Cool little Barnes and Noble in an old theater space! I love that they kept the theater marquee out front. It looks super cool! The bf also got a kick out of it since he worked as a theater manager for years and loves checking out different theaters. The inside of the store was pretty similar to other Barnes and Nobles, maybe a bit smaller. Good amount of book merch and themed table sections, but I think the lighting could have been a bit brighter. They were running some great deals before new years so I picked up a few new books. I have noticed that sometimes Barnes and Noble doesn't pick up the discounts listed on the stickers on the front covers of books, so I pay extra attention when those are rung up. The guy at the register was super nice and corrected it, no problem! read more

Loved how this old movie theater was repurposed into a bookstore/Barnes and Noble. The interior has the old remnants of the theater, pretty evident through the decor running along the ceiling. Super cool! And of course, the Bookstar sign out front giving it old theater vibes. Selection was similar to what other B&N have. Their record section was cute, displayed in the front window. The store was well organized, easy to navigate, and had all the featured table displays. I was searching for The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig when I went, but they were out of stock. The employee who helped me offered to call another store in the area, which was really nice of her! I ended up getting it at the Mission Valley location. Overall worth a visit, if only to take pictures of the cool sign. Otherwise, it's like any other Barnes & Noble. read more

Bookstar / Barnes & Noble - Bookstores Near Me - San Diego, California

What a beauty! once a movie theatre turned into a local bookstore, now a Barnes and Nobles. A story with the building and a story with the store. The beauty is amazing! Such a good vibe. The workers are the best and the friendliest. Can't wait for my next trip. read more

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I really like this. The repurposing of a movie theater into a bookstore - it got me. As soon as someone mentioned this to me, I had to go. It's a Barnes & Noble, so they everything a normal Barnes & Noble has, but the interior has nods to a movie theater with the neon lights. This location had a great selection of items on sale. Like a lot of great items on sale that I feel like I bought or wanted most of it. When we checked out, we had a friendly and easy experience. Overall: Would recommend. read more

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Such a cute and unique Barnes and noble. I love how they turned this old movie theater into a book store. It's huge on the inside. Don't let the outside have you fooled! There's plenty of books, fun trinkets and other items to buy. Our toddler loved the kids section. There's a bathroom conveniently located near the front and lots of employees. Book prices are typical, as you would expect in any other Barnes and noble bookstore! read more

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Went into this bookstore to look for a specific book with my friend. It used to be a movie theatre, which was really cool but we were all turned around. We found an employee, which was difficult in itself, and asked to help us locate the section the book might be in. He did not tell us what section but went to a computer and said it was sold out, we then asked if there were any books by the author at all available and he said no. We then asked for another series of books and he said all sold out. We meandered around to find an entire shelf of the books we had asked for and when we got to the registers there was a book by the author we were asking for sitting there so we asked if that one was available and the cashier said yes. When we mentioned the misinformation, the cashier attempted to make excuses about the confusion. We also noticed the owner kept going outside and looked very upset. There was an event going on and they didn't like that people were there and ended up saying they were going to have everyone towed. We were nervous about being towed while we were shopping and asked for a parking ticket that was suggested and the businesses we asked refused to give us one and said they were for "regular customers only." It was super disappointing that this owner was so upset by people enjoying an event that was bringing them business as well as all the other businesses and causing more grief than was necessary when they should really be focusing on their customer service in their own store. We ended up leaving because the threat of a tow without one of those parking passes was not worth it. read more

Allan is my guy!! I was looking for a specific tote bag I saw online and he first went to check and ask his manager then he said it was in the box in the back and he would call be back. I have him my phone, not really expecting a call back as it was an hour before close, but he called!! He had gotten my tote and put it on hold for me! Every time I've been here by books are handled with care and I never feel like I'm burdening someone with a question. Sure it has limited seating and no coffee buuuut to me I like strolling around and looking, not really sitting. Def one of my favorite locations. read more

Bookstar / Barnes & Noble - I just thought these were so cute! - Bookstores Near Me - San Diego, California

We drove by this store a few times and needed to check it out because of the unique sign. There is parking in the back and we were greeted when we walked in. I did feel like it was a bit smaller than other stores but still had a good selection. We found a few things for the family and checkout was quick! read more

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I loved going to Barnes and Noble growing up so as an adult it's one of my favorite places to shop! I've come into this store a couple times, the team is always really friendly and that isn't different from my latest interaction. Barnes and Noble had a Buy One, Get One 50% Off so I decided to order online to pick up in store. Doing that I definitely saved money because even with Amazon Prime and Targets book sale it didn't compare to cost wise, I saved more money shopping with Barnes and Noble. When I picked up my order the cashier was so gentle with my books, I hate mishandling of books especially paperbacks so my heart was happy seeing how cautious they were putting my books into the shopping bag. Overall I always have such a great experience! read more

