Yesterday, my hubby and I visited two different bookstores in San Francisco's Japantown! Originally, we visited Japantown to attend the Origami Palooza Festival, but instead had too much fun exploring Japantown in and of itself, that we didn't participate in the Origami Palooza Festival.
The first bookstore we visited was the Kinokuniya Bookstore, which is a two story bookstore filled with manga and graphic novels on the first floor, while the second floor contains other books from other genres.
The Kinokuniya Bookstore also has carries other fun gift products as well. I chose to spend most of my time on the first floor of the Kinokuniya Bookstore browsing through the manga books in English.
I don't know much about manga or graphic novels. Curious about the manga and graphic novel genres, I found myself exploring the bookshelves looking at the books titles available for purchase. I discovered quite a few book titles that sounded intriguing and decided to make a bold leap and purchase a manga book! I ended up purchasing a copy of Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist by Asumiko Nakamura. I have no idea if I'll enjoy this book or genre at all, but am willing to give it a go.
As a side note, this is the second Kinokuniya Bookstore I've visited. In February 2012, I visited the Costa Mesa, California Kinokuniya Bookstore, which is a much smaller storefront than the one in San Francisco. However, I enjoyed the store layout and organization much better at the Costa Mesa Kinokuniya store than the one in San Francisco.
Also, the San Francisco Kinokuniya Bookstore was lacking in customer service. The staff members weren't rude exactly... They just seemed uninterested in you beyond ringing up and bagging your purchase. No friendly greeting, no small chit chat (like asking me if I found what I was looking for), zip, nada, nothing! Not even a friendly smile or a thank you for visiting their store.
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| Ground floor entrance to Kinokuniya Bookstore |
The Kinokuniya Bookstore also has carries other fun gift products as well. I chose to spend most of my time on the first floor of the Kinokuniya Bookstore browsing through the manga books in English.
I don't know much about manga or graphic novels. Curious about the manga and graphic novel genres, I found myself exploring the bookshelves looking at the books titles available for purchase. I discovered quite a few book titles that sounded intriguing and decided to make a bold leap and purchase a manga book! I ended up purchasing a copy of Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist by Asumiko Nakamura. I have no idea if I'll enjoy this book or genre at all, but am willing to give it a go.
As a side note, this is the second Kinokuniya Bookstore I've visited. In February 2012, I visited the Costa Mesa, California Kinokuniya Bookstore, which is a much smaller storefront than the one in San Francisco. However, I enjoyed the store layout and organization much better at the Costa Mesa Kinokuniya store than the one in San Francisco.
Also, the San Francisco Kinokuniya Bookstore was lacking in customer service. The staff members weren't rude exactly... They just seemed uninterested in you beyond ringing up and bagging your purchase. No friendly greeting, no small chit chat (like asking me if I found what I was looking for), zip, nada, nothing! Not even a friendly smile or a thank you for visiting their store.
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| Kinokuniya s located on the corner of Geary & Webster Streets |
I know exactly what you mean by that sort of behavior from the staff. It usually leaves me wondering the point of shopping in a brick-and-mortar store is...but I hope their gift inventory was awesome, to make up for it. ;)
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy the manga. I used to read a lot more manga, especially when I subscribed to Shonen Jump back in middle school and high school. I plan on getting back into it, but it's an expensive passion. ;)
--Ellen @ Glamorous Book Lounge
I agree with you, Ellen in regards to customer service that is lacking in brick and mortar stores... If I didn't want any human interaction during a purchase, I'd order my books online instead!! I worked in retail sales for years including a management position in a bookstore. How you interact with customers is crucial!
DeleteI hope I'll enjoy the manga too!!