My Favorite Bookstore

Anytime I'm in the New York City area I always make a point of stopping in at the Barnes & Noble store in Union Square.  It's a book-lover's paradise.  Floor after floor and shelf after shelf...it seems like it never ends.

On this particular visit I noticed something different: This store now has several touch-screen kiosks that help you find what you're looking for.  OK, maybe that's not so revolutionary.  After all, Borders has offered this sort of thing for quite awhile, but I've always missed it when searching through a Barnes & Noble store.

The B&N kiosk not only lets you search the store and bn.com, but it also prints out all the information you need about a given book in a nice receipt-like format.  For example, I did a quick search for our Blogging Heroes title.  It's not in the store yet but the kiosk created a handy little printout that tells me when it's due in and, my favorite feature, a list of related titles I might also be interested in.  As my shopping buddy and Sybex Publisher Neil Edde said, "it's like 'Amazon in your pocket."  I hope they roll out these kiosks across the entire chain.  Very helpful and handy.

Comments

[Dan Blank]

Indeed - a great book experience. I think that architecture and location are somehow inherently tied into the romanticism of bookstores, and this was certainly has that. I can also attest that this is a great store to take a nap in. YEARS ago after a long walk all over the city, a friend and I tucked away in a corner and took a lovely nap. There is something cozy about a bookstore.

[christine]

I love that B&N as well. This always happens to me there: I'm on the escalator, all rarin' to go to the section I want, and then I see something on one of the shelves the escalator passes and I get all distracted.

The kiosks sound cool - I'll have to check them out when I'm Stateside!