Amazon bookstore haul

2 days away from December - I'm holding holiday posts until then (just so I seem remotely sane). This post is long overdue! A few weeks ago, at the beginning of November, everyone in Seattle was surprised with the opening of the Amazon Bookstore. Renovations had been going on in the building for awhile, but everything was kept very hush-hush. There were no announcements about the opening, and the windows were kept covered and shut during the preparation. My opinion? SMART. Everyone was stoked to see such a surprise in University Village, and it's right around the holidays...Amazon knows what they're doin' folks. 

Since I work right by where this opened, I had to go check it out, but I waited a few days for the crowds to calm down a bit. I decided to spend my day off doing a few little errands in U Vill - returning RedBox movies, doing some grocery shopping, getting a coffee, and visiting Amazon. I headed down to the village in my cuffed Madewell jeans (I wear these like they're pajamas because they're so amazing), quilted slip-on Steve Madden sneakers, a basic dolman tee from Old Navy, my favorite herringbone vest from J.Crew, and a fuzzy blanket scarf from H&M to stay nice and cozy.

As I walked into the village, I spotted baby Christmas trees and all sorts of wreaths and holiday style plants at Ravenna Gardens, which is pretty much the cutest place ever, so I obviously stopped in to check everything out.

Even with my bundled scarf and down vest, I was getting a bit chilly, so I grabbed an extra-hot coffee real quick (toasted graham before they run out, don't forget to ask to add whip cream) to warm up. And yes, I know it's a red cup ;) One of my favorite things about the village is all the gorgeous festive lights around all the trees.

After a few more errands, I headed over to the Amazon Bookstore. From the outside, it looks super sleek!

It was pretty busy inside, so weaving my way through the people in a place much smaller than I expected was definitely a little difficult. The organization of the bookstore is great. All the books are face forward, so you can see the covers of everything with a description of the book below, along with it's average star review on Amazon.com. The selection wasn't huge, and mostly consists of top-rated books from online, but if you're looking for a cheap stocking stuffer, a recently released or highly-rated book, or something just to check out, it's great! There are about two whole bookshelves for each genre (biography, sci-fi, business, non-fiction, fiction, etc.), and there are some cool items like the Fire TV Stick, and some other little gadgets here and there. The only thing I wasn't fond of is how there aren't prices on anything...everything sells at Amazon.com prices, so you can either look them up on your phone, or use a scanner located in the store (which can be difficult with lines of people). Also, they only take card, which nowadays isn't really a big deal, but it could be an inconvenience to some. Reading some reactions to Amazon's appearance in U Vill, there were a lot of customers upset that a Barnes & Noble wasn't placed there instead. In all honesty, as a student and saver, I'm very excited to see this store here. There's nothing else like it in the area, Barnes & Noble is extremely expensive, and it's something different and new!

I ended up with a little bag of goodies leaving the store at the beginning of this month, and went back in for a few Christmas gifts a week ago!

The two books I purchased the first time around were I am Malala and Invention of Wings. I just finished reading The Shack, so I'm excited to start these newbies.

How do you guys feel about the Amazon Bookstore's surprise arrival? Have you taken a visit yet or would you prefer to stay online? What books are you diving into this month?