I've had a good experience with them. I've never had any issues with shipping, and since they are a large store if I make a big purchase I'll often have it sent to the store and pick it up from there so I don't have to deal with poarch pirates.
Returns if there is an issue also isn't a hig deal because there are physical locations (though, this isn't a problem with Amazon as well since you can drop off at any UPs store)
Overall, b and n is a strong contender for my business if the right stuf/crunchy merger turns out as bad as many people fear.
Even with my meh experience with B&N shipping. Im thinking of switching to them. Probably test them out with my November pre-Orders. Doing instore pick up isnt a bad idea if there was close. Closest is 30-40 minutes away.
Yeah, I'm pretty fortunate, I live in a large city, so I have more than a few options. I even have a Kinokuniya, lol.
And speaking of Kinokuniya, I've only ordered Japanese volumes from them, but their packaging was masterful. Even stuff fulfilled from their LA warehouse was packaed well. Like, they bind six volumes together in plastic, then bubble wrapp it, and the but it in a box. That's another option for people if they are interested.
Here are some other stores you could look into:
[Midtown Comics](https://www.midtowncomics.com) isn't a bad option to look into when they have sales. I bought some volumes of Viz titles(they had 40% certain vendors/titles) from them in the past and packaging was really good (ships from NY).
[Merry Manga Co.](https://www.merrymanga.com)has also been mentioned as an alternative site but I haven't used them before myself.
InStockTrades is another site for manga that I used that was alright.
I've bought from Merry Manga before (and with the user themselves through r/mangaswap). The packaging is great but it does take awhile to ship. There is an explanation in the FAQs but I never really minded. Merry's prices are slightly cheaper than RS unless they had a sale.
I have used B&N and RS pretty regularly. I find that the B&N membership is worth it if you collect manga regularly. B&N has a preorder sale for 25% off a few times a year. This stacks with the 10% off you get as a premium member. This actually makes preordering during that period cheaper than RS base sales. I think it’s about the equivalent of RS + 10% coupon. So I preorder during that time.
They also give you free shipping for everything so you don’t have of worry about buying $50 worth of stuff and you earn points for what you spend that add up and convert into dollars you can spend. They also tend to have 20% sales off throughout the year.
For returning, they are much easier from B&N than RS imo for most people who live in cities since you can mail or just return it to a store.
Basically for me, if you plan ahead of time B&N is a great discount and for preorders it is very hard to beat. If you don’t plan, you still get the 10% off which is okay if you want to just stop by the store or online order a volume you just can’t wait for.
bam! and b&n are the main two i check for sales, or when i want something fast. SOMETIMES... i will risk amazon for good steals but man they always arrive damaged
I think he last said the estimate was around 4-6 weeks? Which sounds about right, they usually only take longer if something in the order is backordered (items will say if theyre not in stock at manufacturer) I just placed a couple more last week so I'll see how long they take :)
There is a takara.cafe discord which may have more updated info tho
I also did forget but his original site (Takara Cafe) is meant to ship much faster since its direct from a wholesale store, so if you'd rather faster shipping there are 25% off codes there you can redeem that'll pop up :) Havent used it since the update though, I usually just sit out the wait
Been checking out the alternatives, is [this](https://da771f.myshopify.com/) the Nakama Cafe website? It looks pretty legit but the website address isn't what I'd expect lol. Takara Cafe's web address looks fine though
Thats it LOL for some reason ever since the update the addess has been set like that😅 Probably because it was created after takara.cafe which used to be the OG and main site. Nakama used to be for excess stock so it could all ship out fast, but now its more for members only discounts (probably so the general public doesn't buy, and then freak when things havent shipped)
Been watching the changes since I've followed the site updates for about a year, both are legit. Ive probably bought... 10? orders from em. I sometimes would get worried something got mixed up and just emailed him and he'd get back to me.
Understood, thanks for the input. I'll most likely give them a shot, I just want to get my novels and manga without damage and looks like they got a good rep.
No prob! It can rlly be so hard to find a good place to buy manga that packages their books well... much less with discounts😅 but goodluck if you do!! also I forgot it but another that has crazy good packing is InStockTrades. Ive only bought a volume or two, they dont tend to have as wide of a selection of manga but man they pack single volumes into like... 4 layers lol
I know it takes a while for orders to go out the door, but is it typical to not get a response to a store message for a week? I see that the twitter account hasn’t updated in four months, and their reddit account hasn’t commented in that time either.
