Vroman’s Bookstore

This place gets stars simply for existing in 2016. I go there mostly for magazines like Cinfex, American Cinematographer and High Fructose. The tiny bin of vinyl records is hapless but tries hard. For a business that used to have an entire store devoted to art books (on Lake, years ago), this one doesn’t have too many art books which is what I usually look for.

Very nice and large bookstore with a huge selection of holiday greeting cards.

Yesterday I have been the book signing of Cheryl Strayed, the author of «Wild». It was held at the nearby church. It was incredible and fun to meet her.
Buying ticket on BrownPaperTicket, I came to visit All Saints Episcopal Church at Euclid Ave. and Walnut St. in Pasadena because this event was off-​site. The church is nicely built and a beautiful architecture. I went to the will-​call directly and got a Cheryl Strayed’s new released book, «Brave Enough» because this event was for this book. Actually l came here to meet the author after reading «Wild» twice. I thought most of people were also came here with curiosities I had. Just meet her.
This event was delayed 30mins since so many people attended. She’s so cheerful and lots of sense of humor. People asked many questions and she answered the questions briskly. Most of the questions were about the «Wild», not «Brave Enough» She told us the «wild“is kind of rites of passage. All physical hardships on the PCT were emotional journey.
After meeting her, all curiosities turned to be clear like meeting Jesus, not preacher who explaining what Jesus totally meant to. That’s why people would attend the book signing and meet the author.

Time is money, and I could spend both in large quantities at Vroman’s. There’s a certain feeling to some bookstores, like you could just wander around for hours, contemplate the different titles, and sit in a corner skimming through a pile of books.
The layout is simple, the books are well-​organized, and they have interesting displays for easy inspiration-​finding. There’s also an attached café in case you need a snack or some caffeine.

Part of a much larger company, I believe the only downfall that this location would have is that it is much smaller than the other «Master Location.»

There are a lot of reviews on the book side of the business so I’m going to cover the newstand part. I buy a lot of music magazines and a regular basis (Mojo, Uncut, Classic Rock, etc.). Vromans is the only place that carries all of them on a regular basis. The inventory of magazines on a variety of subjects is beyond impressive. If they don’t carry it, you can ask and they do look into the possibility of carrying it. The people behind the counter are great and very help-​when I asked if they were out of stock on an issue of a magazine, he went into the back room and secured me what I was looking for.

The staff here are very helpful. This store is why brick-​and-​mortar bookstores can compete with Amazon: you can always find something new just by browsing the shelves.
I tend to buy a lot of non-​fiction and the store is on the small side, but I have found some of my favorite books here.
The magazine selection is also fantastic with some men’s fashion magazines that I can’t find anywhere else (including Barnes and Nobel).

This is a great little bookstore! They’ve got a healthy selection of books, and if there’s something in particular that you’re looking for that they don’t carry, you can request for it and it will be delivered to their store.
Their customer service is wonderful. One of their staff member was very friendly in helping me choose out a birthday gift for a friend. They were even kind enough to wrap it for FREE.
Amazon may be cheaper, but I always like getting the books at that instance and I believe in supporting bookstores so they won’t go out in mass extinction (though that might be inevitable).
Since they share a parking lot with wholefoods, starbucks and various other small retailers, parking may be kind of hard to find especially during the busy hours. But it’s very doable still.
Overall, great bookstore to check out.

Love this bookstore.
They have a great selection. I can always order online and pick up in the bookstore in a couple of days.
I recently received a Vroman’s gift card for my birthday so I ordered online on 2 separate occasions. The second time there was a bit of a mix up because the price of the books exceeded the remaining value of the gift card — I should have called the Pasadena location which handles the online orders & I called the Hastings Ranch location to let them know I would pay the difference on-​site. When I finally spoke to the Pasadena folks they were able to fix the situation in 30 seconds and my books where there in a day or so.
Every single staff person at the Hastings Ranch location I’ve ever encountered has been super nice… I mean I’ve come to expect a certain amount of smugness at bookstores, but these people are just the opposite.
One of my favorite things about this location is you don’t have to fight people from Target or the movies for a parking space. This is especially true around the holiday season.

Sept 2014
Wait. You mean I’ve never reviewed this Vroman’s? Time to change that…
I’ve always thought of this as the lame sibling to the Big Vroman’s on Colorado. I’ll correct that now — it’s the younger sibling, but it holds its own.
I went in for birthday gifts and found the following: easy parking; a very knowledgable, friendly staffer; books that met my needs; a good trinket gift; and speedy checkout. Yesss!
So why only 4 stars? The space is packed SOTIGHT it’ll give you claustrophobia. Especially when a bedraggled couple with 2 annoying kids come back and forth through the tiny aisle for no reason except to keep moving (yes, stay in motion, go home).
Uh, anyway. Support your local, independent bookstores and squeeze your way through these aisles!

I love bookstores! I’m so sad that there are so few around anymore. I have been coming to this place for years and I just love their selection, the gifts, and the other cool items they carry. It’s a nice place to hang out on a Sunday afternoon.

I can’t wait to come back to this bookstore (when I have some extra money to blow). There were far too many books that interested me. Every which way I turned my head, I saw something neat. If I had a $ 1000 shopping spree here, I’m pretty sure I would use that up no problem at all. Not only books, but other items that were hanging about — bags, reusable water pouches, zen décor, yogi items, etc. Even the children’s section was pretty cool…
One of the employees was also helpful in giving me details on the shopping center — as I wasn’t familiar with it and couldn’t find another business I was looking for.

Glad to see a Vroman’s still around… i guess these days with so many sites and amazon the days of the bookstore chain is continuing to fizzle out… one by one.
The pleasant surprise is this Vroman’s is still standing strong with a great selection of books for everyone — even a great discount and kid’s section.
Not a big store but big enough to enjoy a few hours in if you are a book lover. Great selection of magazines as well. Well worth it to stop by and just peruse their magazine section and pick up your monthly interest.
Support the brick & mortars! It seems like every time a book store goes out of business — a bank chain moves in… if you go to the nearby starbucks or Whole Foods — Vroman’s is a great spot to pick up a book at!

I support independent spots but this place has a limited inventory.
I was looking for 2 books, they had neither.
They’ve got a good children’s selection and a little bit of everything but just not what I was looking for.