Been trying to order "online only" diploma frames from them for years and it's always getting cancelled. I've called so many times to figure out the issue and they never pick up or return messages. Horrible customer service read more

The whole time I was at UCI, the UCI Bookstore was just the UCI Bookstore. Apparently in 2013, they rebranded as the Hill and then more recently the Hill has been bought out by Barnes and Nobles. New students may not know the difference if they did not know our former bookstore, but as an Alumni I notice the corporate effects making our once beloved UCI Bookstore less unique and more expensive. I recently came back for a Book Signing for my former Vietnamese Professor for the Vietnamese Stories that is written in Vietnamese and translated into English. It is a great language tool for those who are studying either languages. It has great insight into the Vietnamese culture and traditions, as long as you keep in mind that the origins of these stories were from many eras ago. The Book Signing event was nicely set up and I was able to meet one of their managers who was a fellow Anteater Alumni too. The staff was very sweet and accommodating to the event. Since the staff is still UC students, they are still friendly and sweet -- for the most part. My issue is with the merchandise and pricing. The books here are probably over 25% more expensive than if you were to buy it somewhere else. It is sad that some students who do not have the time or knowledge to buy their books elsewhere will be extorted to buy their books here. Every year the bookstore will buy your books used for dirt cheap and then resell it for barely less than a new book. I am sure things will only get worst now that the bookstore has completely gone corporate on us. Other than buying a few of my respectable Professor's book to support him, I was not too interested to buy anything else. I actually want to buy a few more of these copies for friends and family who want to learn more about Vietnamese culture, but I will probably order it online. Zot Zot! read more

See all

I'm a student and I find the bookstore super convenient in terms of grabbing random stationary or snacks and hanging out. The store has variety styles and hips of stationary, including cute pinky unicorn theme, sporty gigs, etc. I love the way it organizes. Student ID photo booth is inside: sweet! The only downsize I can think of might be their pricey textbooks; however, they have price match program to match their price with any lower prices you found. So always check Amazon book price when you go here to get this benefit. read more

Barnes and Nobles OWNS this bookstore now. It shows in the CHARACTER of the store, it shows in the LAYOUT of the store, the employees attitudes and helpfulness (or lack of for that matter) reflects the change, and above all else, the PRICES reflect that a CORPORATION has taken over the once beloved college bookstore that Anteaters (UCI's mascot) knew as The Hill. The prices are outrageous. Apparently these people think that UCI students are too stupid to shop anywhere else. Amazon (which offers 2-day free shipping for students), offers the majority of the things you can get in this store for nearly a third off the retail price. I spent some time here today looking through their clearance rack hoping to find a relatively decent UCI polo I can wear to support my beloved school. Even at 25 to 50% off, there were polo shirts that were "discounted" to $40 to $45. I'm glad that Target Express opened up across the street at UTC. For students who are in a hurry and cannot wait for Amazon to deliver within two days, I highly encourage those students to check out the Target across the street before they give this greedy corporation anymore of their hard earned money. I can remember reading the student newspaper covering how B&N was trying to takeover the UCI bookstore and how they promised that there wouldn't be any major changes and the prices would stay competitive. Looks like they completely backed off on that promise. I tried to ask someone if I could use a discounted offer on the polo shirt that you can get by downloading their app - the employee couldn't give me a straight answer. Left without purchasing anything and even more peeved to write this big long review. All the five-star reviews are either from people that work here (you can tell because they have zero friends, and the one sole review is for this place and it just happens to be five stars lol) or were for the bookstore that was here BEFORE B&N took over. read more

The quality of college apparel has gone up since I attended! Where I work we have college days where we rep our universities. I've found multiple shirts and even a letterman style jacket that are perfect for work! The Hurley Anteater zip front sweatshirts are massively more comfortable than the old college pullover hoodie I used to wear back in the day. They also sell camelbak reusable water bottles which is perfect for work since they do not provide water at my site. I fill the camelbak with Brita filtered water at home and am set for the work day. The new circular mouth top is way easier to use than the old bite valve model. After biting a bite valve for 8 hours every time you're thirsty your teeth would hurt. The new pour style is much better. Also a great place to buy gifts for the parents that show school spirit :) read more

