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Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Category: Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Bookstores Bookstores [Edit]
160 S Westlake BlvdWestlake Village, CA 91362
(805) 446-2820
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
20 reviews for Barnes & Noble Booksellers
20 reviews in English
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Review from Pseudo N.
Simi Valley, CA
11/2/2011 14 Check-ins Here
This B&N location has generally good (but by no means always), helpful bookstore staff. With Borders gone now, it's nice to have somewhere to go and see and browse books in person in a http://non-Amazon.com sort of way every once in a while, isn't it?
There's something comforting about being in a bookstore bustling with people, some of whom are even shopping for books, so I enjoy this place for that reason alone.
The Starbucks cafe is a great place to read or sit and get some work done. It's a popular spot, and is almost always crowded every day of the week (plus, there's a dearth of electrical outlets for laptop users). The cafe staff are a bit of a mixed bag; from very friendly, to indifferent, to somewhat ... odd. -
Review from Adam E.
10/8/2011 1 Check-in Here
I really do like this location.
Staff is great and it is placed perfectly in the promenade which makes it's a perfect place to cruise through while killing time for a movie.
Starbuck's is always packed with people on the computer but here is a little piece of advice... There is not enough plug outlets so make sure your computer is fully charged!
We all know you can go Amazon to get books but B&N and other book shops are more than a place to purchase a book. I do not get inspired while on Amazon. Plus shipping cost make it closer to even anyways.
The B&N Card is a great thing to purchase for 25$ if you purchase books often. It will pay for itself after 1 or 2 visits. -
Review from Vicky W.
1/2/2012 1 Check-in Here
Nice cafe here with lots of seating. I came here to study on New Year's because the library was closed. Impressed with the amount of seating. It's pretty quiet for the most part and people are considerate. I sat at the counter where I didn't notice any outlets, so if you come here to work or study, make sure your computer is fully charged! The store is clean and organized inside. I could spend the day here!
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Review from Trina W.
Camarillo, CA
12/28/2011 1 Check-in Here
Love this place! Sit and read and never be bothered
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Review from Courtney C.
Pleasanton, CA
10/15/2011 4 Check-ins Here
They need more tables or chairs here...the staff says you aren't allowed to sit in the aisle. Where did they want us to sit?
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Review from Cassie P.
7/3/2011
HUGE store. It will be so sad if book stores like this close. The bonus of this particular B&N was that there were actually chairs sprinkled throughout. That is a rare find!
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Review from Jarrod M.
Thousand Oaks, CA
3/6/2011 4 Check-ins Here
This particular location is great, with quite a few restaurants around and a movie theater as a neighbor. Parking can be a bit difficult as a result. I have always liked the bookshelves right inside the door- a section I like to refer to as the 'Please Steal Me Section.' (please note that I have not, nor would I condone theft of any kind). It's just that it seems as though they are begging someone to take those particular books off their hands, so they place them right by the door OUTSIDE of the security alarm sensors...
My biggest gripe with this location is its lack of seating. Other locations have small living room-looking areas with stuffed chairs and tables and such. This one- not so much. They have a few benches and a couple of chairs upstairs. Other than that- to the ground with you. Of course, this is not enough to say I won't be back. To me a bookstore is a bookstore and, well, this is...a bookstore. -
Review from Matthew C.
Thousand Oaks, CA
3/6/2011
I would never buy books here because frankly, their prices are too expensive. You could almost any book you wanted on Amazon for much cheaper.
I do go to this place to study and I like it a lot. The cafe usually has places to sit and there's free wifi so you can bring your laptop along. The cafe also serves starbucks (+1 if you like starbucks). I prefer to study here rather than the library, I think its a friendlier environment. Plus I can get my coffee while I study. The only problem is that there's only two outlets in the whole cafe :( -
Review from Jesse W.
Thousand Oaks, CA
1/4/2011
I've liked this store when it first opened over a decade ago. Depending when you come in it can be super packed with people or nice and mellow.
There's more variety of literature to choose from and as the years passed, better selections have popped up.
