Bart's Books — Local services in Ojai

The new owner and several of his staff are rude and arrogant and also of questionable ethics: They advise that they allow trade credit of 30% of their estimated selling price. Prior to the new ownership, that was true. But after the transition, I brought in boxes of well-selected books, all in excellent to very good condition (all of which were packed carefully but handled carelessly by Matt, the owner) and when they gave me their offer, I calculated it out to an average credit of 47 cents per book. I pointed out that this necessarily yielded an average "selling price" of $1.57 per book, that they had few books below $5 and that their average selling price was $8. Matt's response was "we go by the individual book value." I responded that as a former retailer myself, with 30 years experience, his response was illogical. The cost averaging spoke for itself. His obtuse, disingenuous response was, "We don't cost-average," which defied the pure, simple arithmetic logic of the matter. I had been a loyal customer since 1965, just its second year in business, when I was an undergraduate at UCSB. For many years thereafter, I came at least weekly. I also recommended barts to countless friends, family and visitors. When Matt became the owner several years ago things changed. Several.of the staff were rude, especially one of the women. They wouldn't have lasted a week at my businesses. But Matt hss kept the rude staff on, so clearly he's okay with his staff's discourtesy.

His attitude infects his staff. They apparently have an "us/them" mentality--that if it weren't for the customers, their jobs would be easier. The culture of a business comes from the top. I believe the only two reasons for Bart"s continued success are its historical reputation and inclusion in tourist guides, as well as the fact that Bart's has no significant competition. The many positive reviews are mostly from first-time visitors and tourists. Look at all the negative reviews. The common themes are rudeness and indifferent customer service. And most especially, note the responses to the negative reviews. I haven't seen a response where the rudeness issue has been addressed. The responses tend to be dismissive and defensive rather than apologetic, as they should be. That's what the expression. "The customer isalways right" means. It doesn't mean the customer is literally right. It means you have to take the customer's word for his perceived experience and deal with that constructively. I recommend Calico Cat bookstore in Ventura, The Book Den in Santa Barbara or the Friends of the Library stores in Ojai and Carpenteria, I've even had much better experience with Amazon sellers than I've...

A unique partially outdoor bookstore in a residential part of Ojai. It looks like an actual house that was converted to a bookstore. It has lots of seating. There's a wide variety of subjects, sometimes divided up by corresponding room of a house. For example, a little side room has art books while the kitchen has cookbooks. There's a small honor system section of books on the outside of the building and available 24 hours. Just drop payment in the box by the door. They sold other stuff, like ceramics. Service is friendly and helpful, but never seemed instrusive. They definitely have some good deals too. Last time we visited, my girlfriend got a few cookbooks in good condition and way cheaper than Amazon (at least the ones even on Amazon. Some books are not even easily available online), let alone a big box store like Barnes and Noble. It's a cool place just to visit and hang out, but even better if you actually buy something and support their business. Support unique, high quality, local, independent businesses like this. In a big city like LA or NYC, or a unique spot, like Ojai, there's still independent bookstores, but in much of America, they're very rare or...

As an avid reader I have known about Bart’s for many years but somehow always missed it during my visits to Ojai. Living in Los Angeles, Ojai is about a 90 min enjoyable drive up the coast. Bart’s is nestled right off the main strip and is surrounded by houses so there is plenty of parking available. It’s very large on the inside, even though more than half the store is uncovered so you can view books in the beautiful California sunshine. They divide up the sections like a traditional bookstore, but they really do have many gems on the shelves and pricing is very fair compared to other well known bookstores.

We ended up finding and purchasing many books that I haven’t seen elsewhere and I could have easily purchased way more. We spent about an hour in the shop, but could have easily doubled that because there just is so much to see.

Overall a must stop for any reading fan or anyone looking for a really homely aesthetic. Feels like a set pulled right out of a movie in the best kind of way. I will definitely...