It’s official. For now, my favourite bookstore is Borders! Yes!Yesterday, my mom and I went to Penang by ferry! Haha! She’s so adventurous until she said she’d rather go by ferry and then taxi to Gurney Plaza. The ferry ride was fabulous! Passengers who come on foot get to sit on top and the wind blowing was nice.
When we arrived in Penang, there were taxi drivers hanging around and asked my mom where we wanted to go. She said, ‘Gurney Plaza’ and the taxi driver asked his friends if any of them would like to take us there. One guy suggested RM12 and another suggested a preposterous RM15! I didn’t know taxi fees were so high. They did not even use the meters. It seems that the meter system has yet to start.
My mom took the RM12 one and off we went to Gurney Plaza. She wanted to look for shoes so we went to shoe shops first. Nah, I just looked around. I didn’t buy any because I’m broke! Haha! Maybe another day.
Finally, I spotted the MPH Bookstore and we went in. Yesterday was the second time I went to MPH as I don’t go to Gurney Plaza much. Anyway, there were so many books there! But I didn’t like the way the fiction books were arranged. In Borders, several books whose covers were displayed so that we can see them. At MPH, all the books were arranged like in a library so I had to read the titles on the spines. And the lighting there wasn’t as bright as Borders. Even Popular was brighter.
However, the selection of movies at MPH was satisfactory. Better than Borders. There weren’t many good movies available at Borders but at MPH, there were more interesting choices. I begged my mom to buy the Gulliver’s Travels movie. It’s only RM16.90. Pretty cheap for an original movie with English subtitles! I like VCDs that come with English subtitles.
At MPH, the bookshelves were quite close together and not much space to walk. I don’t recall seeing any sofa chairs there either.
Ok, I should stop comparing! I think that each bookstore is special in its own way. Borders for its nice atmosphere and good selection of books. MPH for its good selection of books and movies as well as discounts. Popular for its ‘just okay’ selection of books and great discounts!
There are a few more bookstores that I’ve yet to conquer. I hope I could go to Chowrasta Road and check out the second-hand bookshops there! Can’t wait!
And this is my 100th post! =D
very interesting observations, josette
ReplyDeletebookshops should be a enjoyable place to visit and i think sofas make the experience special. agree with you too about the lighting in the two stores and the way the books are arranged. personally i find books placed on tables irresistible! (don't let me near kinokuniya or times bsc for this reason - i will always be tempted by a beautiful cover)
nice blog!
100... i am almost there too...
ReplyDeletebibliobibuli: Hi! Hmm, well, I kind of like all bookshops. As long as there are books, then I'm quite happy. It's too bad I can't go to Kinokuniya more often, though, but I'll surely jump at the first chance to get there! Haha!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, too!
zewt: Oh, you'll get there soon. No worries!
Hi Josette --
ReplyDeleteBefore anything else, congrats on your blog reaching the 100th post mark! :)
Now to bookstores: Something I'd like to mention is that the Gurney Plaza branch of Popular Bookstore's help desk personnel are quite helpful -- more so than, say, those over at the Gurney Plaza MPH.
Once I tried looking in vain for a book at Popular Bookstore. Enlisted the help of a Popular Bookstore employee who wasn't able to help me...at the time. But she asked for my phone number and said that she'd keep on looking since the computer did list that the book I was looking for was carried by her branch of Popular Bookstore.
Lo and behold, a few hours, I received a sweetly triumphant phone call telling me that she had found the book and would I therefore like to come on back and purchase it? What a find -- and I don't just mean the book there!! :)
Oh, and happy hunting at Chowrasta Market in Penang Road. The arrangements are hardly ideal but there are "finds" to be found among all the stock there. :b
Hey ytsl, thanks for sharing your book-hunting experience. I've only been to Gurney Plaza's Popular once and really liked it there. So, I guess now it's even better with the great staff that they have!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for dropping by. =D
You sound like you still prefer MPH! I was thinking about it too.. about which bookstore I like best. I don't think I can decide. Both MPH and Borders are good. The important thing is which books are cheaper! =)
ReplyDeleteHey Princess Shin, welcome back! I hope your Streamyx is better now.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I like MPH for its wide range of books but Borders has more or less the same types of books too. Yes, discounts certainly are important attractions! I love discounts!
Hi - there ARE sofas in MPH, which are situated in the center part of the store reserved for VIP members only. If you have an MPH card, you're entitled to sit there and enjoy a good read.
ReplyDeleteYTSL and I may have visited Popular and MPH on different days because I experience the best help yet from MPH staff. Their retail execs are helpful, knowledgeable and are genuine bookworms themselves. The ones in Popular still have a long way ago (again, I may gone on a wrong day) as their database is not as informative and they seem too sales-oriented to be of much help.
I'm especially happy with some music CDs MPH had recommended for my son, Lucas. They were excellent, affordable and exactly what I was looking for =)
I've yet to bug Borders staff...
Huh? Sofas for VIPs only? That's sad. And I hope that Lucas enjoyed the CDs you bought him!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll pray for the staff at Borders, too. Hahaha!
The manager at Border's Queensbay is very rude and unfriendly. She even lied that they do not have a website!
ReplyDeleteOh really? I've never met the manager nor had any reason to do so! Well, she probably had a bad day...
ReplyDeletehey..just bump into your blog..quite interesting:)...i don't mind whatever arrangement that they have:)...as long they have books in there:P...my most favourite spot..MPH midvalley..i've been to borders in KL..but what i can say is..MPH midvalley is the best...the environment i guess..when you go there nobody cares how long u gonna sit there searching or reading books...the secondhand bookstore yeah i found chowrasta bazaar is the best...lotsss of books...i myself tried to open a second hand bookstore...already open it last year...but not really doing well...i guess mayb the location...or my lack of experience in business..love for books is not enough to open a bookstore i guess:)anyway nice blog..
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