Montclair Book Center — Local services in Montclair

Pro: -Great selection of books, easy to get lost in

Con: -Unpredictable attitudes of staff (one day they are nice and helpful, another they are rude, pompus, and don't pay attention when they are making change) This mostly applies to the older gentlemen with the long white hair.

Neutral: -Some prices are reasonable, some are a little outrageous, depends what you are looking for.

----I have come to this store a few times, and usually had a good experience. You have a large selection of books to choose from, some of the prices are alright if you want it then and now, and some just seem really off. You can easily just get lost in looking through all they have. ----Although, sometime I just want to see if they have a few books in stock instead of spending a large amount of time of sorting through all the different sections trying to find it, this is where the staff, especially the gentleman with the long white hair, can get unpredictable. Some days they are fully willing to help you find the book by checking in the computer to see if its in stock, and even go to the section with you to help find it, and some days they just don't seem to want to help you with anything, and even get rude, like recently i had a list of 3 or 4 books I wanted to see if they had, since I wanted to get in and out of the place, and the man with the long white hair got a little rude with me after the 2nd book i listed off and said "why don't you go check the section yourself." ----Also, on this same day, when I was paying for 3 books I had wanted, the total came to 11.25, I gave him 21.25 so I could get a 10$ bill back. He was not paying attention and gave me 2 cents, I told him I gave him 20 and a 1, he then took the change back and gave me $8, and I told him again he gave me the wrong change, but he raised his voice a little and said he did give me the right change. I persisted for about a minute and explained what I gave him and he kept saying he was right, even though he was already wrong, but I just said fine and grabbed my purchases and left. I wasn't mad that I was out 3 dollars, i was mad at the fact that he goes from treating customers with respect one day, and treats them like crap another out of nowhere, and then the customer pays for their incompetence. ----This place is nice just to get lost in and find some good old books you may not find in a large chain store, and sometimes for a reasonable price. Although, I say be a little wary of the staff, as their attitudes can be unpredictable, and make sure they pay attention the amount you are giving them so you do not get...

This is a great little bookstore! They have,I believe, thousands of books available in the store of all sorts ranging from very old which are locked up because they're worth a lot, to the very new and to the fairly recent of which they have multiple copies.

The new books will have a little bit off cover price, enough to make it worth the trip to go there. The older books can be a lot cheaper and you can find some books that you would never find online because you get to browse actual books and become interested via the cover or the summary on the back.

When you walk in you will see very narrow aisles with many of the books there also is also a back section with mostly kids books and if you go straight ahead upstairs from when you enter you will see and walkway all around, that house other categories of books.

If, when you walk in you head around to the right you will also see the art section in the other room with the records that you can actually try out on two turntables they have available. Also if you go downstairs you'll find a large collection of CDs that you can buy music and more records you can also try out there as well with other turntables!

They do buy books as well, obviously, as how are they going to get more used books in. However it depends on what they need at the time so you may go there and they may not be buying books or they may be buying books.

We always trying go here with enough money to buy several books. Usually we will find obvious books like the classics to kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye, but we also want to find some books of which we have never heard of as well.

Parking can be a bit tough in this area as anyone in Montclair knows, so plan on possibly walking a few blocks unless you get lucky and park in the lot right down the side street.

As I mentioned the aisles can be quite narrow and there are stairs going upstairs to part of the bookstore and stairs going downstairs and since I did not see an elevator I would assume that if you have a wheelchair you would not be able to access those areas in the wheelchair. I would recommend calling them to ask them if there is any solution to that.

I think one of the greatest things about this place is if you bring kids, this can be the kind of place to really get kids interested in reading. It's like an exploration to find a book to read that makes it so interesting that this discovery makes them want to read that book they found on their...

I visited Montclair Book Center today during Lackawanna Station’s Vintage Crawl, and had a wonderful experience! The store is like a treasure trove of new & used books, fun t-shirts, awesome records, and more - it’s a special place, truly a vintage lovers’/antiquers’/readers’ dream.

Unfortunately, however, there was a little rain cloud over my visit – not to any fault of MBC itself, but to the fault of one of its customers - if you can even call him that. I fear he came off as more of the saboteur archetype – I think he woke up with the sole mission of ruining someone’s day.

When I entered the store and strolled over to take a look at some of the new releases, I overheard a conversation going on between quite an unhappy man (the saboteur, if you will) and one of the owners of the store. Now, I can’t comment on what prompted this exchange, but I can comment on the grace with which the situation was handled by the aforementioned owner.

As the unhappy customer berated him in quite the ‘holier-than-thou’ manner, the owner of the shop remained completely composed. I was truly impressed with his cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor, because if it had been me, I don’t think I would have been as kind to someone who was making a very, very big deal over what seemed to be a laughably minor issue.

The man stormed out, proclaiming that he would be leaving a deeply negative Google review, and I’m so glad he did! As an avid reader (why else would I have visited Montclair Book Center?), I can confidently say that not only is his review nearly indecipherable, but it is riddled with grammatical errors and a complete lack of storytelling ability. To anyone who had the displeasure of reading it, I see you, and I hear you. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

So, to wrap this up, 5 stars to the owner of the store, who handled this silly, silly situation, and the deeply concerning immaturity of the customer with grace, calmness, and professionalism.

And a note to anyone reading negative reviews about how MBC “broken the law” (read above: improper grammar): take it with a grain of salt. Don’t believe everything you read – especially when it’s written by someone with the emotional maturity of a toddler throwing...