Borders

I cant tell you how sad I am that this location in particular is closing. I came here all the time to sit and read or write or even meet a friend on a nice Sunday. its was always crowded as all hell here, especially on the weekend, but, we seemed to be able to grab a seat anyway.
*sad panda.*

Even though Borders has decided to liquidate all of their stores… this location is keeping their heads up high. Most stores that have «going out of business» sales are a mess, but not this one. Order still exists and I appreciate that. Employees are very friendly, which I’m sure is tough to do when you know your jobs are about to end. But they always have a smile.
Deals are about 10−40% off right now, but as they get closer to their estimated September close month… I’m sure the deals will keep on increasing. So… this is the time to grab reading material, board games, DVD, CDs, cook books and kids books/toys…EVERYTHING MUST GO!
Overall…I am very sad that Borders, but mostly this location, will be closing their doors soon. Before that happens… go and support them and snag some deals!

Going out of business. I wonder why? That’s sarcasm. At least the filthiest bathroom I’ve ever seen in a bookstore will be closed. Also, 10% off is not a sale, it’s an insult which is probably one of the reasons they’re going out of business. I feel bad for their employees, always very helpful and friendly.

This review is aimed at the company, not this particular store. They sold me the upgraded membership about a week before they declared bankruptcy. Now they are slowly removing perks, such as Border’s Bucks. Aggravating at best. Once my membership expires I will be headed back to Barnes and Noble, unless I skip it all together and stick with Amazon.

I love the 50 off coupons!!!

Good music, spacious location. Café is open with plenty of tables n outlets. Employees don’t bug u if ur just browsing. They’re approachable n friendly. You don’t feel the pressure that other places may put on you to buy something immediately or at all. My type of place.
The bookstore has a couple leather chairs that are super comfortable to sit in n read a book. On the wall closest to the café, away from the doorway are a couple of frames paintings/​portraits. One of them is a newspaper (corner of it) with heavy contrast lighting. I was sitting in a chair facing it n couldn’t make up my mind whether it was a newspaper sticking out of the frame or a realistic painting. I finally got up to convince myself that it wasnt 3D.
Plenty of parking, this location is in the same plaza as home depot.

Its cheap, well organized, spacious, and quiet. All things I like in a book store. There was an awesome abundance of comfy leather chairs as well for a quick read before you buy any book. The music section seemed alittle disorganized though. I must say, I am giving it an extra star as the fact that they had «Tales of the Jazz Age» in stock. I cant tell you how many places I looked in before this place.

I love bookstores! And this is one of my favorite in Atlanta. Very good location, next to the whole foods, and very friendly staff. This is where I go for any books, magazines, Blu-​rays/​DVDs, music, calendars etc etc. They have an awesome café with friendly, experienced baristas, who can make a mean soy latte! Thanks Chelsea! I signed up for the borders rewards last year and it’s saved me so much money! Unlike most sign up programs you will actually use this and it saves you 10% on almost every single purchase including coffee. It’s $ 20 for the entire year but I got the $ 20 back with the savings of my first purchase! They also sell E-​readers and the staff is knowledgeable about the products they sell. Ask for Sean if you need any help picking out a good read he knows his stuff, and he is very cute which doesn’t hurt ;)

I can’t really comments on the pros and cons of Borders vs. Barnes & Noble, but this Border’s location is great. Certainly, a nice alternative than Amazon shopping.
There is a decent section of new paperback and hardcover books, an extensive magazine section, several aisles of discount books and a large section of music/​dvds, which surprised me considering how popular itunes and netflix are… do people still buy CDs? The store layout is organized well and staff are generally around to direct you when you are looking for something. Overall, I would say there is a good stock of books in house.
At the front of store is a Seattle’s Best coffee shop. The employees are Border’s employees, so don’t expect world class baristas. There are about 20 or so tables with a few armchairs interspersed. I always feel like you have to buy something if you are in the coffee shop — don’t think they appreciate you sitting there reading your ‘library’ books without drinking some java.
I highly recommend signing up for the free Border’s card. You do get a little overwhelmed by all the e-​mails they send, but included in them is generally a weekly coupon for up to 40% off any book. I almost always have a coupon to use when I buy a book from Borders, which is really what makes it competitive with Amazon.

