When one thinks of Waterstones in London, you can't blame them for thinking of the huge…read moremultiple-floor flagship branch the brand has in Piccadilly, London but there is another branch which is in my opinion equally as good in different ways, and although it might not be as big (who'd expect that for a mall bookstore anyway), this store stands out by adding a better personalised and modern approach.
The store has the new Waterstones store format, I am envious of compared to my two local stores in Manchester, it is modern and a beautiful juxtaposition of books which are associated with being a thing of the past by some people, and a modern new layout, for example the store is all glass as you walk in, in a way it makes books seem more approachable and cool to all age groups in a cool, new environment in what surely must be a different concept store for Waterstones, in Westfield London, White City.
The staff didn't stand out too much, they seemed to be hanging around at the till compared to around the store offering help, and perhaps advice to customers which for me is the true value of a book-store, we all know bricks and mortar books store charge more, and one of the reasons one pays it is to support the high street and for the personalised approach, such as to chat to the staff, ask for help or book recommendations, sadly the closest thing they had to recommend books there was a personalised note writing about the book, without any major spoilers, which still I feel was not just really nice, but also innovative, making the books more prominent, approachable and stand-out again.
For a store of its' size, the selection was good, although it, of course, could have been better.
In some ways this store is perhaps better than the flagship main Waterstones branch on Picadilly, albeit in terms of selection and going beyond a book store it still lacks, but this has to be partially expected again as it is located in Europe's largest shopping centre, Westfield London but still this new concept book store is rather cool, and despite some issues with price which are the same at most tangible book stores, and service, I feel a slightly generous four-star rating is in order.
