Strand Book Store Reviews
Updated Apr 22, 2022
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Found 58 of over 59 reviews
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Pros
Cons
Pros & Cons are excerpts from user reviews. They are not authored by Glassdoor.
- Former Employee★★★★★
Pros
nice, welcoming, helpful, kind, and understanding
Cons
none that i can think of
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Pros
- Lots of independence - Surrounded by books - Lots of opportunity to improve the product and propose new ideas - People there are interesting - you get to wear different hats
Cons
- No room for growth - Little to no acknowledgement of accomplishments - No performance reviews - Upper management needs to care more about their employees - No long-term planning - Office needs improvement
Continue reading - Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
some nice coworkers, keep abreast on popular titles and new releases good for book worms, book borrowing system, union
Cons
low pay (minimum wage, requires many years of experience to be paid minimum wage, constant disrespect from management, cockroaches, expensive “benefits”, non existent competitive pay and vacation time (barely minimum), union
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Pros
- You make some friends with employees stuck in the trenches with you. - You get health care. - After 90 days, it's hard to get fired. Unless another COVID happens, then the owner will fire you without cause and will face no retribution. - There is some opportunity to move up - but don't expect a pay raise or respect. or
Cons
- The owner is a really mean, demanding, and severely out of touch toxic, racist, rich white woman who has a lot of direct influence on the day-to-day store. - Employees gossip a lot, so it can be a toxic environment. - Beware of the managers! They prowl around looking to find you "slacking". - HR doesn't really care, so watch your back before telling them anything. - The union either doesn't care or can't help you - and was last comprised of old white guys accused of misconduct. - They barely hire POC, but occasionally there will be a spurt of POC new-hires to fill their quota.
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Some of the best parts of the Strand are your coworkers; you will work with amazing and interesting people who will become your friends. If you like books you'll be surrounded and get to talk about them a lot. Recommending books was my favorite part of my job. After 90 days (if you are full time) you will be inducted in to the union which gives you guaranteed amounts of time off and set raises which was also awesome. There is also an option to get health insurance.
Cons
Your feet will hurt lol. I can't say the owner is a benevolent person who cares about her workers but is there any millionaire who is? The way they laid off their workers multiple times causing them to lose their health insurance during a global pandemic is downright cruel for a store that runs on the work and care of its employees.
- Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
A great bookstore with amazingly vibrant coworkers in the heart of NYC. The store has history, culture, and longtime customers and the union provides stable wages, hours, and employee camaraderie.
Cons
This store is being run into the ground by an owner with no empathy for her employees. If you enjoy working under the thumb of someone who cares more about her pockets than her business and believes that anyone sitting couldn't possibly be working, this is the place to be.
Continue reading - Former Employee★★★★★
Pros
nice coworkers, lots of books, historic place, in the heart of New York City, unionized
Cons
Owner is AWFUL, management tends to micromanage, ethically corrupt company, employees aren’t valued or shown appreciation
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
The booksellers/staff and floor managers are great. The hours are reasonable and the fact that it’s a union store helps a lot.
Cons
Ownership/upper management is an absolute nightmare. Nancy Bass is so incompetent it’s almost like she’s trying to put the store out of business (and some booksellers think she actually is).
- Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Learn a lot from colleagues, freedom to create whatever you want
Cons
Working with an owner who wants to milk every last penny from the store for herself and keep workers slightly above minimum wage which is not a livable wage.
- Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
The union helps protect the booksellers, and helps have a baseline of standards that benefits the managers like paid time off and vacation rules. There are booksellers who are committed to the union and advocate for their fellow workers.
Cons
As much as everyone would like to think working at a bookstore feels like being in a rom com, it is hard work and being a manager means you don't have the protection of the union and don't have much power to advocate for yourself to your managers. The environment is very dusty and is rarely cleaned so if you have allergies or asthma it is difficult to work there without being heavily medicated. Because of the fear of bedbugs from used books, they spray the building regularly so if you have sensitivities to strong chemicals that will also be a burden on your health.
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Strand Book Store Reviews FAQs
Strand Book Store has an overall rating of 2.7 out of 5, based on over 59 reviews left anonymously by employees. 25% of employees would recommend working at Strand Book Store to a friend and 19% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has improved by 5% over the last 12 months.
25% of Strand Book Store employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Strand Book Store 3.2 out of 5 for work life balance, 2.5 for culture and values and 2.2 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Strand Book Store to be workplace, benefits, coworkers and the cons to be senior leadership, career development, management.
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