Changing Hands Bookstore — Local services in Phoenix

This one star is for the blond, thin woman that was running a Friday special events night a short while back. I don’t know if she is the manager or someone who runs special events or what, but I was working at the counter of the cafe for a while one Friday and I was on the phone dealing with a difficult transaction that took a long time and I was listening a lot to what the other person was saying to me over the phone for what must have been more than an hour. The place was kind of noisy that night and I did not notice people moving from that back salon room to the other side of the store for the event. I had no idea an event was going to happen. No one at the register or bar had told me when I first came in ordering a drink and I had not noticed any sign when I was ordering. If I had known, I would have for sure moved to accommodate their event. I did not, I had been staring at my laptop as the woman over the phone was still talking and then suddenly the blond woman from the cafe walks up to me and very rudely and impatiently addresses me to tell me there is an event and I need to go. Completely rude to me with no compassion or understanding that I has no idea things had changed behind me. I couldn’t get off the phone but I got up immediately and gathered my things to leave as I asked the person on the phone to repeat themselves since your blond staff loudly scolded me while I was still on the phone. They had closed both sides of the doors around the bar and while I was holding my laptop phone and bag, had to struggle to open one door more to let me through to the other side of the bar. I don’t mind being told I have to move if I have not noticed that things have changed behind or around me, but do not treat me with such a disrespectful tone, manner, and attitude from the get go. Maybe that blond lady can have some compassion and better customer service so she gently tells someone to move. I also wouldn’t have minded her loud address, even though it was not necessary, if she had at least used a kind tone. She was rude. I come here from time to time and I like the other staff a lot and appreciate their drinks and products. Please ask that blond woman to show more respect and have better customer service. We are sincere customers who spend our money at your store to support it....

Great wheelchair accessible bookstore! I had a great time here and highly recommend it.

Entrance: The door was wide open when I visited and is an easy access, very wide and completely step free entrance. The parking lot is also easily accessible and extra smooth with plenty of accessible parking spots.

The aisles are nice and wide and the floors are nice and smooth. I didn't see any tight corners, rugs, or blocking furniture, though the aisles are a little narrower around their "miscellaneous" displays such as stickers and magnets due to the rotating racks. The store is huge and there's plenty of comfy seating and benches as well.

The bookstore had sections on every subject and I could honestly browse here for hours. I was especially impressed by their large children's selection - they seemed extra kid friendly! I also loved their Romance section which had lots of Queer romance, though it was waaay in the back shelf. They had a whole shelf of recs if you liked Heartstopper! They had many many staff picks and recommendations on every shelf so you really couldn't go wrong no matter what your interests are. They're very LGBTQ+ friendly and the staff here was extremely welcoming.

Best of all, the store has a BOOK BAR! So you can grab a glass of wine, coffee beverage, or other beverage of choice, and relax with a book, or take your drink around the store with you while you browse.

Both the bar and the bookstore have accessible cashiers and tables as well at proper height with...

Always curious to check out a small business. The selection and atmosphere however - very politically charged. Not really a big variety of books either like the mystery,history, science sections and anything for school is lacking. I just want to enjoy books and not focus on what’s going on in the world from time to time- it’s good for very liberal folks though. The selection is small. They do offer trade ins- though I have not done that with this business. Did not check out the coffee area but that’s a great combo to have for a book store. They serve alcohol but this place is super expensive - like $13 a beer. They also offer theme nights/nights out. The prices are steep (like Walmart/target/amazon are cheaper) but you can expect that from a small place. Lots of little knick knacks around the place- good gift giving potential but really pulls away from it being a book store about books…. Workers were average but felt like they were trying to rush everyone around/out. Very “buy something quickly or get out”. It’s not just a used book store- I’d say it’s 75% +new. Realistically it’s 3 stars but the 4th is just because we didn’t try any of the extras so I can’t...