The service outstanding, the selection of books top tier, the value you gain from talking to the employees is priceless. So stop by find some new books and authors and get comfy, cause you will always find something new to learn. read more

Yeah, you know it's kind of a novelty for a few minutes. It's a bookstore in a repurposed old historic movie theater. But it's warm and humid, and there's no coffee shop, and there's almost nowhere to sit. The coffee shop next door closes at 2:00 on a weekday. I say find another bookstore near a shopping mall. . read more

Everyone was so nice and helpful. The vibes were it. When I walked into the beautiful, perfectly lit main store area it was like a wave of joy washed over me. For book lovers, or anyone who loves a new business preserving an old building, its a must check out if you are near buy. Great selection, well organized. If you need help just ask the staff. Prices are the same as other Barnes and Nobles. read more

I have to say: This is one of the strangest looking, but oddly beautiful bookstores I've ever seen or been in. From the outside, it looks like an old style movie theater. The name of the store is on an old style movie theater marquee, which explains why there's a lack of signage from the back of the store that makes it difficult to locate (at least driving along Rosecrans Place.) The bookstore is also quite roomy, though the organization of the books is a bit strange as well. read more

Bookstar / Barnes & Noble - Front sign that looks like a movie marquee - Bookstores Near Me - San Diego, California

I am a bookworm! So I can't visit any city without exploring the cities' book stores. I really love bookstar / Barnes &Noble in point Loma. The classic decorations of the bookstore gave it a soothing and unique ambiance. In this increasingly digital era, it is important to support brick and mortar bookstores. I really enjoyed being at this place. I wish all the SD residents understand the importance of having a unique bookstore like this in their area! The employees were very nice and friendly. The parking lot: Is located behind the store and it is spacious. There are two enterances; one at Rosecran which is the main street and the other enterance is from the parking lot. read more

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This Bookstar/Barnes and Noble has friendly staff, a decent sized parking lot, and really great collectibles. I like the layout of how they have different sections organized. LEGO sets and other collectibles are available for purchase behind the cashier counter, and the interior decor has remained the same retro style, so it really feels like a combination of both stores. Pricing is as expected for a barnes & noble, but they do have a lot of sales. read more

Cute store with a fun vibe... went on a week day and it was understaffed, but they were friendly when we finally were able to get assistance in finding a book. read more

Cute little place! I didn't realize this was a Barnes & Noble. I had some time to kill while doing errands so I stumbled in here. It seems like this is a revamped movie theater? I thought it was really cute. The ladies working here were friendly and made sure customers were being taken care of. Maybe a little update to the bathrooms and it would be nice. All in all, this is a neat place to browse books... I didn't see any areas to sit or a cafe.. but they do sell a few drinks and snacks up front by the misc gifts and music stuff. read more

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Manga section reduced!!!! It was always fun visiting this unique B&N store before, but around a couple months ago they decided to move the entire manga section. Their collection before WAS immense ranging in harmony with most popular titles out like Dandandan, Blue Lock, My Dress-Up Darling, NaNa, etc. to older titles that were harder to find like Kamisama Kiss, Beserk (singles), Monster, Norogami, etc. They had a whole aisle dedicated to manga, light novel, manhua, etc an approximate 20 bookshelves, but they moved everything to a small little corner and cutting their selection to around half or less. And the abundance of options was reduced to mainly the most popular titles like One Piece, Demon Slayer, Spy x Family, mainly what is most currently popular at the time and they take the most amount of space on the shelves to their new reduced location. Light Novels are non existent now covering about only one bookshelf. Manga that is most mainstream is great, don't get me wrong, but you see those titles everywhere to other B&N, Walmart, and Target! Now I just visit this store on the occasion if Im nearby since I know I won't be finding a gems anymore. read more

This place is unorganized. Short staffed. When you ask to apply in person with real people they say you can no longer do that. You have to apply online and they outsource the hiring process and send your application to computers in another state/country. Then months later the computers or Ai email you back and say you dont have enough experience to be a cashier. ?? Some bullsht. You need 10-20 years to do this minimum wage job. Come on barnes and noble chnage your sh*tty ass hiring process. Youre losing on valuable workers using outsourced hiring instead of using real managers of that store that should be in charge of hiring for that store read more

Where is the LGBTQ+ section? Shopped here many times and I recently noticed they removed their selection of LGBTQ+ material. Very strange and exclusionary. read more

