I'd say I saw about 80% of what I expected to see when I was observing Barnes & Noble. A few examples of things that that didn't surprise me were things like the warm lighting, the numerous amounts books/magazines, the smell of books with a hint of coffee (because of the Starbucks that is attached to B&N), the calming music, people studying and relaxing, the sound of cash registers and employees talking to customers, etc.
So far I have observed during lunch time on Tuesday, and very late last night. I plan on observing at least one more time, probably in the morning to get a feel for what the atmosphere and customers are like at different times of the day. I have always thought of Barnes & Noble as having friendly employees and have yet to have an unfriendly experience, until last night. It was about 11:45pm and an announcement was made that said something like, "Barnes & Noble will close in 15 minutes, please take your items and bring them to the register." I was sitting on the couch where other people were studying and reading, and an employee comes and looks at us and says, "It's time to go guys. Get out." That really caught me by surprise. I understood that the store was closing and it was almost time for people to leave but felt that he could have been a little nicer about it as it was only 11:50pm. Maybe yesterday was a long day and he just wanted to go home, I don't know.
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