Waterstones Reviews Summary

Selection and Variety of Books

Pros:

• "Great variety of titles and super helpful people."
• "Its Waterstones' flagship store, covering seven floors packed with books of all genres."
• "The science fiction and fantasy section here is HUGE with plenty of staff picks - the handwritten recommendations are one of my favourite bits about Waterstones."
• "Their selection of books and board games is the biggest in Europe and that all in one place."
• "The children’s section is always well organised (every floor is amazing) and especially the manga section is the best in London."
• "Largest bookstore in Europe with six levels and an impressive variety."
• "The Manga section is very big and quite well stocked from what I can tell."

Cons:

• "Personally I was only disappointed by the very poor selection of books about British Cinema."
• "Minus one star was because I couldn't find any of the books on my to-buy list."
• "The books sometimes can be a bit more expensive than Amazon."
• "They go more for a range of topics rather than quality of said topic."
• "Most of them are paperback and if you want to find a specific edition, maybe you cannot find it there."
• "The large capacity of stock was mostly taken up with older stock."
• "I came to the store looking for a particular book... it was not found on the shelf because it has not been unpacked from the boxes."

Store Layout and Accessibility

Pros:

• "Waterstones at Piccadilly is an absolute gem! I absolutely adore the spaciousness of the store, providing ample room for comfortable reading."
• "♿ A staircase and accessible elevators connect all six floors."
• "Close to tube stations, bus stops, theatreland, etc."
• "They're wheel chair friendly with a ramp to enter the store and a couple elevators for traveling between floors."
• "It's absolutely enormous, open long hours with plenty of seats to bury yourself in and dig down and explore their collection."
• "Six floors and literally miles and miles of books!"
• "With 5 to 6 storeys high, filled with books of various genres on each floor, Waterstones is easily one of my fave bookstores around!"

Cons:

• "The café on the top floor used to be absolutely delightful, but now is just as run down as the bookstore."
• "Toilets are frequently broken and disgusting, no seats to take a break between floors."
• "Knee-height displays were overfilled so moving around when the store was crowded meant you were almost certainly going to knock something off."
• "The toilets were disgusting."
• "Restrooms are located on the 5th floor and if you don't want to climb endless flights of stairs, you are faced with a couple of tiny crowded elevators."
• "Toilets are on the lower floor near the cafe - but it’s often not working."
• "Toilets were not pleasant unfortunately."

Customer Service

Pros:

• "The staff is very caring and helping."
• "Even after a long day the staff was enthusiastic and helpful."
• "Staff helpful and clearly book lovers."
• "The staff were excellent they knew exactly where on the shelf her titles were."
• "Staff are always very helpful in my experience of Waterstones and will help find a book or author even if the item you need is in another location."
• "The staff are very friendly and do a great job with the curated displays of books."
• "The staff are always friendly and knowledgeable."

Cons:

• "However the customer service today was a bit wanting... I found her attitude quite aggressive."
• "Unfortunately the service was awful."
• "Stuff doesn't seem to know where things are."
• "Couldn't find any. Looking for a member of staff on the floor. Couldn't find any."
• "Large selection, but had a really condescending encounter today with a staff member... I left the store immediately, I felt so patronised."
• "Girl that spoke to me made it obvious she didn't give a damn."
• "NOBODY has any answers or they just ignore you whilst taking the money without sending the items!!!!"

Cafes and Amenities

Pros:

• "It has cafes for a quick coffee."
• "The coffee shop in the basement which was clean and tidy. The coffee was good and they had many pastry options."
• "There's a cafe on the lower ground floor which does decent coffee and pastries."
• "There are washrooms here as well so that was convenient for the whole family."
• "There’s a cafe down in the basement if you need to take a break."
• "I love the cafe on the ground floor (lovely interior and amazing hot chocolate)."
• "They have a nice quiet cafe upstairs which serves a small but delicious selection of cakes and teas."

Cons:

• "It was really dirty and smells soo baaad!! This is unacceptable for customers!"
• "The fifth floor is a bar and restaurant."
• "But it is their 5th floor cafe that disappoints."
• "The food almost seems to be pleading 'don't eat me'."
• "Service in cafe only one person slow of course selling overpriced stale cake."
• "Cafe, bars are overpriced and not very good quality."
• "Very disappointed with my dry sandwich that had no hummus in as described."