While we often tout Amazon on these pages, today we’d like to direct your attention to a fabulous – but little known – Internet-based service provided by another bookstore: Barnes & Noble.
Even if you are a diehard Amazon fan, there are occasions when you just don’t have the time to order a book online and wait for it to be delivered. Times when you need it NOW.
We had just such an occasion recently. Thinking to find the phone number for the local Barnes & Noble, to call them to see if they had the book we needed in stock, we went to the Barnes & Noble website.
Once at the site, we searched for the book for which we were looking, just to make sure that they carried it (they did).
Looking at the listing, we were happily surprised to see a link, right next to the listing, that said “Check store availability.”
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“Ho ho!” we said to ourselves, “What’s this?!”
Clicking the link brought up a box to enter our zip code, and upon doing so, we were provided with a list of five different Barnes & Nobles in our area, each with a note as to whether they had the book in stock. Any store listed as having the book also had a button next to it which said “Store Pickup”.
Clicking the button allowed us to have the store location of our choice put the book on hold so that we could go and pick it up. And by “put the book on hold” I mean that, quite literally, a real live human at the store went and found the book on the shelf, and took it and put it behind the cash registers for us until we came to pick it up.
Wow!
Once you’ve put in your request, Barnes & Noble commits to send you an email – usually within an hour – confirming that they have put your book(s) on hold. Here’s what they say:
“We have received your request and the reservation has been sent to our store.
Our booksellers will verify the availability of the merchandise you have requested and send you an email confirming that the merchandise is available for you to pick-up. Please wait until you have received this email confirmation before going to the store to pick up your merchandise, as store inventory can change.
You should receive our email confirmation within one hour of your request, however, response times may vary based upon individual store hours. Requests sent to the store within an hour of closing or while the store is closed will be handled the next business day upon the store’s opening for business.”
And sure enough, we got the email within the hour, went down to the location we’d selected, and there was the book, waiting for us by the cash registers.
A very nifty service indeed.
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This was a very useful article. It encouraged me to use this service. Thank you.