Your friend is right, if your work at the Starbucks at B&N you will be a B&N employee, not a starbucks employee. Because you don't actually work for Starbucks you don't receive any of the typical Starbucks employee benefits like free Spotify premium, health insurance plans, 401k, company stock grants, and paid education through ASU. Not to mention all the free coffee!

The benefits are definitely better in a corporate (stand alone) store, but I wouldn't let that stop you from applying. I work in a licensed store in a grocery store and it really isn't bad compared to a stand alone store. It's a lot less stressful because we don't have drive thru or mobile orders, plus (at least in my store) the grocery managers mostly leave us alone so there's a lot less pressure.

I work in a Barnes and Noble store! You get B&N benefits and pay, however we tend to have a lower volume store. Closers are alone except for weekends and it rarely gets to be a hassle. You also know exactly when you're getting out, which from reading other posts I see that that's not always the case. Just be prepared to always have people ask if you take Starbucks cards and get haughty when you say no or don't have all of the same syrups and items as a full Starbucks. Also, if you're used to getting a lot of hours I wouldn't fully count on it there. At least at my store everyone gets 15-20 unless you're a lead, and even this is shaky. Some weeks you'll have 4-5 days, the next you'll have 1-3.

I went from working at a licensed store to a stand alone and I love the stand alone. The benefits are way better and you actually have a whole team supporting you. I was typically alone or only had one other person with me at the LS where there is never less than like 3 or 4 people at the CS.

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Hey! I used to work in a Starbucks kiosk at a grocery store, and it was not a great experience. The biggest thing was that customers expected us to be a “real Starbucks”, but our manager had no idea how to train us to make Starbucks drinks. I eventually quit and started working at a stand alone about a month ago, and it’s so much better.

Just fyi, most stand alones that I’ve interacted with don’t regard kiosk barista as “experience” for the “Starbucks way”. If you ever work at a stand alone, they will definitely retrain you from the very beginning. GL though!

Hi I also work at b&n. In addition to what others have said: only the cafe manager and cafe lead are full time. You would also occasionally be a bookseller in the store. Other people in the store are trained in cafe so if it gets busy there are more people who can help (SUPER nice). Most of the time at my store there is one person on a shift (unless it’s the weekend or expected to be busy) so you have to know what needs to be done for the day and get used to handling customers by yourself until it’s so busy that you need to call for backup. A big thing is the 30% off everything in the store. If you have a cool cafe manager though they’ll let you have free drinks and food. They like to hire within and have people make their way up the company. They invest good training in people and like people to stay a while. There’s a lot of expectation in upselling and getting memberships. My store is one of the few in our district that continually reaches its membership goals because of the community we build in our store. We also have competitions with other stores. I love working at b&n and believe I wouldn’t feel as strongly about a Starbucks.

I work at a tarbucks and yes I’m a target employee, but I get benefits through target and I’m getting promoted through them as well. Target is a huge company so there’s a lot of room to move up or around if you ever get tired of Starbucks or just need out of the department for a break. You can work on the floor for a couple days a week and learn new things ! I get great hours, have a great team, and target has wonderful benefits. So yes they’re all different and Starbucks has some pretty good benefits, but don’t let that discourage you from applying to other stores with a Starbucks in it because it could open plenty of new doors for you ! Either way Starbucks is a great job !

I work in Barnes and Noble Café, was bookseller before this.

Our Cafe has a limited Starbucks menu. We can still make a decent amount of their items though.

B&N benefits are 30% off storewide and in Cafe. You can check out certain books to read from the store for free, preread some books...not as busy as Starbucks, only some metropolitan B&N Cafés get that busy I think.

You could always start at B&N and get experience until a Starbucks is hiring.

Yes. I am a barnes and noble employee, not starbucks. I really love my job and b&n, but I am the only full time barista so only I get benefits. But you get 30% off discounts, its a nice part time job.

i just left a 2+ year stint at barnes & noble. i’d steer clear - they’re on their last leg and are cutting all possible corners. hours are shit and managers are crumbling under pressure from the home office. i can’t believe they’re opening a new store right now.