You know, there’s a very simple way to get out of Chapters, or Indigo, or B&N, or any other bookstore without spending more than you intended.
It’s called NOT PURCHASING ANYTHING. It’s a skill I suggest you cultivate.
::earnest and sincere::
Mr. Odeifro, I would like to buy your story and put it on NBC.
You see, I will take about twenty caffeine, donut, and book addicts and put them outside a Barnes and Nobles store in downtown Manhattan. (Maybe more than one store if necessary.) Each will be instructed to go into the store to buy only a coffee and doughnut. However…there’s a little twist…The goods will be on the very last floor (as in your experience), and the expensive heavily priced books will be placed on the floors in between.
For the scifi fan, we’ll put an eighty dollar Robert Heinlein anthology on the third floor. For the Shakespeare fan, the Complete Works of on the second. You get the idea. Each person will be given a budget…once they go over it, they’re booted off the island- er, store.
I’m thinking of calling it Barnes and Noble: The Final Frontier.
The first few times I went to B&N the same sort of thing happened to me - until I realized … I was only going overboard because I had felt deprived.
So, I started going all the time. Two, three, four times a week. At first, I still bought more than I had intended, but after a while the average numbers on the receipts kept getting lower. I got used to the abundance. It was amazing. Now, I almost never spend more than twice what I had planned - and occasionally, I can walk out of the store without having bought anything at all. (Some might argue that it’s because I’ve already purchased the books I wanted, but that is obviously silly as there are always more books.)
So, I’d strongly advise that Odeirf just visit B&N more often - sooner or later, it’ll all even out.
Can’t help you in London, but over here in the Sates, I’ve been watching happily as Tealuxe has expanded from a single store in Harvard Square to a chain with stores as far away as New York City. They have over a hundred different types of tea there, so you’re bound to find something you like. I really appreciate having a good selection of green tea, which is rather uncommon.
http://www.tealuxe.com for more info.
As for B&N (actually Border’s or the Harvard Coop usually, but the same idea), I often don’t buy anything, but the main reason is that I simply can’t afford anything. If I had money, I couldn’t resist. There’s just so many books out there that I must have. I’d never use the cafe, though. When it comes to coffee, I’m a diehard Dunkin Donuts man myself.
Yeah, but at $7.56 per visit for coffee and a muffin, he’s still getting robbed!
The solution, of course, is take all the money you would spend and B&N, and instead open your own B&N 
Arjuna34
It’s called consumerism and commercialism.
And it works.
Too bad it’s at the expense of our wallets.
Gee, I solved that problem a while ago. It’s called never carrying money. Chronic brokeness has its advantages.
I have also learned to just read the books while at the store. What do you think those tables, and chairs from the coffee shop are scattered around the store for?
I love the thread title.
Man, you think you got it bad, friedo? I used to go to this Barnes and Noble once a week, not to get coffee, in fact, to buy nothing. I went because I had a mad crush on a cashier who worked there. I didn’t spend as much as you did, but I did, at one point, own three copies of the exact same issue of Utne Reader.
In case you care, Nathan, the most beautiful cashier to have ever lived, and I went on two dates. He kissed me once, and then stopped calling.
The local Wegman’s where I live has a “no candy” aisle.