Barbara's Bookstore is an independent bookstore located right on the outside of Chicago, serving the area for 59 years. It is now on the lower level of the mall, with cozy places to curl up and read. The selection of books is okay but not quite there, and it could use more inventory in some sections. The store hosts author events, providing amazing, professional, kind, and friendly interactions. The service from employees varies; a few workers don't seem very pleasant, while a few are nice and can provide amazing service, going out of their way to help. The atmosphere is impacted by a very strange selection of music playing over loud speakers, from emo to dance electronic, old hits, obnoxious country, and mainstream. The volume is too loud in the back near the couches, making it very hard to focus on reading. A solution would be a quarter or half less volume in the back speakers and maybe a friendly hello instead of no response and apathy. Many hope this business will have a solid home in the mall for years to come.
I could literally spend all day here. Lots of sitting areas and browsing nonstop pleasurable atmosphere.
June 2025
The story book presentation with Eileen Meyer was very interesting. Her book To Build a Sandcastle is great for kids and summertime at the beach.
January 2025
One of the first places I've seen to have Ryan Holidays books in surplus. The atmosphere was amazing. The store was massively spacious, and the selection was super high quality. Not the biggest amount of books on selection, but there was tons of diamonds. Beautiful collection.
