law went up to the register to make a return. She noticed the tall older blond lady that yelled at us had followed her up to the registers and stood at the register next to the one she was being attended at. That employee began complaining to the gentleman that was making the return for my sister in-law (as if she wasn’t right in front of her) about our children being so loud and how she wished they would leave. My sister in-law said, “I think you’re talking about my family and i apologize for how loud they got, 2 of them are autistic, but we are watching them closely.” The female employee, never looking up at my sister in-law or apologizing for yelling in the first place said, “ya, well it’s just really hard to work over there when they’re being so loud!” My sister in-law tried again, “I’m sorry they were loud, it won’t happen again.” After she returned to us, we were ready to go. At no point did any of the other customers seem to complain about us, look oddly in our direction, even try to come near our area in which we may have been in someone’s way. Our kids never trash any areas, break anything, disrupt the environment without us being on top of them. It’s not like we came to the store to use it like a playground, we are paying customers. So we go to check out, my sister in-law (a BAM card member) pays for her things, my mother spends over $85 in stuff, then they take the kids out to start making their way to the parking lot while I get to the register with the gentleman from before. All of the sudden the blond female employee that yelled at us is at the register next to him and she’s complaining to him, “Their leaving. They’re in the lobby, they’re in the vestibule, they’re almost out of the building. We almost have quiet again.” I realize she’s talking about my family right in front of me! I say, “excuse my, I think you’re talking about my family, I just want you to know that two of our kids are autistic and sometimes it’s difficult for them to manage themselves in public.” She doesn’t look up at me, but responds, “Ya, well it’s really difficult to work back there when they’re being so loud running around.” Me- “Ya, well again, they’re autistic so… I’m sorry?” The gentleman cashing me out was trying to smooth things over saying that’s ok, everything’s fine, so I looked at her and said, “well thank you for tolerating us today!” And I left feeling targeted by this ignorant women who clearly just wanted to ruin our time out at the book store with our children. My husband called to speak to a manger shortly after I got home upset. I won’t be going back...

Hmm. I'm torn between the obvious desperation to make books more popular again and the blatant inclusion of pop culture and gimmicks to maintian relevancy. It's just a personal grievance, but it's a vibe. I guess the place used to have live music, or perhaps it still does, but from that to the toy section, it felt as if it was trying to be a little bit of everything that is being forgotten by the new generations, but actually not being any one of those things enough. It's a library, hobby store, book store, toy store, cafe, and bodega, but it's only a tiny bit of each of those. It felt like a 40 year old wearing cargo shorts trying to pretend he just turned 21 and can "now" buy you alcohol.

Thanks for getting to the bottom of my review. The staff was nice and the store was clean. The prices are... well... books are expensive now. The bargain and sale items were a good deal, comparatively. My grievances above are purely observational and my own opinion, and overall, I feel the store isn't bad. It just makes me wish libraries were more popular. Like, all the things this store did to be gimmicky to turn a profit is something I'd appreciate more from a library to keep itself from losing funding.

Go here, check it out. I'm being hyper critical and opinionated, and as far as a bus8ness goes, I didn't have...

ooh boy did i love it here! great book selection and even better employees! they were very helpful in assisting me with the perfect book, i ended up getting Frankenstein which i have never read and have only ever seen the movie. im very excited to start it! I first went in because outside there was a book rack with books on sale, and i mean a SALE! Wowza! I could have got a book for less than 5 dollars which was exciting although i didnt find any that tickled my fancy. not any fault of theres of course. though once inside, it felt like home. i have a passion for book stores and this one is fantastic! they have a very extensive book selection, music, and a cafe! the man who served me there was wonderful, i think he jad a beard or a mustache, he reminded me of a grandfather or a wise uncle. he suggested i get a mango drink because i was a little unsure what to get and lemme tell you it was delicious! very sweet and thirst quenching. the woman who i bought the books from at the register was super nice and a big fan of Mary Shelley which i tried to make conversation but i was a little nervous for some reason i think maybe i didnt want to seem dumb in front of her. but i tried! and sometimes thats all that matters. i jad a really good experience here and i recomend coming here for books,...