<p>I won't have a car on campus next year as a freshman. Are there schools that have a Borders or Barnes & Noble actually adjoining a campus? I'm looking for larger schools with more than 15,000 students, preferably in NY, PA, or OH, but I'm also looking at schools in a few other states.</p>
<p>I know that almost every school has lots of coffee shops and bookstores. I'm looking for the bookstore and cafe combo, where you can browse books and magazines and drink coffee at the same time. I'd love to have a Borders or Barnes & Noble within walking distance of my campus, instead of having to take a shuttle to a mall or a bus somewhere. (So far the only school that I visited that had a Barnes & Noble within walking distance of the campus has been Michigan State.) I think this is a quality of life factor, like a school having good Chinese take-out or an active intramurals program.</p>
<p>Border’s has three full sized stores in Ann Arbor. The flagship store for the entire company, it was founded in A2, is on Liberty St. This is right around the corner from the central campus.</p>
<p>The state school I go to right now for post-secondary classes has a Barnes and Noble right in the student union, but books and everything cost twice as much there as on the internet or an off campus store. And a one subject Five Star notebook costs $6.</p>
<p>Any school of that size will have plenty of library space on campus where you can carry in your coffee and sit for as long as you want reading. A college library will have subscriptions to every major newspaper and periodical. Some libraries have DVDs available, both scholarly and popular.
I’m perplexed as to why you want a commercial bookstore for the same purpose. Their goal is to sell books, not have you sit around and read them.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses - I’m hoping for more! The campus stores are just bookstores without cafes. While they have decent selections of books and magazines, it isn’t the same as one of the stores with the great coffee, sandwiches and snacks.</p>
<p>Actually, many of the B&N college stores–such as the one at Penn–DO have coffee shops (with sandwiches, etc.) and–again like the one at Penn–are not technically ON campus, but are in an area adjoining campus. The one at Penn is QUITE large (much more than just textbooks, including a wide array of regular books, domestic and foreign magazines, newspapers, etc.), and quite NICE–truly one of the largest and nicest Barnes & Noble stores in the country.</p>
<p>Brown’s Bookstore has remained independently run and operated, has an excellent selection, and a wonderful cafe that’s operated by Blue State Coffee.</p>
<p>I think most non-tiny schools have a bookstore/cafe combination somewhere on or near campus, whether it’s B&N, Borders, or whatever - it’s just a good business opportunity. A list of elite schools for which this is the case is likely a waste of time for the OP or anyone else reading this. I’d add my school to the list (yes, its bookstore is exactly like any other B&N with a cafe, just with extra areas for textbooks/supplies/school merchandise) but this just seems like something completely typical at a college campus. I’d advise coming up with a list of schools you like based on other factors, and asking about campus/nearby bookstores on individual schools’ forums.</p>