Piper Nuelle

I know that Waterstones is a pretty well known, big player book store and is so well known for selling books, so it may come as no surprise that it is of course one of my favourite stores to buy my beloved books from. BUT… Not all Waterstones are made equal and not all of them have the same welcoming vibe that my local Waterstones store has.

My local is the Eastbourne store…

The Eastbourne Waterstones just has this welcoming vibe about it that I love and more often that not if I visit this store, I will end up leaving with a book or two.

This store is all on one level, which for me is great. I suffer with Endometriosis and Chronic Fatigue, so the fact this store has no upstairs level is great. Plus, my husband is disabled and uses at times uses his wheelchair, so again, all on one level is perfect. I have been to many Waterstones stores and some are split over two levels, which is ok for fitting in more books, but it makes accessibility an issue, especially when some don’t offer lift access or ramps. Take the Waterstones in ‘Blue Water Shopping Centre‘, whilst it is big, over two floors and carries a lot more books in store, due to its location and set up there is no disabled access between floors or even a lift in store or that close by. Meaning at times, me and my kids want to look upstairs at the kids and the more ‘my’ preferred genre of books, but then my husband wants to look downstairs at the more manly and ‘his’ preferred genre of books, then he has to exit the store, go along the shopping centre, find a lift, go down the lift and then back to the shop and find us inside. Which makes for a very, awkward and not fully functionally family book shop day out. But the Eastbourne store is perfect… All on one level, has a perfect amount of books to choose from, I can order books that are not held instore, and to top it all off the staff are lovely and chatty.

I purchased the above book by Holly Jackson last week at my Eastbourne Waterstones, and the girl at the till was lovely, we chatted for a while about the author, her previous books, why we both wanted to buy this one and read it, and other books in that genre that I could read afterwards. Then on a previous occasion my husband purchased a book by Bear Grylls, and he and the cashier who served him had a debate for about five minutes about Bear Grylls and the wild outdoors. It just made our days on both occasions that these two people took the time to discuss books and makes the visit just that little bit more worth it… Chatting to someone else who loves books too, especially as I suffer with severe social anxiety and the bookshop is the only real place I go out to, but also where my husband is disabled we don’t get out much other than easy places for him to visit. A warm, happy, chatty, smiley faces really makes all the difference.

Another reason that I like to shop in Waterstones is their loyalty card scheme – Waterstones Plus. With this loyalty card you buy ten books priced at £9.99 and or over and then you receive £10 to spend in store. Basically with every purchase your virtual card on your app gets stamped and then after ten stamps you pretty much get a free book, or at least £10 off a book. I know it really means for every £100 you spend you get £10 back, but to me, that is a really good conversion for earning loyalty card points. No other loyalty card on the Highstreet is THIS good!

There is also another reason why I love shopping at Waterstones, and that is the special editions of books and also the signed editions of books. I love, love, love a signed book by an author, I also enjoy a good special edition where the book cover art is unique or only one of so many of its kind, or maybe the fore-edge pages are decorated in a pretty way. You name it and Waterstones will have these awesome copies… Which I am having to try and control myself with buying because I already have a HUGE TBR pile that really doesn’t need to get any larger lol!!!

I also remember Waterstones Eastbourne as a child and it actually hasn’t change very much (Well, other than the horror section becoming so teeny tiny)… I used to always visit that store when visiting Eastbourne town. I would sit in there for ages, looking at all the kids books, reading through some of the ones I really wanted to buy and playing with the toys in the back of the store that are just so appealing for kids. Even mine like visiting it for books and toys related to the books, its like a win, win, a toy shop for kids and a book store for mummy and daddy… Everyone’s a winner!

So, there you have it, my reasons for loving Waterstones, especially the Eastbourne branch and why I love going in there for my books.

What is your favourite book store? Do you enjoy a Waterstones just as much as me?

Let me know, xo Piper xo