I almost gave this place a 4 star rating because I resist giving a big-​box store a 5 star rating. I hate to admit it but I secretly love this store. It has a great selection of books and dvd’s. An added bonus is the CD section headphones that allow you to listen to almost any track of many of the CDs. I’ve purchased some CD’s I wasn’t familiar with because I liked the samples that I heard.
This chain’s prices are somewhat high, but they also usually have a good selection of sale items. It’s also a great store for finding gift ideas because they have something here for everyone, young and old alike.
The only part of the store that could be improved is the coffee shop which has a very sterile vibe.

When I first got down here and asked where the nearest Borders was, I was promptly taken to task for not supporting the local booksellers. While I love that Atlanta supports locals, I still love my Borders. Considering Border’s started as an independent in Ann Arbor, I don’t feel too bad.
Besides, I would feel bad for going to an independent bookstore and spending hours there without buying anything like I do at Borders! I love their rewards program and its accompanying newsletter, which you customize to include the latest releases from your favorite categories plus audio and text excerpts. I have bought lots of books from that newsletter, and the discounts are great as well. A fab new feature is getting the coupons text messaged so you never have to worry about being at Borders without your coupon.
The Ponce location especially shines with its art and design books and magazines, presumably because of the concentration of art students in metro Atlanta. And I’m in staionery heaven whenever I go, plus deep discounts let me snag cool grown-​up school supplies for cheap. Also, I like how I can search to find out if the book is in the store before I even get there, unlike Barnes. So chain or no chain, there’s no shame in my game for supporting Borders.

I’m going to rave about Borders again because it rocks.
It is the only place I know of to shop for a gift on a Sunday night. This is annoying to me because Sunday is the only «weeknight» I really ever have free. Borders is open till 10 PM on Sundays. Plus, they have such a great selection of books, media, and other random things (board games, stationery, toys) that you can pretty much find said gift no matter who you’re shopping for.
Additionally, I had yet another wonderful service experience here. I approached the information desk and said the following: «you know those weird little cubes you have at the front? I have this vague recollection of there being a hangman game in one of those. Do you have that?»
Instead of giving me the «uhh» expression I deserved, the woman thought for a second and said that sounded somewhat familiar. We then went to the game section of the store and didn’t find anything — she *apologized* (yes, apologized, even though I was looking for something completely random that I had only a remote inkling even existed) and left me to browse the humor section. She resurfaced not two minutes later with a magnetic hangman travel game that was perfect. !!!
At other points while browsing, other associates asked if I needed assistance in a pleasant manner. The checkout guy was responsive to my silly banter. Who is hiring and training these people? I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such consistently good service at a business.

Among the best bookstores in Atlanta, Borders on Ponce softened my contempt for the big box chain store. Like Starbucks, which despite its charmless pricing introduced the alien concept of contemplation to the American cultural landscape, Borders offers visible hope that literature isn’t a dying pastime in this country. You can find almost any of the major authors and plenty of partisan political journals to stir your juices. The café is big and roomy and there’s usually an empty seat or two. I wouldn’t honestly recommend buying books at Borders, since they are consistently overpriced and you can find them for half the money on Amazon, but as a place to browse it’s unbeatable. In fact, I read an entire Dalai Lama book over the course of a month by making periodic trips to the café with the book under my arm. Cost of overpriced book: nothing. Cost of hypnotic Tibetan wisdom: priceless. Well, kind of. I’ll always cherish the Lama’s timeless admonition to defeat lust by imagining the rotting corpse of the one you lust for.
Anyway, on the down side you’d have to add the chirpy choir of baristas/​bookhawkers who begin their frantic intercom warnings around 10:30 and keep it up until you are in a state of high alarm by the time you exit the premises, with the helpful sweep of the bookseller’s broom-​like hand. I’ve never seen people more anxious to vacate a workplace. Then there are the incessant stop signs painted on the pavement in the parking lot. If you actually obeyed the law, it would take you half an hour to exit the lot – and that’s with no other cars in sight. Oh, and the godforsaken men’s room cannot escape unmentioned. Imagine stepping through a door in Plato’s Academy and directly onto a seething subway platform in the Bronx. All that’s missing are angry teenagers with doo rags and cans of spray paint. But you always get the idea that something particularly sinister is occurring in one of the stalls, so the effect is the same.
Aside from these mild blunders, Borders is authentic urban oasis smack in the middle of the tireless dramaturgy of Ponce.