I do not recall ever having an uncomfortable experience at any Barnes & Noble. Yet, at this location I was greeted with "any chance you can leave your backpack?" To which I replied, "Absolutely no chance." Associate asked if she could help locate anything. I was not requiring help yet I went along in the spirit of cooperation. She did locate the section for the particular title I was searching. Fine! Yet, when she insisted on accompanying me, my experience worsened. It seemed to me she was trying to keep her on me. In actuality, I do not need assistance finding books. I'm quite skilled at it. Associates at Barnes & Noble usually leave me alone to my own devices. I find what I want and what is interesting, make my purchases, then happily go home. I understand businesses have issues with thieves. Yet, I am not one of those persons and don't understand why I should pay their price. I made a $57 purchase which isn't a lot. However, I had intentions to spend more money. I was just too uncomfortable to purchase more. What I did purchase was for a loved one. So I suffered the humiliation to accomplish that goal. I did let the associate know that her actions made me feel uncomfortable. She gave a very insincere apology and gave me permission to do more browsing. Very innocuous. Yet, I repeated to her my feeling uncomfortable about being there. read more

I'll begin with my positive experience at the Barnes & Noble (née Bookstar) store on Rosecrans, which I visited after trying for 2 days to place an order, using a gift card, on the B&N website. A store employee named Mary Anna was very helpful, placed the order for me in a couple of minutes, and I've since been notified that my books are on their way. But I had to take the time, make the effort, use the gas, and deal with traffic because dealing with the B&N website was one of the worst, most frustrating online experiences I've ever had. I simply wanted to apply my B&N gift card to purchase 2 books. When I got the prompt that spending 4 more dollars would qualify me for free shipping, I ordered a third book. I didn't want to create an "account," so I proceeded as a "guest" -- that's when the "fun" began. After filling out the usual data fields on the Checkout page, I scrolled up and down looking for a way to apply the gift card, but saw nothing. I backed up and tried again. Nothing. I had my wife look at the Checkout page, and she couldn't find anything related to applying the gift card. It was time to take a deep breath and call their "help" number. Not surprisingly, I got a guy with a thick accent (Indian?) who had difficulty understanding me, and I him. After I explained the situation, he asked me to read him the iSBN number for each book -- a slow, painstaking process given the language problem. I asked him to read those numbers and book titles back to me, and of course, he'd gotten two of them wrong. Once we'd gotten all that sorted out, he asked for my credit card information to pay for the amount not covered by the gift card. Again, I slowly and painstaking read him the numbers, correcting the ones he got wrong. After a few more minutes, he said that our session had timed out and I needed to provide my credit card information again. How does a live phone conversation time out? I've never heard of such a thing. I gave him the information again and he put me on hold. When he came back, he said the purchase had gone through and I'd be receiving a confirmation email containing the order number. We'd been on the phone for 25 minutes. To order 3 books. By the following morning, I'd received two emails, one welcoming me to the "B&N community" and one encouraging me to create an account and become a real member of said community. But there was no confirmation email containing the order number. I waited for a few more hours, then went online and chose to do a live text "chat." I explained the situation, including a brief recap of my awful phone experience, and "Jhoyce" told me that I should've clicked on the gift card button at the bottom of the Checkout page. When I replied that was there no such button on that page, she provided a link telling me to do all the things I'd already tried more than once. While I was typing a response to that, she texted that she hadn't heard from me in a while and was ending the session. I started another chat session, this time with "Mary," and went through everything all over again. Mary provided the same link that "Jhoyce" had provided. I ended the chat, closed the webpage, and decided to try another 1-800 call. This time I got a guy whose impenetrable attempt at English made the first guy sound like an elocution expert. He asked me for the book titles, then asked me again...and again. It didn't help that one of the titles was several words long -- he kept getting lost. Finally, he asked for my credit card information, and I had to help him navigate those numbers, back and forth, as well as the name on the card, and even the shipping address. When I thought we were done at last, he said that my credit card information had disappeared and wanted me to repeat everything again. I said, "We're done here, forget the order." And off to the brick-and-mortar I went. read more

Love this bookstore. It's located in what looks like it was an old theater lobby repurposed. You'll love the design and especially the ceiling. I should read up on its history sometime. You might pass right by it from the main street (Rosecrans) if you don't know to look. The parking is accessed from a narrow back street and the main entrance is on the side. It's always nice, quiet, and cool inside. The staff is excellent. Lots of books and plenty of room to spread out and explore. Yes, it's part of the Barnes & Noble family but I've found deals here I haven't at other locations (shrugs). Oh yeah, probably one of the reasons it feels much quieter and chill here is because there isn't a coffee shop. That's actually a bonus. read more

Bookstar / Barnes & Noble - Main entrance on the side - Bookstores Near Me - San Diego, California

It is so nice to go into a bookstore to browse and buy books. This bookseller is well stocked with every kind of book imaginable.