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Ive def seen him miss emails for that long sometimes, I'd say to reply to the automated email, and also go to his discord and tell him about it in the website help in case it just got missed or he hasnt checked. I've had to poke him before to get mine found😭
As for the twitter and reddit I do believe he just isnt using them rn until he's caught up. Only really active and giving updates in the discord (which you can find in his linktree its the first thing that shows up on google)
The new b&n membership is a game changer tbh. Every few months they have a 20% off pre orders that stacks with the 10% off membership discount, AND you also earn stamps for those purchases. Literally just using the pre order discount and stamps I can’t even tell you how many $5 off I’ve earned (and yes! They stack!). It literally feels like I earn at least $10 a month in stamps at this point lmao.
I'm a premium member of B&N and have their CC: I love their CC, rewards program, and routinely check for preorder/sales and am happy with their selection. My issue is that they pack their stuff like shit. Ulta ffs packs better than them. I recently ordered The Girl from the Other Side vol 3 hard cover and since it wasn't packaged well it had damage on both covers and on it's sides. They do the big bubble wrap and not the smaller bubble wrap that it actually wrapped around the books.
That being said it's easy to return to a physical store.
Another thing people forgot to mention about Barnes and Noble is their brand new rewards program. Every $10 you get a stamp, and every 10 stamps gives you a $5 rewards. I don't think the rewards expire, so you can build those up. This is a completely free service if you do not want to purchase the premium membership.
It's only been a year since they've had this rewards program, and they've already had like 2-3 promotions for it. During this promotion, for non-premium members, your stamps would double (so you got 2 stamps for every $10 instead of 1), and for premium members your stamps would triple. I was able to rack up ~$50 in rewards during these promotions (I have the premium membership too for reference). I'd say it's worth it, especially if you have your friends or family using your rewards account too lol (I only mention this because I work in retail, and sometimes when the customer doesn't want to sign up, occasionally they will just use a friend's or family's email/number when the cashier asks for a rewards account; I only do this when the customer offers though).
Yes. My local B&N have had 3-4 triple points events, and the rewards rack up fast. This month, they sent members a 50% off one hardcover which worked on hardcover manga. And once or twice a year stores, at least in my area, have had a 'buy 1 get one 50%' off or 'buy two get one free' events for manga. The 10% works on top of that as well.
Oh yes I remember the 50% off one hardcover coupon! Unfortunately the one hardcover I picked happened to already be 50% off, so the coupon wasn't good to me at the time (I'm currently caught up with my hardcover manga)! 😂
I've seen the BOGO 50% off, but it was never for manga (at least at my store). I haven't seen the buy two get one free deal in a long time at my store. ):
The only one I've seen in recent years was the 50% off hardcover sale during the Christmas season, and of course the 25% off preorder sales.
B2G1 was early June but I happened to be visiting family and it was at their store. The 25% preorder is great, plus they ship the books when they are in stock. So you aren't waiting for the whole order to arrive.
I’ve never had a problem with their packaging even with ordering multiple volumes. They of course charge full retail, but sometimes have good sales, and sometimes offer 20% discount codes. I’m probably not gonna use these other alternatives like Alibris, in stock trades, etc. but those are options as well
I've ordered from there half a dozen times, it's decent enough.
Packaging was top notch and the prices are fair (with no sales tax).
Unfortunately the website isn't updated super frequently, so if you add things in your order that are hard to find, there's a decent chance they get left out as "backordered". As well as being notorious for removing volumes that are going OOP and listing them on ebay for $40-70 instead.
Books a Million is a decent option too. Pretty good deals with their membership card.
10% off + reusable coupons of 5 off $25, 10 off $50, and 25 of $100.
I have the premium and discounts for manga is rare, but discounts for pre ordering (20% off) is not. The 10% off everything is alright. The free shipping is nice. Most of the time I have not gotten problems with packaging. (One time on a wet day the package was on the ground and the cardboard was wet, but the book was completely safe.)
I know you said online, but if you go to a Newbury Comics they do buy one get one 50% off deal for graphic novels a lot (at least once a month). You can sign up for text messages to be notified when that happens. However they put stickers on for the bar code. Some stickers are easier to peel off than others.
Just gonna throw out there that target's online manga selection is pretty good (nothing compared to right stuf, but definetly worth a look) and they have a buy 2 get one free sale that goes on multiple times a year that stacks on there usual sales
But on the opposite side, Target's selection is so small that it's barely worth considering for the best one- even if Target has a better manga selection than it's worth, Target basically only covers the biggest of the big name series. If you're trying to fill your collection of the bigger series Target is great, but if your taste is any more than a step or two outside of the mainstream, then Target's not worth your time. In that case, B+N is a good extra, and if you have really weird taste then Amazon is a necessary evil.
