Arundel Books — Local services in Seattle

This is a beautiful bookstore and I always make sure to drop in here when I’m down in Pioneer Square. It truly is lovely.

That being said, I was met with such hostility when I came into this shop last night during the Art Walk and it really soured my experience there, probably permanently.

I excitedly entered Arundel with 4 of my friends during the Art Walk. I was amped to show it to some of them who had just moved to Seattle. Without even thinking though, I walked in with a small bag of pretzels. Within seconds of stepping in the building, I found myself getting loudly berated by the man at the counter (the owner/proprietor?). There was no kindness about it, it was all scorn and “No no no that’s not gonna happen. You have to take that out right now.” He said it loudly over a line of customers and all heads in the store turned my direction.

I of course apologized profusely- I would have gladly thrown it away had I seen the extremely small sign over their door (which, by the way, was propped open inward, so it was hardly noticeable).

I amicably offered to put the pretzels in my tote bag, but even this was not enough, and he motioned me to the door. He said something to the extent of “you should have read the sign you passed on the way in.” And with that, it was clear I was not welcome in the bookstore, all over a bag of pretzels that was almost empty and which I could have easily tossed in the trash outside.

As my group left, he shook his head and turned to his coworker, clearly talking down on me right in front of me and my friends.

It was so, so embarrassing- and the worst part is it could have all been handled with kindness. i.e. “Hey there, would you mind putting that away or in the trash before browsing?”

I showed that I was happily willing to comply even with his rudeness and there was no malicious intent from me. The “no food or drink” sign was easily missed. Had I seen it, I would have tossed my snack.

This being said, my friends and I all left the building feeling very weird, and a few of us concurred we probably won’t be coming back here. This is such a shame to me as someone who has always tried to be a good patron for small businesses like this one, but I was ultimately met with so much rudeness and anger from the folks running it that I’m quite literally...

"Your books have no value."

Well, you've lost this valuable customer. Second bad experience with this store.

I sold 10 books to them for $20 and called back this morning to ask if I could have an itemized receipt to know more about which titles they bought for which amount. It seemed strange to only get 20, when I've sold less books and gotten more at other bookstores. So, I called today for more info.

The lady on the phone was fine, but when she put on the phone with one of her buyers, he started the call by saying something like, "we already bought the books from you, were not going to spend more time to then return them to you or give you an itemized receipt."

I said, "I understand, but I wanted to know how the system works, so I can understand how much you bought each book for"

"Your books have no value, they're stock books, were not going to waste our time"

"Excuse me, my books have no value?"

But they bought them. I bought 13 in, they purchased 10. They were from different genres, manga, manifesto, non fiction, fiction, a first edition book, and they "have no value"

He said, "they're just books, they're stock books."

I was shocked, disturbed, and hurt.

I told him to have a good day so I could end the conversation. This person was obviously annoyed and doesn't care what I, the customer, think.

Cool, I have 300 books at home, I don't need to be in a bookstore that makes me feel like I'm back in high school...

Today I stopped in just to browse and see if anything caught my eye. While I ultimately didn't end up purchasing anything, a number of books were of great interest to me and overall it was just very impressive to see both the quality but also the variety of books in this used bookstore.

However I wanted to make it a point to leave a review not from the above but because the gentleman who helped me was absolutely wonderful and extremely knowledgeable!

I noticed he had several early 1900s books with illustrations and it reminded me of a book I once saw in France over a decade ago that I wanted to buy but couldn't afford at the time. I described him the type of book and he immediately knew what I was talking about, a couple of possible authors, described a series of books on different places and how the book I saw I might fit into that series, helped look online as well as sort through some of the books he had all to find this for me.

When I left, he had taken down my information and if he is able to locate the sort of book or ever see something similar come into the store he is going to contact me.

I just thought his immediate knowledge about this obscure type of book that I mentioned was impressive but then even further to take the time and effort to try and find this for me was really wonderful! Thank you and I definitely...