Ok, I’ll tell you why they get 5 stars. It really doesn’t have much to do with the store, because we all know what we are getting into when going to borders.
I went to borders to get The Power Of Now, by Eckhart Tolle because my friend was raving about it… She is very spiritual, and well, I love to read. This book shouldn’t have been hard to find but the Barnes and noble i went to didn’t have it. I was of course upset, but things happen to work out. I went to Borders and quickly tracked it down. I grabbed the book and sat down to give it a little go for a minute with a coffee in hand.
Believe it or not, but a young lady was sitting across from me with the same book, yadi yadi yadaa. we dated. Very cliché I know, but hey people… Read more books!

It’s been a while since I’ve stepped into a brick and mortar bookstore. I mostly buy books from Amazon, my DVD’s come from Netflix, and I download music that I want to hear. Last night I went to visit Josh S. before he got off work and I also wanted to pick-​up a copy of «Blink» since I loved «The Tipping Point» so much.
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with my experience. The prices are very reasonable and if you get a Borders Rewards card the savings are even better (it’s like a CVS Extra Care card, except for books). I bought «Blink» and with my Borders Rewards card it was only about $ 13.00. Borders won in the end because I took the money I saved and bought a $ 4.00 smoothie at their café where I sat and read for a little while.
Overall I say «yay» and I might actually be back to buy some other things. I heard Jane Fonda frequents this store, so maybe I can get her autograph on my next visit. :)

I like this store for late night book shopping. At night, the parking lot is not crowded nor is the store. You can wander around and look for books with no interference. At night, the staff is also really laid-​back and helpful because they are all winding down and because the staff to customer ratio at night is really high. Even when this store is busy, it is still a good store but there are a lot more people and it’s harder to get a close parking space. And, there is a lot of traffic in the parking lot. But, it’s still OK. It is a pretty standard Borders, I guess. It’s large and they have a coffee shop and you can probably find just about any book you are seeking. I know they are big and a chain and all that, but it is very convenient, and if you join their rewards program you get coupons in your email every week. And, I just actually like going here.

I know, picket the big bad chain store, blah blah blah. But come on, what book and music lover doesn’t love a giant store with a huge selection of books, magazines, movies and music… with a CAFE thrown in the mix for a mid-​shopping latte?
Though their prices are lofty compared to bargain bookstores, this Borders does have a great selection and a comfortable, inviting layout. I think of these kinds of places as a one-​stop, comprehensive resource for smart scout-​shopping versus the end-​all, be-​all of purchase palaces, anyway. Peruse the books for awhile, sit and read upstairs in the café with a coffee (or a sandwich, or both — and they’re GOOD, too), try out some new tunes with the headphones in the music section, and after going for a deal or two, head home to order the rest of your selections cheaper from the used section of
.
Ultimately, I like Borders for the experience and the atmosphere. Sure, I’ll spend just as much if not more time in a little indie bookstore, but if I’m concerned about title availability or need to go somewhere that’s open later, I’ll head to Borders any day.

Yes, I know, this is a chain store, but the Ponce de Leon branch of Borders actually has one of the best stocks of books of any store I’ve been to. For some reason, unlike other Borders who locations who often keep their book department so scattered you can’t find much of anything, and even then their selection is severely limited, this one always gets in relatively small releases and has a fantastic stock of the shelves. I’ve found titles here that I’ve never found anywhere except ordering online (even in the mom n pop stores, which is strange). They keep titles, even obscure ones from independent presses, as long as they are in print, pretty well on order. I’m always surprised what I’m able to find here. Though often, because they actually charge list price, I window shop and then come back home and order from
.
They also have the best selection of literary magazines in the area, which is also surprising, considering that you’d think there’d be an independent shop someone that pays attention to that (Criminal Records is the only mom n pop shop I can think of that actually tries to carry anything besides McSweeney’s).
Their DVD and Music departments don’t have the same extensive troughs for some reason, so don’t bother shopping here for that. And their café is pretty much a joke, though you’re allowed to carry books over and read there, which is kind of nice.