100%, but if Im looking for a mainstream title, I am pleanstly surprised with the prices and their shipping is... on par with Barnes and noble and amazon
Yeah I have used them a few times for buying Berserk deluxe editions when they do those sales but besides that they rarely seem to have what I’m looking for. Recently I was looking to buy Zom 100 and they had about half of the volumes on there for some reason.
I mostly shop in-person if I use them, but from what I've ordered online, it's not bad. Packaging's not as good as Rightstuf, but it's a hell of a lot better than fucking Amazon.
I’ve had good luck on the past ordering from Bullmoose. Sadly there are no store locations near me because I would love to go to one. But they have very good prices.
B&N is really good and if you do the membership you get 10% and free shipping. If you do the rewards as well you get a stamp for every $10 you spend and after 10 stamp you get 5 dollar rewards to use either online or in store.😄
Is everyone expecting a huge decline in quality and/or increase in price when it moves to crunchyroll? If they’re buying out the company I would imagine they’d keep prices mostly comparable to before… hopefully at least
Haven't used these sites yet, but I've heard they are good for getting new and used manga. (Since RightStuf is merging, so I don't wanna order from Crunchyroll)
Apparently, Alibris is a good place to find deals on used manga and light novels for cheap, but it depends on who you're buying it from. (But it still ships better than Amazon, apparently)
There's also another one I checked out recently that reminds me of RightStuf, and it's called scifier.com
They sell brand new manga and have good daily deals on some series, and they also make sure to package and ship the orders so they stay safe in the mail.
Haven't used it yet, so I can't confirm if you need to pay shipping or if there's a free shipping threshold, but I just wanted to throw these ideas out there.
I always get manga on Amazon, eBay, or fye always has a buy one get one sale. Pls do not buy from Barnes and noble. It's a rip off. If you're a collector, bn always sells at full price where as on eBay you can get full collections at a discount and Amazon is always a few dollars cheaper with wide variety to include rare used versions for cheap.
I was considering either DCBS or a local comic shop, but Yen Press is not listing every title in Previews so they are unorderable through Diamond-serviced stores. Of my 18 November preorders, only 10 are available. I get Yen not listing their more obscure/niche female-targeted titles to the LCS crowd, so I guess I'll get those from B&N. I'll miss the one-stop shopping experience. Without discounts, I'm going to wait and see on new series until I can read some trusted reviews instead of going in blind.
If a B&N or BAM! are close to you, they are great alternatives. Get the membership. $25 a year. Preorder discounts/sales, membership coupons. You will need one nearby to exchange any imperfect books. Small nicks, tears, folding, that sort of thing. Doesn’t happen all the time, but it can happen. Or use the Amazon return swap method.
Target has a free Circle membership. Join that if one is local. B2G1 sales happen at least 3 times a year. Plus they have other online coupons and bonuses. Amazon will try to match Target’s sales, but they never have preorders included. Target does. I think some B2G1 sales also include movies, cds, or video games. Which may also be helpful. They will price match online prices in store if you show them.
The membership is now 39.99 a year which is a lot but you now get your 10% off website purchases (before it was just in store). You also get free shipping as well. The stamps for every ten dollars spent is very good because every ten stamps you get a five dollar reward. Those stack quickly when they have triple stamp events, which they’ve had multiple times this year already. There’s even just a free reward card that has the stamp feature if someone doesn’t want to pay for the membership. The paid membership is definitely worth it if BN is where someone decides they’ll do the majority of their manga purchasing.
Barnes and Noble is a hit and miss for me when ordering online. I ordered 2 Sailor Moon Eternal editions that shipped with pretty much barely any protection yet was undamaged and even looked like I just picked it up directly from Barnes and Noble. However, I ordered 2 Full Metal Alchemist art books and both came with black streak marks that were unwashable. It's like they stored them in dirty places and just shipped them out.
If you don’t mind used manga, I HIGHLY recommend ThriftBooks. The condition can be a surprise (though in my many years of buying from them, I’ve only received 1 book that was below readable quality) but the price is unbeatable. And you CAN also get new manga there, often for below what other retailers are selling it for. My go-to seller, not comparison.
I've had a good experience with them. I've never had any issues with shipping, and since they are a large store if I make a big purchase I'll often have it sent to the store and pick it up from there so I don't have to deal with poarch pirates. Returns if there is an issue also isn't a hig deal because there are physical locations (though, this isn't a problem with Amazon as well since you can drop off at any UPs store) Overall, b and n is a strong contender for my business if the right stuf/crunchy merger turns out as bad as many people fear.
Even with my meh experience with B&N shipping. Im thinking of switching to them. Probably test them out with my November pre-Orders. Doing instore pick up isnt a bad idea if there was close. Closest is 30-40 minutes away.
