Reply #18: The Barnes & Noble people in the Waterworks Mall were incredibly supportive. [View All]

[ralbertson]

They have a store that's not exactly ideally laid out for high-attendance book events such as this one, but Susan Hillman (the Customer Relations Manager for that particular BN branch store) and the rest of her staff had everything carefully planned out in advance to handle the expected extra traffic in a timely and expeditious manner.

Then of course, we had to throw a handful of bloggers into the mix at the last minute. You don't have to guess what happened after that. Let's just say that, along with all the usual carefully-planned procedures, um, some additional wackiness ensued. <heh>

Seriously, the store and its staff did a beautiful job of setting things up so that everyone who attended the event had the best experience possible. Everyone there with BN -- which included people from other stores and extra volunteers they brought in for the event -- were very professional, very friendly, and very pleased to have the chance to be part of this particular happening.

They made everything work as well for we pesky bloggers as possible, just as we did everything we could to make their lives as easy as possible given the circumstances. And after yesterday's experience, all in all, I can't say enough positive things about Barnes & Noble branch store number 2898, Waterworks Mall, Fox Chapel, PA.

I understand they did excellent business as a result of their hosting this unusually high-profile book signing event; and that is great news, because they definitely deserve the success they earned with it. More importantly, everyone involved with the event on B&N's end, from store staff to add-on employees & volunteers, definitely deserve all the props we can give them for what they did yesterday and for how well they did it. Without them, none of it would have come off anywhere near as it did for all concerned.

So thanks, Susan! And thanks to each and every one of your team for making it possible for us to come and be part of it, too!