Waterstones Reviews Summary

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Johnny in particular is an exceptional staff member."
• "The staff are lovely and friendly, always smiling and happy to help customers."
• "Staff were so nice."
• "The staff are very help full."
• "Staff are helpful and attentive."
• "The staff are super helpful and lovely."
• "The staff here are amazing, knowledgeable, friendly and justifiably proud of their work environment."

Cons:

• "Was told by male cashier 'whatever, we sell books not beans'."
• "Would have been 5 stars if the staff on the ground floor could have used the computers and where able to spell."
• "Cafe is full but we were not served."
• "However, whenever I queue up to pay it is a nightmare to find anyone on the tills."
• "The service was exceedingly slow and when four from the cash desk everything came to a halt."
• "I've been unable to get served on upper floors a few times in the past though."
• "After waiting in line and after waiting in total circa 25 mins I complained to a member of staff."

Book Selection and Availability

Pros:

• "Very extensive range of books etc to look at and I also enjoy the coffee from the coffee shop on the 2nd floor."
• "It's a book lovers paradise."
• "A gigantic book store with a behemoth range of literature."
• "There are four floors of books covering everything from children's, to travel, academic texts, along with mainstream releases."
• "They have a great selection of books and a lovely café on the first floor."
• "A good selection of books covering a wide range of interests."
• "Great selection of books and they always have some fantastic displays."

Cons:

• "This store has gone downhill and standards have dropped."
• "There are books that I've wanted in the past however, that were not available and I've had to go online to get them from another source."
• "Hardly any Star Wars books to purchase in the sci fi section."
• "Downstairs was designated to Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Kids, but the kids section took over most of the floor."
• "The section was just very small as the YA section took up one corner as well."
• "They used to have an LGBTQ section which was not there anymore and the books where all integrated with the others."
• "There is no international books or books of languages other than English."

Café and Amenities

Pros:

• "The café offered a good choice of speciality coffees and teas, some delicious looking cakes and scones."
• "The chocolate cake was a delightful treat, not overly sweet and wonderfully moist."
• "I enjoyed an iced latte and a vegan brownie. They both tasted amazing."
• "And the cakes in their cafe are pretty decent as well."
• "Delicious coffee, even better cake and great service."
• "The cafe serves delicious coffee and snacks."
• "Coffee (cappuccino and a flat white) was very nice and arguably more flavoursome than some of the high street big hitters."

Cons:

• "Great looking shop let down by the cafe and no toilet."
• "The staff were not using temperature gauges to make the coffee and as a result the coffee was pretty awful."
• "The cafe is also very expensive and the quality not great."
• "The cafe is full of students sitting around taking up seats whilst chatting to people online."
• "More galling is the fact that if I have the books delivered to the store via their website, I can save between 20-50% on the RRP."
• "Staff seem oblivious to the fact that genuine customers who have bought refreshments are waiting for seats."
• "On a large number of occasions they have had no coffee no food and they never have the toilet working."

Store Layout and Atmosphere

Pros:

• "The store is clean, tidy, and beautiful. There is such a relaxing atmosphere, even when the shop is packed full of people."
• "Very friendly staff, amazing architecture."
• "Nice layout, tea area and a good choice of books, many of which on discount for the sale period."
• "It is calming place to browse and relax on a shopping trip."
• "Several storeys of books in a beautiful building."
• "A cosmopolitan bookshop in an amazing building great place to browse books grab a coffee in between and people watch."
• "Beautiful building near Grey's monument."

Cons:

• "When you walk in you might accidentally join the checkout queue as there’s not much space to enter the shop!"
• "All the tables are so close I could barely fit through gaps."
• "There are no seats for customers browsing even though there is plenty of room to put some between the tables with books on display."
• "Also it is pretty cold and the staff is chatting loudly about anything and everything. As well as the customers."
• "Layout was a bit quirky due to being in an older building- unsure about how accessible it would be to some people- I didn't check for a lift."
• "The cafe could do with a grade or two up-scaling with more comfortable seating and being enlarged."
• "A bit chilly though and more seating could be available as it tends to get and stay very busy throughout the day."