I love Barnes and Noble, especially the store in Hazard Center. On 3 occasions I have shopped at Bookstar on Rosecrans in the last 3 months . I have yet to be greeted by the 3 -4 employees that hover at the entrance. They are consistently unfriendly snd unwelcoming. They don't speak, they don't smile, or give me any acknowledgement. When I shop for magazines, I do see them watch me as I shop for a specific magazine. I don't know if this is how they trest everyone, but this joe they always treat me. I am black and they watch me quietly as if I will steal something. It has happened 3 times and I won't come back. read more

An old theatre repurposed to be a book store is probably the best use of the space! It's a regular Barnes and Noble with regular Barnes and Noble pricing, but the atmosphere is very cool with the theatre feel. Parking is in the back, and unlike regular Barnes and Noble stores, there's no cafe. read more

Bookstar / Barnes & Noble - Bookstores Near Me - San Diego, California

Love this Barnes and nobles. It had a lot more in terms of extra shopping outside of books. Fun and cute trinkets as well as records and even there giftcards were unique. They had demon slayer giftcards. I was ecstatic about this place. Absolutely amazing! read more

Bookstar / Barnes & Noble - Front entrance - Bookstores Near Me - San Diego, California

Wow! What a hidden gem! Visited on my break and was sad I didn't visit after work. It's beautiful inside. Any bibliophiles dream come true. I love how much stationary and small gifts they have here. This old move theatre turned Barnes and noble is just one of a kind! What a lovely time time I had visited this Book Star - Barnes And Noble. Friendly staff and an amazing variety of genres + and items to choose from. Can't wait to come back and I just left. read more

CUTEST. EVER!! I thought we were walking into an old movie theatre (technically not wrong) and to my surprise and delight, BOOKS!! the vibes here are absolutely immaculate, and if you're looking for a unique, cute bookstore date, this is 1000% the spot. read more

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This is one of my favorite bookstores ever based solely on the aesthetics and the fact that it's an old restored theater. The paintings on the walls are beautiful, okay I mayyyy have a thing for filigree, but come on even the ceiling is majestic. I just wish this was a locally owned bookstore, not owned by Barnes and Noble. read more

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Hidden gem, for some reason this Barnes and Noble had a different vibe. The staff was super nice and the store was previously a movie theater so there was plenty of space. I know the Mira Mesa one was big but this one felt huge. I felt that they had way more books than the other locations as well. Great place to browse or stop by after a lunch or dinner date. read more

I give this place 5 stars if for no other reason that they persevere and continue to sell physical books in the age of TikTok. Sometimes I go there to buy something just to make a statement. read more

Good book stores nowadays are so hard to find with so many shutting down due to the digital age. This place is a serious treasure in my neighborhood. I'm so glad it's here! read more

I totally agree w/Jason, Kristi, & Esther, & the people below who took time out of their day to write about their horrible experience w/the staff here. Staff is SO rude. Especially the "store manager" & "lead", Kristi & Britney. They are so aggressive. I never leave reviews, but I have honestly never, ever been treated so badly. Please take my advice, get your books from Amazon & save yourself the hassle! I will be lodging a complaint w/Barnes & Noble corporate office just like many of the other yelp reviewers. Barnes & Noble: I USED to buy a TON of books from you. Eventually, enough people will stop shopping here bc they don't want to deal with the employees like Kristi & Britney that you will see a loss in revenue. Please hire new staff!! read more

Favi is absolutely amazing. She helped me track down a 14 book series for my husband. She even pulled what the had in the store and then ordered the rest to be shipped to us. Everyone was extremely kind and helpful at this store. read more

I've been to most of the Barnes and Nobles in San Diego and this is by far my favorite. It really is a hidden gem, almost never busy when I've gone, the entrance is almost hidden looks like an old theatre from the outside. Inside they have a variety of stationary, goodies for book readers, totes, etc which is always fun to rifle through. Their pretty classics section is also massive bigger than any of other stores with its variety, and the they have more book options in general. The way it's set up gives you a lot of privacy when perusing which i love, it's a very homey bookstore vibe for a large chain bookstore which is rare to find. By far my favorite. read more

I love books . I love exploring the world through books because they are tangible and fun exciting and inspiring and we only have two book stores locally and this is one of them. read more

This place gives you what is to be expected by any Barnes & Noble location as far as selection and customer service. But the real reason I like this place is how cool the building is, a converted theatre with some really interesting original work on the ceiling and walls. If you're going to a Barnes & Noble or other big box bookstore anyway, I would suggest making this the one you visit in the SD area. read more

Well I'd love to ask someone where they're hiding their copies of the 1619 Project - certainly isn't in new releases where it should be - but not a single associate has asked if I need any help in the 20 minutes I've been here. read more

Bookstar is Barnes & Noble in an old movie theater. It's cool because there's still the huge Bookstar sign inside and the ceiling is painted, there's also a lot of moulding inside as well. That's the cool part. The rest is just a regular Barnes & Noble. I personally try to go to locally owned bookstores rather than chains, but seeing the old theatre turned bookstore was really neat. read more

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