Rodney W.
Yelp
TLDR; Interesting location, but no genre/topic separation at all, overwhelmingly fiction content, and average customer service.
Inside the Chelsea Market, definitely a stand out business in a place filled with mostly food! Let's chop it up and talk about the details, but I'll keep it simple:
Pros:
- Cool placement of a bookstore that you wouldn't expect
- Clean store with a nice vintage aesthetic
- Stationary goods to wrap your books in for gift giving
- The staff were a chill vibe. Not super accommodating like a 5-Star business in LA, but I wasn't expecting or needing that. They also weren't irritated and negative.
Now the cons:
- The biggest one, is no clear indication of theme or genre. I might be basic in this regard, but I have an opinion that bookstores should at least guide me to the type of content I want to digest. This store literally had no signs indicating where one section begins, or ends so you kind of have to just use your eyes and scan through books.
- Lack of variety on books. I feel as if the content they had contained an overwhelming amount of Fiction literature, with some kids books included, and not really anything outside of that. I'm personally into things like History, Art, Film, Music, Instructionals, Self-Help, Nutrition, Psychology, etc and I really couldn't pinpoint where any of those books were.
- I feel like finding staff was few and far between, mostly helping with the busy register. Their outfits didn't make them stand out so I wouldn't have been sure who to ask questions to, and I never had anyone ask me if I needed help. So this effectively made my book store experience just a free-for-all and a scavenger hunt for genres I was interested in.
Would I go back here? Honestly not at the moment, but it was a cool vibe to bounce in and out of after grabbing a bite to eat. If you lowkey want to just accidentally bump into a book you wouldn't usually think about choosing, then this spot could be for you, it just isn't for my personality type!