Barnes & Noble

There has been renovations done to the newer Barnes & Noble. Starbucks is no longer connected to the book store. The new renovations have eliminated the second downstairs floor; the top floor is now sections of all of the various selections of genres and spaced out beautifully with what is available now. I do miss the old store and all of the space it had. It was nice to just walk in, stroll, buy books, sit and read; plus I also miss having space to yourself. There is still plenty of space to browse and enjoy the great search for that perfect book to read or share with friends. Children can have fun and choose a favorite author, storybook, characters, and search for something new to explore and enjoy. It’s a lovely place to relax and stroll through. So many wonderful collections of books to choose from. You are mesmerized by the classics to newly discovered gems. It is almost impossible to not find something you want or dream of collecting. You can buy books, music, puzzles, games, anime, manga, movie themed items, calendars, pouches and themed note books. There’s plenty of parking available and accessible, it’s a kid and parent friendly establishment.

I barely ever review a place, I’m not critical of most things in life— but I feel as if I’ve just watched you put down a family pet in front of me. Whoever at corporate okayed the changes needs to be fired or at the very least slandered for the rest of their life. Let’s start with the first major change— no longer are their two stories that separate the children’s section from the more adult sections. It’s all clumped together in a Maze I walked around in for about 20 minutes trying to figure out where ANYTHING is located. And the children’s section is laughable, and ironically only a few turns away from the romance section that children should be no where near. Then there’s the item selection, dear GOD there used to be tons of items, all neatly aligned in rows or sections of the store that were EASILY identifiable. Oh, fantasy and fantasy related items? Right over there! Now I find the fantasy section tucked away in a lone corner surrounded by cookbooks and whatever else I walked past. All in all, it’s a travesty what has occurred here. The staff are nice and polite though, so you get a star for that. I know corporate won’t care, but if you want to go to a Barnes and Noble, go anywhere else. Because the Barnes and Noble Marine Pacifica has been buried 6ft under, after ironically losing its iconic bottom floor.

The Barnes and Noble at Marina Pacifica has recently undergone a renovation and remodel, reopening on Nov 18. The old store was charming. It created a third space for browsing, discovering, and my family would easily spend over an hour at a time there with each visit, buying books every time. We used to come to the two-story location and peruse the stacks on a weekly basis. It was my favorite bookstore, local or otherwise. This remodel is soulless. It's overly bright, poorly organized and they've removed the cafe. They've added 5 additional reading chairs but placed them in high traffic areas, making it impossible to stop and read. The new layout is cramped with shelves that are too high and too narrow, making the shopper feel like Theseus and the Minotaur. The old store had separate sections for media and children. Now, they're all jumbled with the books, removing the safe, private feeling for both the children and the listening centers for media heads. Collectively, this creates chaos on the floor. Pair that with unnecessary signage on every self, the feeling that the store is trying to cram two stories of atmosphere into a single labrynthine rectangle of cramped books, and poor, minimalistic design cues and Barnes and Noble Marina Pacifica is no longer a neighborhood store. It's now a place my family will skip out on, preferring Huntington Beach, Long Beach Town Center, or Torrance locations.

The remodel is terrible, the store is now a crime on the senses, the shelves are an unfriendly mess filled floor to ceiling with too many items leaving hardly any room to walk around. This use to be a pretty multi-level store and even tho the aesthetic was dated it was a reliable place to go browse. Presently the store is designed so poorly I suspect B&N wants customers to ship online and not in person, and now it feels like this is no longer a relevant place to buy books. Half of the new store felt like a toy store (like the dark back half of a KB toy store in the 90's), the walk-up to the register feels like a Ross or TJ Maxx with cheap (expensive) candy and handy (useless) knick-knacks. I came for a specific book and a cute lap desk to write on but I left with nothing but a headache. If all remodels are as bad as this one the larger brand is doomed, I'm sure it took a lot of nook sales to pay for this disaster plus the months it was closed. I felt nostalgic for a place I had been to just last year, because the writing is on the wall: this place is dismal and will get shut down and I'll have to drive to Torrance or LA for books, or just order online. RIP

The new one has lost its charm. The ceilings are too low and the lights are too bright. It’s not spread out enough to get lost and enjoy some peace and quiet. Now it’s bright, loud, and too close for my comfort. Not for me. There was something special about it and now it’s lost. Not sure why there was an update. I had too leave I felt dizzy and sick. Will now has to find a new place. So sad.

This was my first visit to the store since its renovation, and I hardly know where to begin without getting philosophical. Gone are the dark wood shelves, the academic green accents, and the warm, steady lighting that once felt like a quiet homage to the great literary tradition of the West. In their place is something that feels like the bookstore equivalent of a modern novel: airy colors drained of life, harsh lighting that illuminates nothing of substance, and a layout that is somehow both cluttered and empty at the same time. It’s as if the B&N design team gathered all the least inspiring elements of modernist design and decided THAT should be the future. Barnes & Noble — the Marina Pacifica location especially — used to be the booklover’s version of Bass Pro Shops: a destination. You went not just to buy a book, but to BE there. You spent money because the experience itself was worth supporting, even when Amazon had the same title for a few dollars less. I IMPLORE B&N to stop taking advice from whoever in the New York literary world is convincing them that these redesigns are a step forward. They radiate the same smug, "we know what art is" attitude you’d expect from a certain strain of NYC critic, and the result is a space that feels soulless. You’ve ruined my favorite B&N, the one that has happily absorbed so much of my money over the years. Please, PLEASE don’t do the same to Fashion Island.

Not gonna lie, the staff is gonna be the thing that brings me back. Not that B&N corporate cares. The fact that I could spend hours in this book store before its renovation has now been robbed. The café is gone as is the lower half. It has been reduced to a single level where everything is thrown at you. Yes, the structure is fancy at first, but those of us who remember the shere enormousness of this bookstore will forever be robbed of the youth. This was a place I met many a like minded book people. Then again, I could just be an old person complaining. Perhaps the youths of today admire this more, and this remodel is indeed for the younger generation.