The Hill - Anteaters! - Bookstores Near Me - Irvine, California

See all

they literally never return my calls when they say leave a message like i wish i was joking i think ive called six times on different days (i do not live on campus) and each time with a different department hoping someone will message back. even after leaving a message for the store manager i've never gotten a call back. boooo why can't we call our own bookstore bro read more

Not the best campus bookstore I've been to, but definitely far from the worst. The Hill has a nice selection of clothes, electronics, school supplies, and home goods. Books are definitely not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of The Hill, but that doesn't bother me at all because they do also have a nice selection of books. Not just course books, but books of other genres too. Service here is pretty standard as far as student-run bookstores go. Better than some places, but not the best. What was a little weird the last time I came here (when I needed to pick up my ID card), the card printer stopped working. Well, let me back up a sec. I needed to take my picture first. I stood at the "X" as instructed. Turns out, I needed to be about 6" forward and a few steps to the right. And the camera is up by the ceiling. What the heck? I would change the position of the "X", and make the camera eye level to facilitate the process. Anyway, then the printer broke. Took about 20min to get it to work. I didn't mind the malfunction though since I got to browse through the books a bit. Lines go fast though, and the place is *somewhat* organized. read more

Its been four years since I visited the UCI bookstore, I had trouble finding the Yelp site since they changed the name to the hill. It is much nicer than when I went to UCI during my undergrad years. They have opened up the layout and added a lot of name brand products. When I went they were having a sale on UCI tshirts for $9.99 each. I picked up a couple and bought a new UCI umbrella since my other one had recently bit the dust. There are no text books upstairs, only downstairs. Upstairs is primarily UCI clothing, they have some cute UCI hello kitty shirts. The staff is helpful and when I went during the summer there were no lines. I would definitely stop by here in the future to see what cute things they have in stock and to stock up on some UCI gear. read more

See all

Every college bookstore is expensive for textbooks, that's why you use Amazon or Chegg. But not every bookstore is as well supplied in chocolate or gifts like The Hill. At UCI, we don't have only Hershey's or other crrrrrraaaappppyyy chocolate, we carry the dark (and milk, calm down) , organic, fair trade kind! Did you forget it was your mom's birthday, don't have a car or time before you leave back home for the weekend? Stop at The Hill! They carry plenty of cute, funny or upscale (Papyrus) cards. Oh and for that bottle of wine, they've got the long skinny gift bags (not to mention UCI wine glasses)! The Hill also has intermittent sales. Use them to your advantage! I received about $30 off an iPad. You know the apple store doesn't dole out discounts like that! UCI in general, is the bomb. So it shouldn't be any surprise that our bookstore is one of the best. Zot Zot for life! read more

The Hill is the new name for the UCI Bookstore. If the last time you've been to the bookstore was a few months, a year ago, don't expect the same bookstore as before. PROS: More merchandise. Good if you wear or gift alot of UCI gear. Nice to have more options. Better quality. Everything just looks nicer. The store, the layout, the things they sell, the computer store look really nice as well. Convenient Magazine area. I like reading magazines on my lunch break. It's nice to have an area to sit and read them. Author series. I really enjoy the seminars with the authors of different books. Keep them going! Special sales. I usually only buy stuff here during those sales. CONS: I just don't know where everything is. I'm used to the old layout so sometimes I spend a lot longer than usually trying to find things. Less books...it's a bookstore. I guess the library is where people get their books since they don't have to pay for them. I guess that's why they changed the name too? Still pricey. Clothing is still a little out of my typical price range. I usually tend to window shop more than actually buy something, or wait for the sales. They are really trying to update the bookstore into something more than a bookstore. I wonder what other changes they'll make. read more

As a worker here, I have the "ins" and "outs" of the store and although many criticize the store's changes, I actually don't see much difference other than more clothes and less books. Working in the Coursebooks department, I help lots of customers with their needs in the books for their classes and other materials like coursepackets. Overall, the changes in the bookstore has allowed more merchandise to come and give more visitors more reason to come in and buy memorabilia! read more

