Waterstones Reviews Summary

Book Selection

Pros:

• "This Waterstones has so many floors with every category you can think of."
• "If you can't find it here then it probably hasn't been written yet."
• "There are more here than any other book store I have ever entered."
• "It has a wide selection of books and if they happen not to have what you want, they'll order it in for you."
• "A wide range of books as expected."
• "One of the bigger boom shops around with a wider variety."
• "They literally sell every book you want."

Cons:

• "Great bookstore, but not many books on smallholding."
• "However when I was looking for the Russian books I couldn't find any, I was rather upset."
• "The choice of stock is somewhat limited."
• "One downside I have noticed is that on occasion books have been scuffed, marked or creased and this has stopped me buying in-store sometimes."
• "Everytime I order a book it's not on their reading list. They insist on pushing a leftist selection."
• "While certain sections could offer more selections."
• "Shame we lost the Borders chain. Waterstones is a good shop, but Borders had excellent magazine selections before it shut down, and Waterstones have not been bothered to fill that gap."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "The staff are friendly and helpful and will always take time out to make sure you find what you're looking for."
• "Staff are usually noticeably quite friendly and helpful at this branch."
• "Store staff are super friendly, knowledgeable and helpful."
• "The staff are always lovely and helpful."
• "Staff are always super friendly and helpful."
• "The staff are kind and extremely helpful, nothing is too much trouble."
• "Staff were very helpful and friendly."

Cons:

• "Very disappointed that the coffee shop is still closed."
• "There was no assistant on the till on the 2nd floor for rather a long time."
• "However the attitude of the female member of staff on duty wasn't particularly pleasant."
• "A marked reluctance from the sales assistant to want to help by searching the store database for titles."
• "Pity, not enough staff to assist eager shoppers."
• "Service was rather slow."
• "Now it's a bit better than a best seller store with staff who are rushed off their feet with no real knowledge of the departments or books."

Café and Amenities

Pros:

• "A small cafe on the top floor affords more space to sit and enjoy your purchases with a very good cup of coffee."
• "The first floor Cafe which serves delicious savoury food and cakes."
• "Café is top. Many inspirations, many friendly people, nicely organized."
• "The in-store Coffee shop offering steaming coffee and other hot brews."
• "Highly recommend the cafe on the third floor. Wide selection of teas and coffee freshly made, and cakes that vary by day."
• "The Grand cafe on the top floor is a perfect place to chill out too."
• "Cafe sells good coffee and tasty selection of food."

Cons:

• "Very disappointed that the coffee shop is still closed."
• "However for a major store in the city centre the toilets are pretty awful. On the day we visited they were filthy and smelly with a tiny overflowing bin."
• "Only problem was the cafe and toilets were closed and didn't find out until I got up to the third floor."
• "It always seems a bit understaffed - there's often plates on tables that need clearing and the tables themselves often need a good wipe."
• "Only let down was there wasn't any seating space other than the café."
• "The cafe was very different. It was 4.45pm and they were due to close at 6pm. We were told sorry you can't have a drink because we are doing a stock take."
• "There's a cafe at the top which it's nice and quiet but a little expensive for what you get."

Store Layout and Accessibility

Pros:

• "A beautiful building 3 floors wall to wall books with a in-store cafe on floor 3 (lovely flat white), lots of scattered seating areas to just take the load off and relax you can get lost for hours!"
• "The Deansgate branch is my favourite so far with its 3 large floors of books."
• "Store is very clean and cozy and well stocked."
• "The store is easy to navigate."
• "Comfortable, warm and welcoming in atmosphere, with plenty of seating throughout the shop."
• "Fully wheelchair-accessible, though could do with a couple of lowered counters & some evening-up of the floor near the Deansgate entrance to improve things a little."
• "A huge store spread over multiple floors."

Cons:

• "Seem to be going through a bit of a change, parts of the ground floor have been changed to focus on gifts and gift books, but it looks hastily done and feels disjointed with the rest of the shop."
• "Great place to see new reads but could do with some places throughout the floors to sit and relax not just the cafe but to see if a book is appealing enough to buy."
• "He didn't mention the elevator or the escalator or the cafe opening and closing times. I struggled with my disabled father up three flights of stairs."
• "Layout is a little confusing, and never seems to stay the same."
• "Disappointed there weren't more chairs available to allow customers to sit down on the shop floor so to speak."
• "But it needs more sit down areas and more staff around the floors to assist customers."
• "They also have the standard stationary stuff on the ground floor for gifts for example, but to be honest those are quite expensive."