Barnes & Noble Reviews

Pros

Generally good coworkers
Access to all types of books
Discussing books with customers

Cons

Depending on manager, nobody listens
Too much work while cutting employees and/or hours
No discussion or notice about changes
HR dept not really interested in employees

Advice to Senior Management

Ask employees for feedback and honestly say why or why not things can happen
Hire enough employees to provide good customer service. Saving payroll can be penny wise and pound foolish
Use positive feedback and try to praise and acknowledge all employees.

Pros

Coworkers: my experience of the coworkers are an eclectic bunch that like to read and have something interesting to say. Philosophy wise and in their own personal interests i love that.
I've worked at three different B&N locations the people are always awesome.
Employeee discount: 50% off of food 25% off of books
Book borrowing program: You can borrow books from the store and read them free, love that
In the cafe you can have regulars which can be really nice!

Cons

Cafe allows no tips: Working in the cafe is harder than being a bookseller to be honest, especially when it's busy. Most cafes have tip jars, and they significantly increase your income from minimum wage to something you can sustain yourself on. If you're working with two other people, if three people come up and tip you a dollar each every hour. Your Hourly rate just increased from 8.25 to 9.25. Or let's say you're busy and working with another barista, 10 people tip you .50 cents an hour, you get five extra dollars an hour, even if you work a four hour shift you could have 10 extra dollars in your pocket after splitting it with the other barista. Think about that multiplied by every day you work. Let's say you work four days a week. If it happens four times, you've got 40 extra bucks CASH, non-taxable. It's pretty necessary. Get the experience from cafe and apply for a job (even as a server or anything else in food service for tips) somewhere else

It's a minimum wage job, advancement isn't really too rewarding.
Having to push membership sales
Hours can be iffy especially in different locations/economy

Advice to Senior Management

Let cafe earn tips, it's normal for other places, it's not in your face at all, and it will greatly increase morale and competition for jobs. Just because the company is mainly retail doesn't change the details of the job and the normal compensation for the services baristas provide. It may be entry level but i can only see plus sides for employee satisfaction and no drawbacks from letting the employees be appreciated and rewarded.

Pros

You get to be around books. You will meet knowledgeable customers who enjoy reading just as much as you do. Coworkers are generally nice and cool.

Cons

While there were some employees who stuck around, there was a decent amount of turnover. Quite a bit of corporate and store politics.

Advice to Senior Management

The store could use a few more hands to help out sometimes. A few of the "sell sell sell" rules cashiers have to do take up valuable time to pitch to customers and sometimes annoy the customers.

Pros

Friendly atmosphere, the management here are really friendly, and know what they are doing. All of them have great experience and integrity. They will discipline if required, and will praise you when they know that you have done something good.

Cons

It is a typical job where advancement in a retail environment is pretty difficult. The pay is minimum wage, therefore wage increases are minimal.

Pros

your peers, working with books

Cons

upper management, the we listen program

Advice to Senior Management

stop the retaliation, make up your minds which way you want to go and stick with it, back up your employees

Pros

Book Loan, Advance Reader Copies, Employee discount

Cons

Company transitioning to a totally Part-time unbenefitted workforce. Literacy and Book Culture no longer important. Selling Nook is only priority.

Advice to Senior Management

Realize that in order for any books, including ebooks, to be sold, someone has to keep "Book Culture" alive.Booksellers need to be able to talk knowledgeably with customers about books as well as be able to change the battery on a nook.

Pros

Good office environment - free snacks in the kitchen
Casual attire for all employees
Friendly atmosphere - mostly cubicles
Not overwhelmingly structured

Cons

Many layers of management - all chiefs - where are the Indians?
Very stingy about office supplies - each person needs to order their own - approved by mgrs

Pros

Exciting work; people passionate about what they do; "underdog feel" since they are trying to tackle titans like Amazon, Apple.

Cons

Lots of organizational repair needs to be done; HR is somewhat of a shitshow; transitioning from a book company to a technology company takes time, so there are a lot of transitions that are being made and confusion generated. Need to better manage this process.

Pros

Great benefits
Generous vacation time
Nice people at store level
Pleasant clientele

Cons

No set work schedule
Lots of shakeups at management level creating a very tense atmosphere
throughout the company
Poor communication from corporate
Hostile, not helpful feedback from upper management
You can hit all goals set for your department and still not get a bonus or raise

Advice to Senior Management

Way too many programs to push:Nook, Nook protection plan, Membership, gift cards and holiday book drive and Kid's membership. More emphasis from management on selling books would be nice.
If becoming a high end Target is the goal you are doing a great job

Pros

Good benefits, great co-workers, interesting and enjoyable positions. The atmosphere at my particular store was awesome, and our overall sales definitely reflected this. Overall, great place to work. Rent-a-book/nook program!!!

Cons

There are very few opportunities for advancement. However, there are only a few management positions available in the first place, so it would be fairly difficult for them to offer more opportunities without altering the entire atmosphere of the company. The pay also leaves a lot to be desired, but it's an excellent part-time job. I do not know what management makes...

Advice to Senior Management

At my particular store, we encouraged some friendly competition. It was fun, and it really boosted sales! I would definitely advise management from other stores to jump on board with this. Individual POS sales, Kids Club and B&N memberships, "How many cheesecake slices can one barista sell in the cafe?" Etc, etc. Also, is there anything that you can do to improve/increase opportunities for advancement? I realize that there are only a few management positions available, so it is understandable if that is not a possibility. Regular rewards for your best employees would also be excellent!