Which Bookstore do you prefer?

I usually buy from National Bookstore because their books are cheaper. But I prefer book shopping at Powerbooks Greenbelt because of the friendly staff.

Fullybooked is also a nice place to buy books though they have limited branches.

I want to find out what bookstores do you prefer to do your bookshopping.

National's books are cheaper, true. But I prefer Powerbooks because of the slightly better content. I also had a good experience with Fully Booked; their SM City branch shifted a rare book from another branch so they could sell it to me.

I'm a big believer in the catch-in-your-throat school of cheap books - I love going to secondhand bookstores just for the thrill of the hunt, the catch in your throat you get when you find a valuable but dirt-cheap book. (I got this illustrated, hardbound edition of A Short History of Nearly Everything for only P400 in Booksale!) 2ndhand bookstores that have delivered in this area are: the cheap books section in the National Bookstore Superbranch (on the top floor); Booksale in Makati Cinema Square; and Books for Less in Mall of Asia.

Something I've noticed recently--and this seems to apply only to newer acquisitions--is that the pricing of NBS is 90% of the Powerbooks price plus ten bucks. So it really does come out cheaper but only if you don't have a Powercard (that IS what they call it, right?).

The other advantage of NBS books is that they don't have those pesky RFID chips. (As you can see, that's a really big issue with me.)

Fully Booked is going up, I think, and while I doubt they'll ever beat NBS (something that can only happen if they decide to--God forbid--stock up on cheap school supplies), they have a pretty good selection. And yeah, I also had them transfer a book from Rockwell to Gateway.

One other thing I know FB claims they do, though I've never tried it, is that they will match the price of the same edition of a book if it's available at a cheaper price in another shop. I do have a friend who has had this done.

And oh yes, the secondhand stores are wonderful treasure troves. I only wish there was a map of-sorts, some kind of inventory list, but I guess we can't have everything.

My favorite bookstore for brand-new titles, and the one with the best service, is Booktopia. They're not the cheapest, but you can order from them (even out-of-print titles!), and they do stock up on a lot of small-press titles.

Powerbooks do have better bargain bins. However, I find Fully Book's choices more expansive and some of the imprints their carry are cheaper than the ones Powerbooks carry. I go to National Bookstore for classics.

hmmm. i usually go to nbs first when im buying a book because yea its definitely cheaper but with i think 20-50 peso difference lang naman. i prefer powerbooks because they have a very wide range of books but hindi pa ko nakakahanap ng book that i really needed sa powerbooks. usually sa nbs glorietta ako nakakahanap ng mga books that i need in school, so i go for nbs. though mas masarap basahin ang mga nabibili ko in powerbooks, i dont know why. haha. and mas masarap magbrowse ng books sa powerbooks because konti lang ung tao. :)

Fully Booked, hands down! Simply for their wonderful and overwhelming selections -- they carry many authors and titles that aren't available in Powerbooks and National Bookstore, particularly in the fantasy genre. (Plus, they brought Neil Gaiman to the Philippines!) I feel that Powerbooks has become a tad more commercialized in its selection than it used to be.

However, I still do visit Powerbooks, National and any other bookstore I happen by. I do find good bargain books in these places, so hurray! =)

Personally, I haven't been that happy lately with Fully Booked's stock of SF/F/H novels, and Powerbooks is slowly grabbing some interesting titles in those genres. But I think I'm biased and would much rather check out FB first before Powerbooks!

School duties brought me to Manila for two very hectic weeks recently, but I found solace and stress relief in Fully Booked's Bonifacio High Street shop. I had to limit my forays to the Fiction shelves to 10 minutes (it took sheer force of will, but I kept visualizing The Nicomachaean Ethics and a pile of other books/readings I had to finish), but I couldn't
leave without picking up one Alice Munro and a few non-fiction titles: John Keegan's The Book of War, Gunter Grass' Peeling the Onion and good old Aristotle. Then I strolled across the street to Mary Grace's for a cup of mint hot chocolate, and my weekends were saved.

I visit and buy my books at Fully Booked most of the time. Next is Power Books. Last is National Bookstore only if there's NBS where I am and I can't wait to check a certain book. FB people are more customer oriented, more thorough in assisting.

When I was younger I always find the book Jessica Zafra recommends at Book Sale. I still visit the place now but ang hirap maghanap minsan. Recently I purchased my book and my daughter's at Buy the Book at Waltermart Makati and Cinerama Complex at Recto, Manila. It's a newly opened second hand bookstore, a lot better and bigger than Book Sale or Books for Less. The books are more organized.