I came here with my brother to purchase a 13'' MacBook Pro (no retina display) which are better priced than the items at the actual Apple store. Though both offer educational discounts, the Hill's apple laptops are priced $200 lower than those for sale at the Apple stores. I also received a $100 gift card for The Hill with the purchase. The computer store associate was very helpful in explaining the differences between models and worked with me as we split the total between separate bank accounts. Awesome customer service! I used to go to UCI and The Hill (former bookstore) is very nicely renovated and organized compared to a few years ago. The I docked a star because accessories and smaller items can be overpriced. I'd definitely come back to purchase my larger items like computers, laptops and etc. Cheers! read more

All I can say.... they definitely UPGRADED. It was not always like this and it is so much nicer. They have better products but I felt that the store lacked some variety. Obviously, the new..."keep calm and zot on" or the hello kitty products are cool... but would I actually wear it? Also, does UCI have a football team? It was weird to see shirts that represented a football team that I believe to be non existent? Anyways, I enjoyed the upgrade. Organized and inviting! -Zot on! read more

This review is based on an online order: I ordered items on Wed, July 17 as I was traveling and needed items as a gift by July 27th. I figured 10 days would be good enough. Placed order, standard shipping, received confirmation email. All good. Well apparently not. On July 23rd, I replied to my email asking what the status was. Not sure if anyone would respond, I called in the afternoon. When I called, I was told something along the lines of "yeah well we kinda forgot your order and 2 of the items you ordered are out of stock. let us know what you want to replace it with." I was freaking out! I had just a few days for the items to reach me. I swapped out 2 items for other items and told the guy. I also told him I needed the items send via overmight with no additional charge to me as this was their error not mines. They shipped out the items on July 24 and I did get them in time for my trip. The guy was nice and did not charge me the difference in the swapped out items. But they still charged the standard shipping. I can't seem to want to give them higher than a 3 star in the event that I never followed up on my order, it would never have gotten here and I would have been stuck. read more

I am a UCI alumni but that isn't going to make me biased when reviewing the hill. The bookstore is run by mainly college students who are professional and helpful. They seem a little nervous when talking to you, but I figure that you're a college student around 19 years old and working a huge store, it might be a little overwhelming. The only downside is that the cashier could've cared less. It looked like she was really tired, either from studying too hard or partying too hard. I would guess the latter based on how she smelled. Gotta love college. There is a wider selection of alumni and UCI gear which I really appreciated. Unfortunately the prices are still pretty high but you get what you pay for. I came here for a textbook and they didn't have it in stock, which I heard happens frequently. The gentleman who helped me was very nice and went out of his way to help, but he was limited in what he could do. read more

I live on campus at UCI (my bf is a graduate student here) so every now and then, I visit this bookstore when I'm trying to kill some time. The selection of items is amazing. I fall in love with all the women's apparel. I don't even go to this school and I wear UCI everything because the clothes are so cute. Sometimes I bring my dog into the store (I carry her) and the staff is so friendly to me. Everyone wants to pet her and the staff make an effort to talk to me. I really like that. You guys are crazy with your prices though. Too bad I fall in love with all your merchandise though and I can't find it anywhere else. read more

I've worked on a register before, so I understand being unable to just hand out change. However, I don't understand how you can work a store and not be able to have proper communication with your coworkers. I came in asking for change, and the 1st girl was willing to give me change. In order to open the register another customer had to purchase something, since there was no line she sent me to the front. When I went to the front the girls were really rude and said it was not allowed. To be honest it just felt like they were too lazy to do their job, or maybe it was a rule. In my opinion they could have been nicer about it, but their overall tone towards a customer seemed unacceptable. read more

Textbook refunds are only available the first week. Got no email confirmation or anything about my order so I went to customer service the next week to check what's going on with my order and they tell me "oh it's ready to pick up!" Didnt need my textbooks anymore but I can't return it because it's after the first week.. I emailed customer service about my situation and Sarah told me to come to the store to provide more info, so I thought they might help me. Went in to give them "more info" only for her to tell me the same thing. Thanks for wasting my time and money. Final sale for textbooks after the first week. Make sure this place is the last resort for your materials :) Oh, I also emailed them the first week about my order and didn't get an email back from them lol. read more

