Barnes & Noble

I like this place because it sells more than what the average starbucks would sell, cheesecake from the cheese cake factory? cannolis? off the menu sandwiches? yup you got it! The seating is better and its more peaceful without music playing or machines grinding. You can actually get some work done here.

This Barnes & Noble joint is convenient, sizable, and clean. It serves as a good work/​study spot, with coffee and other nibbles readily available to get your brain working.
The staff is friendly and finding tables is never a problem. For my purposes, Barnes & Noble satisfies. FYI, I’m not a University of Baltimore student, so I can’t vouch for their efficiency in class-​related text book rentals and such.

As a student, I’ve used the University of Baltimore bookstore to purchase school books. My business has primarily been with the university bookstore portion of the store. This bookstore is completely and consistently inefficient. From nobody answering the phone during normal business hours to getting shipped the wrong books, my experience has been almost nothing but negative. Last semester, I rented my books; they sent out a «due in 10 days» reminder email 5 days before the books were actually due. When I returned the rented books, I asked if I could buy one of them at the used price; the cashier told me I would have to wait for a manager «to put the sticker on the book» and for that I would have to return in 2 days. To make that matter worse, he told me there was no way I could reserve that particular copy of the book.
Most recently, my experience has been no different. I ordered books the other day and requested to use my bookstore credit. I also had to provide my credit card information. 2 days later, I got an email stating that the order has been CANCELED because I didn’t have a bookstore credit. How about you put the order on hold and call me to get my permission to charge my card? Or send me an email to that effect? Now I have no idea how many days it will take them to process the new order or what problems I will face next.
In all, these experiences have been mostly just annoying. But there are clearly some areas that could be improved to make the bookstore more «user friendly» so to speak.

I’m a UB student online and was able to physically visit the book store the day before thanksgiving. The staff members were very nice and helpful, and were able to answer all of my questions. The store was clean, and well organized and parking wasn’t a problem either. Very grateful this is my schools bookstore!

If you’re planning on coming here to sip on coffee and get work done, don’t! Their internet is extremely slow. You think they would have great internet since they are near a few colleges.

I don’t know for the life of me why some people buy their books online and miss out on the entire bookstore experience. I love walking into Barnes and just browsing for hours, without an agenda or a plan. I’ll take a bunch of books to the café, throw back some caffeine, and enjoy myself in my own little world.
I had such an experience this past weekend. I started reading a biography of Steve Jobs which was so cool. I really liked it but I didn’t want to buy it because the book was sooooo big and clunky. It would be annoying to carry around everywhere.
So then I just perused the magazines for a few minutes, caught myself wasting too much time there, before finally migrating to the women’s issues section of the store. That is where I am at home. Give me a poor woman’s biography who suffers and overcomes some tragedy, and that is my crack. I bought the book!
Can’t do that on Amazon, now can you?

Just to clarify, this is a Barnes & Noble but it’s also the University of Baltimore campus bookstore. That being said, it is significantly smaller than most of the other B&N locations in the area and the book selection is rather limited — probably due to the fact that a large portion of the space are devoted to textbooks, study guides, and UBalt apparel.
The only other significant downside is that the B&N Café/​Starbucks they have upstairs is always incredibly slow and understaffed. Very frustrating when you’ve only got a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee before your next class.
On the plus side, staff is always friendly and they have free wifi. They also have a nice large outdoor patio area with tables, that’s perfect for reading/​hanging out when the weather is nice.
Overall, it’s a great spot to browse, grab a drink, study, etc. It’s just not the place to go when you’re in a hurry.

Briefly stopped here to get a quick drink and use their wifi. Staff was friendly, book selection was nice, wifi was quick! What more could you ask for…