I enjoying spending time in the Starbucks Cafe that they have but it doesn't take Starbucks gift cards which is a bummer. It's mostly clean when its not super busy, but the biggest complaint that I have is that they only have 2 power outlets for people to use. Since a majorioty of people that hang out in the cafe need the outlets for their electronic devices, its very bothersome that they don't have enough. So for the rest of us, our devices better have long battery life.
Since the cafe is a Starbucks, they have the same coffees with different pastry selections. Everything is pretty tasty, I've had no problems so far. I wished they would add cushy couches in the cafe.
This place also has free WiFi which is good.
Staff is friendly and knowledgable. During the holiday's when its busy, when I needed to talk to someone, I was able to without waiting too long.
Sometimes they forget to clean the bathroom for long periods of time but it gets done at some point.
They have a membership card but I hate paying for it. Its useful if you shop and dine here like me but I wish it was free like Border's. They should charge money if they add better incentives to it.
Overall, its a decent place to hang out and just have coffee and read or have a study group -
Review from mel r.
Emeryville, CA
7/15/2008
Hi, I'm Mel R,
you might remember me from such reviews as:
Neumo's-you've sucked my soul
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Sushi on Fire-why have you forsaken my liver so?
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
and the classic:
When Vibrator's Attack!
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
So between spreading myself thin amongst work, blogging and beer drinking; I find simple refuge in B&N. All locations are the same recipe: coffee, books, music and mags; all of which get my juices flowing.
So I'll skip ahead to the key points of this location, which I graced on my recent trip to LA, while waiting for my lunch date with Mr. Big. Located in a affluent predominately white bread upper crust area, you can expect a lot of well groomed middle aged folk and really nice cars. It's area's like this that I love-LOVE-to enter with my 5" heel wearing swagger, tattoo's blazing, muffins teasing at an appearance and blaring white gams, blinding away. I sit with a good mag and enjoy the side glances from the locals..."is she gonna go all prison and pull out a shank?!" Perhaps, my tanned Rolex wearing lovely...
The only complaint about this store was their magazine set up. Tattoo magazines under Men's interests like Maxim. And they didn't have any snowboard magazines, just surf.
Props to the 30 something woman in the music section who knew who LCD Soundsystem was without checking the computer -
Review from April C.
Los Angeles, CA
12/23/2009
This store is only okay.
For one thing, I feel like the store inundates the shopper with NON-BOOK items upon entering... there are gifts, cards, candy, and odds-and-ends that kind of annoy when you're trying to have a bookstore experience. There is a coffee bar, which is pretty spacious and generally clean (and populous!).
The magazine department is well-maintained but quite lacking of special-interest titles, especially in the arts genre. If you're a bride-to-be, on the other hand, this is a good spot to get a wide variety of bridal mags.
It's kind of annoying that the fiction department is upstairs, past the (less popular, I assume) educational stuff and high-ticket items like laptop desks, pens, journals, Jonathan Adler office gear, and Vera Wang cards. There also are no stairs--just escalators, which is totally annoying if you're in a hurry or don't like escalators (in my case, both).
On my latest trip, I was looking for a specific title and knew exactly where it should reside on the shelves. I couldn't find it among the author's titles, so I did a quick search on their (dirty) computer, which showed me a map of the store with an indication of where the book should be: exactly where I looked before. I thought maybe it was a featured title on the (random?) table in front of the shelves, but no luck.
Despite my efforts to make this a quick, independent transaction, I had to find an employee to help me locate the book... and that took several minutes, as there are never enough people on the floor.
I was informed that the book was a bestseller and as such, was only available in the bestseller shelves... which the employee pointed to downstairs. (It seems illogical to me that there wouldn't be a sign, shelf marker, additional copy in author section, or another indicator that "If you're looking for X, go downstairs to bestsellers.")
Anyway, service is always cool here... I feel like every time I'm asked "Do you have a B&N card?" and answer "No," I am treated weirdly. I don't want to get into a whole explanation that I generally don't have much time for bookstores and do 95% of my frequent book-shopping at Amazon, where it's simpler and less expensive (100% of the time), but I do feel like there is a slight strangeness if the employees know you aren't a B&N member and aren't interested in it.
