Small World Books — Local services in Los Angeles

It ain’t wrong to get strong! That had been my motto for a few minutes, so I scooted down to Venice Beach. I was at the muscle beach gettin’ SWOLE and gettin’ RIPPED. I was plugging out standing barbell curls and inclined bench presses and standing calf raises (“Er’day is Leg Day”, a bearded, eye-patched gentlemanly spotting partner repeated, incessantly) and did a ton of ab work to get my six-pack goin’ on. I was hot and buff, and my lady friends, Tonya and Madame Wellington (her husband was at his downtown real-estate convention), were giving me coy smiles and existential back rubs. I needed to cool down after my session, so I strolled down the ocean walk a little ways and popped into Small World Books. Nice bookshop. Rad location! Picked up some local Zines and a literary focused novel, Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men,” a real hoot of a story, and then shuffled next door and got a margarita to watch the sunset. If you’re ever in Venice Beach, and looking for a post-workout book, well, look no further than...

WHAT DID I GET: I got a fancy shmancy journal with a pretty cool skull drawing on the front.

HOW WAS THE STORE/EXPERIENCE: The bookstore is pretty cozy and well-kept. It has a surprisingly awesome selection. That said, their customer service/attitude is pretty lacking. When I went there today, the people who were working there seemed utterly bored, apathetic and bothered, and when I tried to make conversation with them, they had this look on their faces like I just sneezed at them. I'm not asking them to treat me like the king of England, but just...can they not act like they're just too cool for everything?

HOW MUCH DID IT COST: The journal was a little over $14.

WOULD I COME BACK/RECOMMEND THIS PLACE: Part of me wants to recommend and come back because I love supporting local bookstores and stationary stores. However, part of me DOESN'T want to because of their lackluster, craptacular attitude towards...

Was on a nice afternoon stroll shopping and ready to spend money in there until I walked in just now and both people behind the counter looked up at me and said nothing, no hello, not even a head nod until I said hello loudly (one was texting forcefully on her phone and after looking at me as I walked into the store went back to her phone). The next person who walked in got a minute later received a warm greeting. I wish the difference between us wasnt race and gender but it was - I am a Black woman and he was a white man. Disgusting that your employees can’t give all patrons the same warm greeting that he got. I live nearby but please believe that you just lost my family as customers and I’ll tell anyone else I can about it. It also smelled...