Tecolote Book Shop

The minute I saw the open Dutch door, I knew Tecolote would be a welcoming and cozy spot. You can find everything from the latest fiction to more niche books about the greater Montecito and central coast area. The two ladies working there were very friendly and knowledgeable. Plus, who doesn’t love free gift wrapping. A perfect stop on the drive back from a weekend in Santa Barbara. Highly recommend!

It's quite a cute little book shop and it always seems to be busy. The book selection is pretty good and it's one of the few left of its kind.

A wonderful book shop with a friendly and knowledgeable staff. Anything they don't have, they can get quickly. The staff is wonderful. They go out of their way to provide excellent, timely service to their customers.

The place is smaller, and has been there a long time. The owner is a super nice lady. She's almost ready to retire, so come buy some books! There's also a nice little market and a hardware store, in the same mall.

Found this bookstore online in Apple maps. It is one of five in my area belonging to a book store club. The ladies were delightful and I picked up a great bird book.

Love the book store. Great selection of books and really good customer service. Great for finding a interesting read.

Always uptodate publications. Staff is quite helpful

Lovely selection of new books in a cozy shop.

One of the last of its kind, a book store with customer service that rivals .... Well, just about anywhere. They will order whatever book you are looking for if it's out of stock. They always have great recommendations if you're looking for something new to dive into. The ladies that run the shop are very sweet and excited to meet new readers, and they greet their longtime customers by name. You always get a bookmark with each purchase. They go out of their way to make you feel right at home. This place is truly a gem, and I hope they will continue to serve the montecito area for d'arcades to come.

Great bookshop! If they do not have it they will order it for you. Highly recommend!!!

Bookshops are one of the wonders of the world. Where else can you find adventures on the high seas and home grown stories in the Deep South. Faeries and Trolls and so much more. Shop local. Support the mom and pop shops. Tecolote is a piece of Santa Barbara/Montecito history. The more you shop here the more the places shines. I order all my books from here and always find gift cards for our teachers for the holidays. Tecolote is a lovely place to peruse and find just the right book or books as it seems to be in my family! Thank you for remaining true to us readers out there who love a good solid book in our hands.

My mom lives in the area and frequents this friendly, happy bookstore as often as she can. (She is a big ole, computer-less Luddite otherwise she would be writing this herself!) I have had the pleasure of going with her and often order books from Tecolote for her to pick up - I have always found the people working there to be helpful and accommodating. I can see that this bookstore is a big part of why my mom feels at home in Montecito and I am so grateful for Tecolote and the community-building good bookstores like this one can offer.

I had heard of Tecolote for many years. A community icon. However since I passed through Montecito largely on Sundays, I never visited. Yesterday I finally made a visit on a Saturday. I did not plan to buy anything but just browsing around I came away with four books. The organization and display is excellent. There are bookstores with more books, but the well spaced display here made each book stand out. There was an author signing taking place that had refreshments too. I had a great experience!

I get it, there's not that many bookstores anymore. I always try to support the Mom and Pop shops that still exist. That being said, it's really hard to do that when the customer service is lackluster and the book options are limited. I called ahead of time to get an audio book for my drive home and was told "Sure we have plenty! Mostly mysteries". Upon arrival, I wasn't greeted or acknowledged in the slightest. I found the audio books myself (there were about 5 options) and paid a whopping $45. Didn't really enjoy the audio book. Didn't really enjoy the book store. Moving forward I will purchase my audio books online :(

Oh, I wanted so much to love this bookstore. It's nestled in the beautiful Montecito hills, and I'd sought it out after scanning Indiebound.org for bookstores close to our hotel in Santa Barbara. First things first: the bookstore was very pretty and lush. Rich carpeting, beautiful wooden shelves, nice display tables. Pretty good selection of books, too--nothing too wild and crazy, but the selection seems to reflect the more affluent folks that live in the area. It appeared to me that the buyer for the store knows his/her customers' preferences pretty well, but that's all based on my assumptions about folks in Montecito, assumptions that could be entirely wrong. What I found disappointing was the customer service (or lack thereof). We weren't greeted upon entering (even when my friend deliberately walked in and out of the store four separate times in a funny little test to see if anyone would acknowledge him), and no one asked us if we needed any help. I chalked this up to the apparent busy-ness of the two women working--they were shelving and organizing like mad, sheets of inventory paper spread out on one of the display tables as they tried to take stock. I assume their quiet ignorance of us was due to a stressful situation at hand. Fair enough. When my friend asked for a book, the woman working didn't go to the shelf with him or offer to look it up on the computer so she could special order it. Her one suggestion was to buy it on Amazon. As a fellow indie bookstore owner, I was surprised to hear this (though several bookstore friends have told me that this is not a rare thing to here from a tired bookstore manager now and again). I'll definitely try this place out again if I'm ever in the area. I hope to enjoy my hour of browsing a bit more next time, as I think I caught them on an off day.

What a lovely book store. This kind of place is sorely needed in our community. Too many people walking around texting and not reading great books ! Put done the cell phone and spend a little time in here, you won't regret it. By all means buy a book and enrich your life.

Terrible place in such a tranquil surrounding! The owner was very rude and customer service was so bad that you could not even ask a question. After she finally got done with yakking on the phone she would not even look for any book that she does NOT have... Totally negative experience. By the way the shop is filthy with half-eaten fast food on the counter. Disgusting.

Lovely bookstore in the hills of Montecito. Personal service abounds. I felt as though I had entered someone's living room. A must if you are in the Santa Barbara area.

A classic little bookshop, with excellent selections and knowledgeable staff.