I only come here out of necessity, never for pleasure, and I don't feel like the staff do anything special to secure future business or be grateful for attracting customers. On the other hand, the place is always clean, there's always tons of parking, and the selection of books is good. It's overpriced on many items but good for well-priced, good-quality editions of classics. -
Review from David L.
Woodland Hills, CA
4/26/2011
Was chilling having my hummus. Dude comes up and says,"here have some crackers, sometimes the [sabra to go hummus] hummus doesnt have enough crackers"
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Review from David O.
Walnut Creek, CA
10/24/2006
Ok, so it's a Barnes & Noble store. No more. No less.
The store is located inside the Westlake Village Promenade, so it's actually a nice place to come to, buy a book, grab a cup of coffee, and sit outside and enjoy the Southern California sun.
That's 4 stars in my book. (Pun intended.) -
Review from Monica G.
Westwood, CA
12/27/2006
Pros: Fun place to come even on weekend nights. Very social place. It has a starbucks on the side in case one wants some goodies. Friendly atmosphere. There's a childrens' section that used to look enormous to me as a kid, now it's 'just enough'. There is also a music section to listen/buy cds,etc.
Cons: If you come on a weekend, good luck finding a place to settle down (ie: seats,couches,benches) because chances are..they're all taken! Also, parking is frustrating because hey..it is the Westlake Promenade. -
Review from Dana K.
Los Angeles, CA
8/12/2008
great place to take my son. THey have a train table in the kids section, and the story time is fun, too. I love that they will order things that arent in stock for you, and everyone who works here is super nice and helpful. Its also great that there are food places nearby and other shops, so my son has things to check out, and doesnt get bored.
Their selection of magazines is pretty damn impressive, too. -
Review from Caitlin C.
Nashville, TN
4/16/2009
Personally I like buying second hand books, but I have yet to find a good second hand book store in SoCal. Amazon is great...but for some reason I cannot commit to buying a book that I have not touched with my own two hands. Sometimes if I can wait, I'll pick out what I want at a bookstore, then buy it on Amazon. But hot damn sometimes I can't wait!
This Barnes and Noble is lovely because it's so open. The floors aren't stacked on top of each other, but kind of "lofted", okay okay, I don't know how to describe it, I'm no architect. Anyway It gives the illusion of being gigantic.
When I went they had a whole display for Moleskines!!! Yippeee, my journal of choice. And since I'm a member I get books for some "%" off every time. Huzzah! -
Review from Josh A.
Minneapolis, MN
2/11/2009
I seriously love this Barnes & Noble, it might be the nices one I have ever seen.
Great magazine selection, great Starbucks, HUGE book selection.
BUT! Parents, this is not a toy store, control your freaking kids....PLEASE!
I also love the hours, they are open till 11pm! -
Review from emily h.
Los Angeles, CA
1/27/2009
where are these brats parents?!
i cant stand comming here anytime kids are not in school because they take over not just this store but the whole promenade
its like lord of the flies
when i am looking for a book or browsing i want it to be peaceful
i dont mind some talking or laughing or whatever but full blown tween anarchy? no thank you -
Review from Kaaren D.
Newbury Park, CA
12/15/2007
Not my favorite bookstore (parking can be onerous), but I love Roseanne Savo's book discussion groups. One meets on Monday at 7pm and the other on Thursday afternoon at 1pm. She attracts the most interesting people in the area to share their stories. She also has a poetry reading night once a month on Mon eve, and that is always fun. If you have ever thought about writing, and maybe self-publishing a book, lots of people who come to her groups have done it and can share their experiences.
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Review from Angela W.
Sherman Oaks, CA
1/10/2009
Consistent offering known by its name and branding. Nice sized cafe with items to browse right in the cafe, friendly staff, good selection and easy to access. Clean and orderly. A huge hodge podge of clientele from the everyday adult learner, real estate agents, seniors getting out, tutors and kids of all kinds. Seems to be a someone common pick-up spot too.