I recently purchased a physics series textbook from them and was unable to do the online homework as they gave me the wrong textbook. I then also had to stay up late the next night catching up. I was charged 184$ for them to mess up my order as well as my grade. I talked to the manager about it and got my new book, however I was not compensated at all for my grade. If you want them to mess up your grade, and charge ridiculous prices, this is the store for you. read more

Careful buying textbooks here because the employees will try to scam you. I was still trying to figure out my schedule when I purchased my textbooks, so I specifically asked the cashier if I could return the books if I decided to drop the class or if there was anything else I needed to do to be able to return the books. The ONLY thing the cashier said was yes, I could return them. Based on that express warranty, I bought one textbook and rented two books. When I returned two days later, the cashier told me I could not return the books without a receipt. If this was the store policy, the clerk should have informed me up-front when I asked about the return policy. The clerk claimed there was no way the store could look up my purchase in their system (even though I bought the books 2 days earlier with a credit card). This didn't make any sense considering two of the books I purchased were RENTALS, and I am confident that they had that information in their system because they would have charged me at the end of the semester if I did not return the books. Worst of all, the blonde, female manager (didn't get her name) was nasty, rude, and un-accomodating. I usually spend over a thousand dollars a semester on textbooks at the UCI Bookstore, but after this experience I will be purchasing solely from Amazon, and I will not be returning. read more

The Hill must have be a lot nicer now than it was last year, because people supposedly complained about the bookstore... and I dont hear it around. The Hill is very clean, no one usually at the express checkout unless its the first week of the quarter. Clothes are always organized and tons of people working. Course material and textbooks are down the stairs, and I think after three weeks they sell books back to where they got it from. (something like that). I like to get things here but it's so overpriced sometimes that it breaks my heart. But I still get the anyways because where else will you find UCI shirts? Just here... read more

The Hill was WAY better before UCI outsourced it to B&N. I used to get my notebooks from here too because it actually used to be a dollar or so cheaper than Target and Staples. Now everything is at least 2-3 times the price at other stores. Probably one of my favorite things about the bookstore was their pens and pencils. They had a wide selection of pens and pencils that you could test out and buy individually which I LOVED. But B&N came in and got rid of that. Amongst other things, they also stopped selling those UC Irvine t-shirts that had your major on them. The textbooks were overpriced before and still are now, so that hasn't changed. Basically, avoid this place! Whatever you need, you can getting cheaper online or at places like Target. read more

I was a pretty regular shopper at the Hill last year but since the store has been taken over by Barnes and Noble they longer carry anything that I come in looking to buy. I came in today wanting to buy a copy of Vogue. Now the magazine section has been taken over by a giant section of junk food. Why would you want to devote that much floor space to snacks when Zot and Go is just paces away?! I came in a week or two ago wanting to buy a pennant for my office. Last year they offered numerous different sizes and styles. Now they only have one. On my trip before that I came in looking to buy padded envelopes so I didn't have to wait in line at the post office. I had purchased them at the Hill several times prior to this trip. I was informed that they had been discontinued. I went in a few weeks back with a friend who need to buy whiteboard markers (because the School of Humanities makes their TAs buy their own supplies) and the price for a set of four was $10! I paid about half that at Target. AND their Five Star notebooks are $6! They are $2 at Target! So, on the rare occasion they actually have what you came in looking for, expect to pay 2 or 3 times the price you're expecting. read more

I have been a customer at The Hill at UCI since I began attending, but after my recent experience with some of the lazy and incompetent staff I will be taking business elsewhere. After placing an order on 1-10-2014 and five visits to the store to pick up my order, only on the fifth visit did the staff tell me that my order has been canceled. Their cancellation notice does not work, as there was no notice of cancellation sent to my e-mail as the tech center informed me on my fifth visit. Now being out of stock is completely understandable, but what is not is your employees' negligence to actually check the order rather than just tell the customer that it's not ready yet with refusals to call a manager. This customer service is unacceptable and I hope they get better customer service soon. Until then, order from another site, The Hill is more expensive for convenience, without that you are paying more for poor service. read more