Spacious and giant bookstore that also sells school supplies and Brown University apparel and merchandise. I went on a shopping spree and purchased several items featuring Julia Gash's art, including a tote bag, apron, coasters, a trivet, etc. Even got a free copy of the hardcover book, "Brown: The History of an Idea." read more

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Was lucky enough to find parking near the bookstore and went inside to browse. Got a nice magnet because why not? Kids found a quiet play area upstairs to relax and enjoy their time instead of walking the campus. There were kid tables and chairs. Staff are friendly. Also saw a discounted 50% off section but nothing interested us. Found a coke bottle with our kids name on it and husband bought it. Never been to Rhode Island before until we came to Brown!! read more

I am an Alumni of Brown University and I had a FANTASTIC experience with Sean Patrick O'Brien, and employee of the store this week. He was professional, personal, motivated to be of service, kind, efficient and effective. He represented both the store and the university with excellence. The Brown Bookstore is lucky to have him. Thank you, Sean! read more

The Brown Bookstore is a great place to get souvenirs related to Brown U. You can basically choose from hundreds of styles of t-shirts, shorts, shirts, sweatshirts, baseball caps, etc. The whole first floor is mainly things to wear...with a small section of books. The upstairs has more books to choose from....but anytime I go in, you can see tons of people buying t-shirts and sweatshirts. There's a section for drinks and snacks if you want and the cashiers work in a customer line, like the banks, so check out is usually pretty smooth and quick. read more

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Stopped here in the summer on a road trip through New England. We visited a number of universities, Brown being the one of them. The store is huge and located outside the main campus. It's walking distance. There is a huge selection of items, but they are on the pricey side. Went home with a pennant. On a side note, they have a clean restroom if you need it. Parking is street. read more

Brown Bookstore - Bookstores Near Me - Providence, Rhode Island

Mindless staff blindly following rules from 30 years ago. Make purchase with generic 10% coupon you get with the tour. Go back to get another item, wouldn't let us use the generic coupon again since she 'already put it in the box'. Coupon didn't have a code or anything. Just a square piece of paper someone will throw in the trash at the end of the day. Terrible service read more

Gorgeous store. I ran in quickly to get some souvenirs on my way to the airport and was so happy I did. They have any type of memorabilia you'd want emblazoned w Brown University on it, but I wish they'd had more fun Rhode Island themed items. I got the cutest sticker though to put on my laptop case so I was happy. Wish I'd had more time to peruse the actual book selection, which was huge. But me in a bookstore is dangerous- I could spend hours if I let myself. Employees were super friendly. Only one public restroom though. Maybe that's a Covid precaution, but it was weird considering how large this place is. read more

A great spot if you are looking for Brown University merchandise. The first floor is their bookstore. You can also purchase anything Brown University related: from sweatshirts , sweatpants, polos, hats cups, mugs etc... if you are looking for great bargains visit the second floor. Just about everything up there is 30-70% off. We found great deals shopping up there. read more

Brown Bookstore - Bookstores Near Me - Providence, Rhode Island

This is your typical school bookstore with lots of apparel options to choose from. The prices are high as usual at any school bookstore. There's small items like key chains, decals, and water bottles. There's a cafe and a textbook section to the bookstore as well. The staff was friendly and helpful in helping me find items. Overall I'd not buy from here but just to look around or buy memorabilia for family. read more

Brown Bookstore - Water bottles - Bookstores Near Me - Providence, Rhode Island

The store is your typical college store that should get at least 3-4 stars. The guy at the front door, however, made it a bad experience. He is rude and aggressive. He harassed me on the way in when checking whether I had a mask on (which I did) and came after me for exiting through the wrong door. read more

Love this bookstore whenever I visit my friends in the area! The reading couches on the first and second floor are great. Not a bad place to kill time when you're waiting for some ceremonies/events to start. They have a solid selection of books and even a little cafe inside of it. I can't say much about the merchandise since I'm not one for advertising my alma mater, but I did appreciate how they let me return an umbrella I had a second thought on with no questions asked during Commencement. read more

This Brown bookstore is where you go to buy books and University memorabilia. I went during commencement weekend, which was Memorial Day, so it was crowded. Based on my experience, it's a nice and well organized book store. I got some great clothes from bae's alma mater. read more

Here's a story of a Brown Alumni: 1. Go to graduate school. 2. Have an awesome time. 3. Learn a lot. 4. Secure a job. 5. Visit the Bookstore a year or two later for some alumni gear. 6. Realize you cant afford any of the nice Brooks Brother's insignia cashmere sweaters...or even the Ralph Lauren polo shirts. 7. Bother your ancient father to buy you an on sale fleece with a "B" on it. 8. Realize your life isn't full of the treasures the graduation speaker promised you with. read more

Bookstore heaven. Does not appear to have been taken over yet by the corporate bookstore conglomerates - no bestsellers in your face on every display. I found a number of fantastic books through browsing. I usually browse on Amazon - but that requires the book to have been out a while to get user feedback. I read enough that I can tell very quickly from reading a few pages of a book whether I will like it or not and the general quality of writing and content, which in generally empirically has correlated well with Amazon ratings. I found some really interesting books here that had no Amazon ratings yet, due to the obscurity of subject matter and recent publication date. That to me speaks very highly of any bookstore. I have absolutely no interest in 99.9% of current bestsellers, so an academic bookstore like this is heaven for me. I found some great philosophy books and unusual novels and nonfiction. Prices were not unreasonable, but as I already have more than I can carry back to CA I didn't buy anything - though I easily found five or more books I wanted. (At Borders I find usually 0 and nothing not already well covered by Amazon). The little cafe inside is also fantastic - I got a cup of fresh blueberries for something like $1 or $2. Fresh blueberries and fresh books. I could live here forever. read more

