None to thrilled. When we lived in the DFW area, there were three HPB I would routinely stop at and get my book and hobby needs fix on (North Dallas region). All three had a certain criteria that for me met my needs: sci fi, gaming, western, historical reference, and simply revolving content (new stuff coming in all the time). No one store was perfect in all three areas, but you sure wouldn't be empty handed when you walked out. In fact I have NEVER been to a HPB store anywhere (a few in Austin too) that I walked out of without making a purchase. That changed yesterday.
This store was nothing like my HPB store experiences in the past.
I know each location has to tailor themselves to the area. You stock what the market wants. If the area supports gambling, religion, and no sci fi, you go there. But one would think other interests are represented too. Perhaps they do, but I don't recall, I was disappointed for lacking in my own interests.
Maybe it was just a slow day: There were perhaps half a dozen other shoppers when I was there. I noticed along with myself, two others also left empty handed.
Maybe the staff was in a meeting: other than the cashier, no one else was on the floor that I saw.
Maybe looks are deceiving. There were a LOT of boxes of books on the floor. I was tempted to look through them, but only briefly. But I paused to consider - All the shelves were full. Were these books being pulled from the shelf? If so why were they just sitting there? If not, where were they going? Why was no staff doing anything with them?
There is an independent used book store in Waco that I've been to a few times. It's small, cramped, with a slight musty smell of books, and chock full of wonderful finds (less games). They will continue to get my patronage. read more