Books & Mortar — Local services in Grand Rapids

First time visiting this bookstore. Host was with a customer at the time I entered, they were very loud and inconsiderate I would say as I was exploring this new place and the books in. (added to that, the music they had was rather loud as well). Putting that aside, I have not mentioned anything nor even looked at them. I just continued my browsing. The previous customer had concluded her business and left about 5-6 min later, and I had walked by the host a couple times, was going to just greet her (which typically it works the other way around), but her body language with a stern face and no eye contact had clearly indicated to the contrary. That tells a lot about the culture there and the attitude of this place, they may claim to be on the “liberal side” supposedly giving a voice to the minorities (I consider myself to be one of those by the way), but the vibe was definitely a paternalistic, snobbish one and when I read some of the replies to the reviews while going to post this one, I had a confirmation of the above with the “ I am right and aggressive about it” tone hence I do not see how less narcissistic that is compared to the supposedly other side “less or not liberal”. I am on neither camp, but this has sealed it for me as far as visiting this place . OUCH. As far as the place, it looked fine/and tidy, not a very large selection of books in any given topic. they had a kids section with a few seats. Unfortunately the vibe/attitude tends to overcome the cosmetics in any given business. For the owner/manager/ clerk at this place do not bother to reply (there is no need for "the I was right and I am going to jump at you") as my post is rather directed to prospecting...

We'll be moving to this neighborhood in a couple months, so this weekend we walked around a bit to check things out. I love bookstores, and when I saw Books & Mortar, I knew we had to check it out. I was not disappointed. As a bookworm, I've been in many a bookstore all over the world, and this was one of the overall best. Careful selection of books and gift items, obviously a huge focus on the local community, and you walk in and it has a friendly, welcoming vibe. I bought a few items, and I'm now even more excited about our upcoming move because it means that I'll be biking over to this place regularly... I might need more...

Really cute in here! Small little bookstore. When I went it was very crowded and there was a book reading going on so it was a little uncomfortable trying to maneuver through the store and not feel loud or in the way. Seems like a lovely place for the reading community though! I stopped in for a children’s book. They had a lot of really unique books and some old favorites like Dr Seuss books. They just didn’t have any of the ones I was looking for. I’m glad this little spot is in our community! I’ll definitely stop in if I’m ever in search for a...