Get with the program, Books A Million

So I'm out and about and decide to stop at Books A Million, thinking "free wifi." It's not a place I go very often. After I buy $4.27 worth of frozen concoction, which was very good, btw, I discover that their wifi is only available to "Millionaire Members", which created a serious disturbance on my time. If I can get free wifi at BN, Starbucks and McDonald's for chrissakes, why haven't you putzes caught up?

 

Who shops at Books A Million?

 

The townsfolk of Bradenton, Fla.

Other than that, beats me.

 

How nationwide is Books A Million?

I've heard of it, but never stepped foot in one. Don't think there's any here. Closest one might be in Toledo.

 

Yeah, they should get with the program and turn themselves into a nice destination where you can camp out and use their services and hang out for hours and never buy their products. Then they'll be rich. It worked for Borders!

 

The customer is always right. They should be thankful you provided your own laptop and didn't demand a loaner.

 

There is this place called the Local library where you can do that and you don't even have to spend $4 on a drink.

 

The BAM in Bradenton is one of the few places I enjoyed reading. Lots of furniture.

 

The wife sees the BAM founders hanging around town sometimes. I'm sure she would be delighted to champion your cause.

 

Don't have stores in California, and I never heard of them before this thread.

 

Got a BAM in my town. Will go there before Barnes & Noble. Just like it better.

Hard to see how they stay in business. Place is virtually empty almost any time of day.

Word is that the developer of the shopping center they are in doesn't want to lose an anchor tenant, so the rent they pay is next to nothing, so maybe I just answered my own question.

Plus he likes their coffee and his office is next door.

 

my spouse used to be a co-manager at a books-a-million, which is a chain mostly in the southeast but there are stores in certain parts of the country. People used it like the library -- the would come in and pull books and magazines off the shelves to read and basically destroy the store daily, then they'd leave without having bought anything. between that and employees who would just not show up for their shifts, it was a depressing environment in which to work.