Third Place Books — Local services in Lake Forest Park

Hi Burney,

I have been a customer at the lake Forest Park location many years. I have lived in this community for over 12 years. I just came in today 6-28-18 to get my normal brisket sandwich and the gentleman that has been working with you about a year and over started handling my food without gloves while touching my sandwich with his bare hands after answering the phone and handling cash while multitasking. I pointed this out to him that I did not want the food and I would just want my money back he starting glaring at me in an intimidating way, I then asked him "why are you glaring at me you touched my food without gloves after touching money and answering the phone"?, he replied "what! I'm giving you your money back" and motioned with his hand on his face like he was crying referring to me "acting like a baby". I asked do you think that this proper food handling technique's he said yes that the owners handles food like this as well". He pointed and told me to leave I sat in the eatery to finish my cake that I order form the Honey Bear. While I had been forming this email to you when security walked inside of your store location and then walked up to me and asked me to leave I asked why and he said for using verbally aggressive language, I was appalled this was not true I did not use any curse words, the cops came and officer Parish and I agreed that this was not handled right and also informed me other steps I could take, we both love your restaurant. This was embarrassing as a member of this community I was not trespassed and I did not have to leave the mall and the security officer was asked to back off by officer Parish. My day off work was not a good one to say the least, I am in the working class and I decided to come eat at the Burney establishment on my day off, I do not believe that this is how you represent your business, Officer Parish and I both know that this is not the representation you want for your business. I am upset I really wanted my Briskett sandwich, my iron was low because I seldom eat meat but when I do your location is where I choose to go, this did not need to go this far if your employee would of apologized and offered to make another sandwich using gloves I would of obliged, but he choose to be upset that I spoke out on his food handling techniques that were unsanitary and attempted to tarnish me in my community to save face for him self, being humble can go a long way, I understand we are human we all make mistakes and we can get busy and forget steps and techniques or just caught in a rush. I tried every mean to contact Burney the email address wasn't valid, and the only telephone number was to the location the employee was at and he was the only...

I tried, REALLY tried, to love (or even mildly like) the store. It has the potential to be my 'dream store' - books, books, and more books. I was especially excited to find that they sold "pre-owned" books. Knowing there was an in-house bakery and cafe had me hooked. I was dreadfully disappointed on all counts. The books are disorganized - not even the employees know where some things are located. There is a layer of dust that seems to have settled on to everything and everyone there. It is difficult to tell the 'new' from the 'used' - so much so that even some employees can't tell the difference. Their prices are considerably higher than the competition, we even found higher price stickers covering the publisher-marked prices. The employees are too busy chatting about their weekend &/or sneaking a toke to be anything but blatantly rude to the customers. I overheard one guy tell an elderly woman, "Yeah, we have bathrooms," then turn and walk away - this after she had asked for DIRECTIONS to the restroom. The bakery goods went into the trash after 2 bites. The chocolate mousse, vanilla cupcake, and other sweet items all tasted so heavily of onion that we couldn't eat them. I can get the same books... cheaper at Barnes and Noble (and yes, B&N does sell used) or Amazon and not be treated like dirt. It sad, really, because it is such a great idea and a good location. Too bad it failed...

Sort of a weird configuration, you go into the mall and then up the stairs into the store, but once you get upstairs it’s a lovely store. A wide selection of books, with knowledgeable sales associates who you can tell are actually well read and make sincere recommendations, not just whatever they’ve memorized. Sells used books too, which are substantially cheaper and usually in good condition, but are sometimes hard to find or tucked away in odd places. They also buy used books, and predictably compensation is pretty low, but slightly more than you’d get at half price books. The bookstore also hosts events, readings, panels, etc, on a stage they have. A cafeteria-style café is attached to the shop, so after buying some books you can grab a cup of coffee or a meal, and sit and read for a while. This is nice because the aisles are pretty narrow, and there aren’t really places to sit and read in the bookstore itself, like the armchairs you typically find in Barnes and Noble. The best part is, it feels like an independent bookstore even though third place books is a chain, because each branch of third place books...