Barnes & Noble College Bookstores Reviews

Pros

Not much micromanagement with lots of management accountability.

Cons

In the industry, many changes and pilots to execute with little warning and no support.

Advice to Senior Management

Good Luck

Pros

They work around your schedule and understand that you are first a student, and then an employee. Everyone was very friendly and helpful when asked for help. It was a very fulfilling experience, especially because it gave me some insight on what customer service is.

Cons

During rush, the hours were crazy and pretty long, and you had to be on your feet most of the time.

Pros

Great store teams
Great Regional (at least my region)
Fairly good home office support
Bonus structure for store management is very achievable
Very good work life balance
Very good benefits
Senior management has goals and they are achievable if you work hard enough

Cons

Pay is based on store volume and not really your performance
To move up in this company, you will have to be willing to move
There is a sense of "cliqs" between regions. If you are new to the company, people are friendly for the most part but you can feel like an outsider
Lack of payroll (like most retail now a days)

Advice to Senior Management

You guys are doing great! Continue to work on cutting expenses other than payroll and lets find away to reward our full time management!

Pros

You are working in an environment that has a purpose besides just selling textbooks. You are selling the tools to people to be successful and to help them get the education that will hopefully allow them to fulfill their dreams and aspirations.

Cons

Long hours as a manager and like every company they want you to do more with less.

Advice to Senior Management

Please realize that we are the front line and taking away budget every year even when you are successful does not create good feelings amongst your hard working managers.

Pros

The health and 401k benefits are great. Only busy at the beginning and end of semester, 30 hours is considered full time. Get paid snow days if the school is closed for snow. Most school holidays are paid. 2 weeks paid vacation, goes up after you have been there for so many years. Paid sick days.

Cons

Heavy lifting. Constantly receiving procedures from the home office on how everything should be done, but yet some things we dont know the procedures for. Sometimes the way things work are totally backwards, from what would be logical. Someone from a different stores gives me a yearly review.

Advice to Senior Management

Make procedures that stay consistent. Make sure procedures do wind up costing extra money down the road. Make sura that store management is properly trained. Little stores are as important as big stores, so make them look nice.

Pros

great coworkers to an extent.

Cons

horrible pay, asst. manger schedules ppl against their availability and has fired ppl to cover up her own mistakes, overworked and underpaid, asst. mgr. over spent payroll $8,000.00 so cuts and cuts on raises left and right thus under staffed, etc.

Advice to Senior Management

get a new asst. mgr.!!!

Pros

The pay was okay.
My advisor at the time was nice.
Calm atmosphere.
Training was pretty easy.

Cons

Have a tendency to over-hire.
Irresponsible with payroll.
Never keep any workers around after buyback season.
Always late with scheduling.

Advice to Senior Management

Make it clear if you only plan on having people work during the buyback seasons.
Stop over-hiring.

Pros

The environment here is usually good. The managers are cool, and they actually do work and they also help the other employees out when needed. The discount (25%, I believe) is great, and if you go to a Starbucks that's located within a Barnes and Noble, you get a discount there, too.

Cons

The pay is ridiculously bad. They started me off with $7.25 an hour in 2006. Then, when I started at another store in 2011, I was offered $7.50 an hour. I know the print industry isn't doing too well, but Jesus.

Advice to Senior Management

Please speak to HR about the wages you offer.

Pros

401k, Medical, Dental, Vision Vacation
Summer hours, discounts

Cons

Needs better structure for the employee growth. When allowed you can only transfer departments not gain a position of management through growth.

Advice to Senior Management

Consider employee career development plans

Pros

Senior management is has been there for a long time and are committed to the company. They understand the business in a way that executives from other companies often do not. They provide a great framework from which to draw support and do not bury store management in unnecessary work. They extend an a high level of trust to their managers because they are confident that they have the best talent in the right places. The buyers at BNCB are just phenomenal. It is obvious that they understand their support role in helping you achieve your goals and they really execute on your behalf.

The company recognizes high performers and people who consistently do things the right way. There is plenty of opportunity for internal talent to move up in this company for interested individuals.

Cons

Honestly very few cons. Work hours can be horrible during rush periods, but that is balanced out by the very easy schedule during the rest of the year. You are tied to an academic calendar, so you get lots of days off and most campuses get to leave early on Fridays.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep it up. Keep expanding. Keep showing this industry what's next.