Chapters

There is a great selection of books here, but, as is typical in Canada, so many of the books are unreasonably over-​priced compared to what you can pay for them in the US and UK.
I find the staff can be friendly, but sometimes overtly so. If I’m looking at the online catalogue, I don’t need 4 members of staff trying to tell me how to use the system. Especially when I tell them I don’t need help. Some of the longer serving staff are better at reading the customer, but a lot of the seasonal staff they get in are brutal.
There are two sets of cashiers; the main desk at the interior entrance to the mall, and a smaller one near the door to the parking lot. Unfortunately, all too often this smaller cashier near the outside exit is not open, so if you pop in to quickly grab a book, you can’t just go in and pay. Invariably when this cashier is closed, the line up at the front main desk is insanely long.
There is a small Starbucks with seating and washrooms in one corner, which is useful

I love books, but I don’t understand how $ 25 for a soft cover book is at all reasonable…
On another note unrelated to books… on the off chance someone sees this and they haven’t found it… I found an iPod at one of the computers a short while after Christmas I saw everyone eyeing it intently and suspiciously.
No one was around who it looked like it belonged to and the computer was abandoned. Everyone kind of seemed like they were doing their own thing and looking at it as they passed by, but there was one woman who was starring at it and whispering to her daughter to grab it.
Decided to go ahead and took it myself before she got any smart ideas and handed it over to the employee near the doors closest to Starbucks. I asked around a bit, mostly to kids, and hopefully not looking like a creep… but no one owned it or knew whose it was. If you’re still missing your iPod, it was in a case that was supposed to fit an iPhone. I think there was something on the case or the lock screen about Paris or maybe an Eiffel Tower, I’m not sure, I don’t remember the specifics of that, but it was silver. One of the new generation ones.
Hopefully my moral compass paid off it was returned to its rightful owner, but if not, here’s hoping you or your parents see this post. Hopefully they ask (ed) the person to unlock it to prove its theirs before they hand it over to someone…

I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about this Chapters. It’s located in the Oshawa Centre and its one of the Flagship stores in the centre, close to the Bay.
I come in here at least once a month since I have a multitude of other Chapters locations that I can frequent near me at work. But something about the size and layout of this store really appeals to me. While its big, its not so big that you feel overwhelmed trying to find that book you just looked up and can’t find its section. At the mall front of the store, you’ll find more paper products, like stationary, a section with baby stuff and all of their overpriced homewares, that are beautiful but… way overpriced. Then comes the games section in the middle aisle, surrounded by various kinds of books.
The one thing I like about this store that I haven’t really found in another store is that all the things I like all seem to be situated within a few feet of each other. They have the tables that are usually genres or categories I like, with the games, and with a whole pile of sale stuff. Just a few steps away are the cooking books. I can easily spend an hour in here. As well, we’ve found some hard to finds at this store. A book I wanted seemed to be sold out in the soft cover version I wanted at the stores downtown, but this location had it.
The cashiers are oddly located here and the starbucks almost beckons to you as if its a cash but clearly its not. I always walk out of here with a bag of books, looking over my shoulder at the displays as my boyfriend drags me out by the hand.
Overall, this is a nice Chapters to shop in. It’s a good size, has great selection and the staff here are very friendly and knowledgeable. Every time I’ve asked where to find a book, they can almost always find it without hesitation. And I’ll keep coming back :)