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Borders Books Music and Cafe - CLOSED
Categories: Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Bookstores Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Newspapers & Magazines Shopping Books, Mags, Music and Video Music & DVDs Bookstores, Newspapers & Magazines, Music & DVDs [Edit]
1700 Maple Ave(between Church St & Clark St)
Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 866-6245
- Nearest Transit:
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Davis (Purple Line)
Foster (Purple Line)
Dempster (Purple Line)
- Price Range:
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$$
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
11 reviews for Borders Books Music and Cafe
11 reviews in English
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Review from Taryn T.
Chicago, IL
Updated - 2/19/2011
Sadly, this store is one of the 30 percent of Borders locations that will be closing by April. The cafe is already closed, and starting today the entire store will be marked 20 to 50 percent off in order to clear the merchandise out.
If you happen to like this spot (as I do), make sure to enjoy it this month and the next. Also, support Borders by buying some of the discounted books and upgrading your membership to the Plus Rewards program!Listed in: A Wildkitten's Evanston List, Smart, Hot, Social Men, Bibliophilia
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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7/14/2010
I love this Borders - its location across from the Davis Metra stop and next to the huge Cinemark… Read more »
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Review from Daphne L.
9/30/2008
I've heard people say Borders is a money-grubbing, soul-sucking, deplorable chain book store, and that anyone who shops there doesn't appreciate the value of literature. I'm not sure where the hatred of Borders comes from, or why anyone would have such passionate anger toward a book store, but, I don't pretend to know a lot.
I like Borders. I like the layout of their stores, I like that they have a wide variety of books and rarely am I unable to find what I'm looking for. If they don't have a book in stock they're always more than happy to place a special order, and it doesn't usually take long for it to arrive. And, the discounts that come with being a Borders Rewards member are great. -
Review from Jesse S.
Chicago, IL
1/4/2009
Okay, I just have to say that it's quite unfortunate that when Chicago closes four locations in the coming months, that this location isn't on the chopping block.
I want to like this Borders, because it's conveniently located near the Davis EL and therefore on my way home from school/work/what have you on most days. But as a long-time patron of the Borders enterprise, I have to say that I've had the worst, no, let me rephrase that, ABOMINABLE bookstore experiences in this store. Every time I've ever tried to find something specific, even when I've looked it up online beforehand to find that it's "likely in store," the rheumatic and otherwise afflicted employees characteristically fail, again and again, to find it for me.
The most offensive example of which occurred a few months back when I tried to buy a copy of Watchmen--a book you currently can't help but fucking TRIP OVER when you walk into any Borders at the time of this writing--and no one in the store could seem to find any copies of it, yet when I talked to a friend later that evening, he said he had seen a full stack of it not the day before. The customer service at the checkout counter is typically pleasant, but, like, seriously? At that point I just want to get my ish and go home.
But ANYWAY, they could stand to have a WAY better collection of trade paperbacks, but the manga selection is extensive. Also, they could stand to be open a bit later than they are, but that's Evanston for you.
But, of course, as long as they keep sending/accepting coupons, I'll keep going. -
Review from Shradha A.
Chicago, IL
9/27/2009
Quiet friendly place to work in over the weekend - why is it so hard to come by one~?
I need a quiet place where other people are also reading/working. Is that too much to ask for?
What distracts me here: Really not that much! This is my favorite place to spend the weekend working - it's quiet, private and comfy. Large enough too. I prefer this to Barnes because it's less student-ish and more community-ish. -
Review from Meg O.
Chicago, IL
6/4/2009
"I love books. Books make people smart. I just wish they weren't so darn long all the time :)
No seriously. This Borders is great. The location is right off the el and the Metra. They have a nice gifts and cards section which I frequent. Large selection of well...books. Chocolates at the counter. And the staff is friendly. Really, what more can you want?
Sometimes I picture myself owning a bookstore - which would probably require me to read more than 25 pages in a book then announce "ok, done!" like it's some race to the finish line. Or maybe I'd have to stop classifying People and Real Simple mags as my paperback books. In the meantime, I should probably just stick to Borders." -
Review from Dee W.
12/27/2005 2 photos
Convenient location and they've got a decent selection in their small space. Service is pretty friendly and helpful. Kinda wish that they had an area to sit and browse through a selection of books though.
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Review from Jennifer Q.
Chicago, IL
8/8/2010
This is a great place to visit if you need to kill some time while on the way to a movie across the street. They have a huge selection, friendly and knowledgeable staff and tons of great merchandise that makes for great gifts. On this day, I actually found a bunch of cool stuff on the clearance table and ended up getting my Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts all at once!
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Review from Drennen M.
Chicago, IL
1/22/2008
I suppose the choice is essentially irrational and personal, but I prefer Borders to the B&N a block away. The cafe on the second floor has a better atmosphere (approaching a real coffee shop, rather than a quickstop in a bookstore); they've rarely missed a book I wanted; and I can search and order books myself on one of the customer kiosks instead of tracking down an employee. It's still a big corporate chain, but when the only remaining indie bookstores in Evanston seem to cater only to the antiquing crowd, what can you do?
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Review from Ramon R.
Evanston, IL
7/23/2005
I'm deducting one star because this Borders opens and closes too late. 9:00AM? Open at 8:00AM, for Christ's sake. On the days THE AVIATOR and KINSEY arrived on DVD, I would've liked to have had them immediately, but I had to wait until this store opened. Ugh. Besides that, it's a wonderful Borders that almost always has the item for which I'm searching (except BOYS DON'T CRY... hmm wonder what that was all about). Go here!
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Review from Bev B.
Buffalo Grove, IL
6/25/2009
I've always had mixed feelings about Borders in the first place. There used to be a lot of small independent booksellers around, and now, well, there's Borders, Barnes and Noble, Women and Children first and, anyone? Buehler?
But let's face it, they have the best selection around. And, if you're going to close down all the little bookstores because you're just better than they are, well, fair enough.
But, this particular Borders employs some of the surliest people I've ever seen. Even so, I'm there far too often, spending far too much...
And then... last weekend...
The music section, which used to take up half of the second floor... GONE! Oh, sure, there are a couple of Julie Andrews and Cat Stevens CDs and maybe a Mozart or two hanging around, but the music selection is gone. In its place are signs saying that a new music section is coming soon.
On the other half of the floor, where the videos used to be... NOTHING. Empty shelves.
I made the mistake of asking one of the surly salespeople about it. She said, "well, if people ever bought them instead of just stealing stuff, we might still carry it."
I could not believe it.
Borders - three months ago - four stars... now... TWO. -
Review from H H.
Alexandria, VA
10/6/2008
Not much for bookstore chains, but if you want to kill some time and have nowhere to go, this place is great since there's street parking within the few blocks and are opened until 12AM on the weekends. In addition, they have random clearance boxes; I bought a good handful amount of Jolee's stickers at 75% off - while their system of applying the discount prices are another matter and takes a good 40 minutes to check out, running into good deals, perusing through the magazine aisles, and listening to soundtracks by scanning them in upstairs is a great way to pass the time.