If you are visiting Brown - go here. Everything "brown" is here. Really. You can even bring home a sweatshirt from the Brown Equestrian Team. Students seem to like to come here to study, get caffeinated and have some free wifi. One student was loudly snoring (it was quite funny). Best part is the ACTUAL bookstore - remember those? Before Amazon? This one has great treasures, and is fun to browse and get lost in the 'paper' (remember paper) pages of these mighty books. I even reviewed a book titled "Goodnight iPad". What is this world coming to? read more

Seriously, what is this bookstore's deal? It is so incredibly counterintuitive. I already realize that the textbook section has its own section for payment. I went to get some tea at the Blue State Coffee section, and I brought a magazine from nearby, asking if I could pay for it there. Nope. I had to purchase it at the main cash register. Now, I don't want to sound lazy, since this was mere feet away. I still have an issue with THREE separate cash register operations for one small-ish bookstore. One for textbooks. One for coffee. One for everything else. Really? Is it that hard to make your bookstore a seamless operation? Seriously, this bookstore is the opposite of seamless, from the technology section that takes FOREVER to ring you up (2nd floor), to the "make sure to show your bag if you get textbooks you hoodlum!!!1", to three separate methods of payment on the first floor alone. It is clear that this bookstore treats its patrons like total crap, especially because it can. read more

When I was in college, I worked in the campus bookstore. This campus bookstore is so much better. I love the layout and how they have incorporated a cafe, bookstore, and Brown gift store all in one. Since I am not a Brown student, I pretty much keep to the 1st floor, but I have ventured upstairs and both the 1st and 2nd floor have multiple places to sit and relax with a book. They are also very friendly and sometimes have some amazing finds. I remember that they had some signed first additions of Maus in the past, and I'm so mad at myself for not jumping on the offer. read more

It is a college bookstore and has everything you would expect to find in one. Books, school supplies, school merchandise in all forms. Its got a cafe and plenty of text books. If you go to Brown, or have a child that does, I am assuming you will be spending a good amount of money here. read more

First off, I don't know what the first reviewer is talking about with the hours here being erratic. Dude, go in the day time. It is always open. If you're trying to get your read on at eight at night you're gonna have to go to Borders or Barnes and Noble. Screw that. Nothing but conservative literature and bestsellers- the reason behind best selling part completely escaping me. I love the selection here. Interesting titles, and if I feel like getting technical on some psychiatry texts I can sit and do that too. Also, the prices are not any worse than a major corporate bookstore. OH AND ALL OF THE COUCHES. It is very cozy in there. I haven't been to the cafe but I know Blue State owns it, so I'll stick with bringing my Tealuxe with me from across the street. read more

I like the brown bookstore a lot. you can almost guarantee to find something that you never knew you wanted. it takes a lot of self control to not stack up all my 'want' books and spend half my rent here. (thanks, amazon!) it also helps that they've got blue state coffee in there. atmosphere is comfortable, and the staff are so friendly! read more

Even if I set aside the fact that I spent almost a thousand dollars on textbooks here during my first semester of graduate school (a mistake that shall not be repeated, thanks to the wonders of the Internet), this bookstore, which offers popular and academic titles, cards, gifts, novelties, computer equipment and Brown University gear for the public in addition to textbooks for students, is still pretty mediocre. Sure, you can find interesting titles here and there, and it's hard to get a Brown University license plate frame or the Encyclopedia Brunonia anywhere else. Still, this is a place for textbooks and last-minute gifts, not serious book shopping. Erratic hours and a staff of college students who would rather talk to their friends than help you out do not make matters any better. read more

Nice large bookstore with prices too high to consider a purchase. Hang out and get some reading done.

Clean. Organized. Professional. A well run run operation, unlike some school bookstores which can be chaos.

Right smack dab center of Thayer street in between restaurants and stores in this college town. They are a relatively large bookstore with both your books and your college paraphernalia. Nice coffee place in the back and it's a great place to just sit down chat and read a book. Run across the street and you can find Indian food and froyo! Parking can be found on the side streets and you can enjoy a nice walk to the Brown bookstore =) Instead of coming here to shop, you can shop online and pick up in the store for a quick get away! read more

I've shopped brown bookstore on a couple of occasions. The 2 most notable assets you'll find here are, in my experience, the friendly & very helpful employees. I say this because one day I came in to buy a gift for a friend. I was VERY uncertain of what to buy and at one point, I had 2 employees asking questions, making suggestions & trying to help. read more

Of course this store has a great selection, amazing staff who are always willing to assist, and very clean restrooms! On street parking and close proximity to other shops make this well worth the trip. read more

Quaint bookstore on the corner of Angell and Thayer. Lots of unique books by Brown authors, general great reads, and a little satellite Blue State Coffee location inside, too! read more

Went here to pick up the Economist. On the shelf was edition ending on January 13th. I was looking for the edition beginning on January 14th. Today is January 16th. When I inquired about the availability of the current edition the woman looked at me like I had two heads. She pulled out a pile of magazine that needed to be shelved and said the guy who normally does this task is not there. I asked if that meant I could not purchase the current magazine. She had another coworker come over and she told me the magazines are delayed because of the holiday. The experience was ridiculous. read more

I visit once a year but use to go way back when I lived In Rhode Island.Just a great place,now if they would get 15 oz coffee mugs.