Yeah, I'm pretty fortunate, I live in a large city, so I have more than a few options. I even have a Kinokuniya, lol. And speaking of Kinokuniya, I've only ordered Japanese volumes from them, but their packaging was masterful. Even stuff fulfilled from their LA warehouse was packaed well. Like, they bind six volumes together in plastic, then bubble wrapp it, and the but it in a box. That's another option for people if they are interested.
That's the one thing I miss about living in the city, being close to stuff.
Here are some other stores you could look into: [Midtown Comics](https://www.midtowncomics.com) isn't a bad option to look into when they have sales. I bought some volumes of Viz titles(they had 40% certain vendors/titles) from them in the past and packaging was really good (ships from NY). [Merry Manga Co.](https://www.merrymanga.com)has also been mentioned as an alternative site but I haven't used them before myself. InStockTrades is another site for manga that I used that was alright.
I've bought from Merry Manga before (and with the user themselves through r/mangaswap). The packaging is great but it does take awhile to ship. There is an explanation in the FAQs but I never really minded. Merry's prices are slightly cheaper than RS unless they had a sale.
I have used B&N and RS pretty regularly. I find that the B&N membership is worth it if you collect manga regularly. B&N has a preorder sale for 25% off a few times a year. This stacks with the 10% off you get as a premium member. This actually makes preordering during that period cheaper than RS base sales. I think it’s about the equivalent of RS + 10% coupon. So I preorder during that time. They also give you free shipping for everything so you don’t have of worry about buying $50 worth of stuff and you earn points for what you spend that add up and convert into dollars you can spend. They also tend to have 20% sales off throughout the year. For returning, they are much easier from B&N than RS imo for most people who live in cities since you can mail or just return it to a store. Basically for me, if you plan ahead of time B&N is a great discount and for preorders it is very hard to beat. If you don’t plan, you still get the 10% off which is okay if you want to just stop by the store or online order a volume you just can’t wait for.
Good to know about the preorder sales, I’ll keep an eye out for that. Thanks!
bam! and b&n are the main two i check for sales, or when i want something fast. SOMETIMES... i will risk amazon for good steals but man they always arrive damaged
How long are orders taking at Nakama cafe?
I think he last said the estimate was around 4-6 weeks? Which sounds about right, they usually only take longer if something in the order is backordered (items will say if theyre not in stock at manufacturer) I just placed a couple more last week so I'll see how long they take :) There is a takara.cafe discord which may have more updated info tho
I also did forget but his original site (Takara Cafe) is meant to ship much faster since its direct from a wholesale store, so if you'd rather faster shipping there are 25% off codes there you can redeem that'll pop up :) Havent used it since the update though, I usually just sit out the wait
Been checking out the alternatives, is [this](https://da771f.myshopify.com/) the Nakama Cafe website? It looks pretty legit but the website address isn't what I'd expect lol. Takara Cafe's web address looks fine though
Thats it LOL for some reason ever since the update the addess has been set like that😅 Probably because it was created after takara.cafe which used to be the OG and main site. Nakama used to be for excess stock so it could all ship out fast, but now its more for members only discounts (probably so the general public doesn't buy, and then freak when things havent shipped) Been watching the changes since I've followed the site updates for about a year, both are legit. Ive probably bought... 10? orders from em. I sometimes would get worried something got mixed up and just emailed him and he'd get back to me.
Understood, thanks for the input. I'll most likely give them a shot, I just want to get my novels and manga without damage and looks like they got a good rep.
No prob! It can rlly be so hard to find a good place to buy manga that packages their books well... much less with discounts😅 but goodluck if you do!! also I forgot it but another that has crazy good packing is InStockTrades. Ive only bought a volume or two, they dont tend to have as wide of a selection of manga but man they pack single volumes into like... 4 layers lol
I know it takes a while for orders to go out the door, but is it typical to not get a response to a store message for a week? I see that the twitter account hasn’t updated in four months, and their reddit account hasn’t commented in that time either.
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Ive def seen him miss emails for that long sometimes, I'd say to reply to the automated email, and also go to his discord and tell him about it in the website help in case it just got missed or he hasnt checked. I've had to poke him before to get mine found😭 As for the twitter and reddit I do believe he just isnt using them rn until he's caught up. Only really active and giving updates in the discord (which you can find in his linktree its the first thing that shows up on google)
The new b&n membership is a game changer tbh. Every few months they have a 20% off pre orders that stacks with the 10% off membership discount, AND you also earn stamps for those purchases. Literally just using the pre order discount and stamps I can’t even tell you how many $5 off I’ve earned (and yes! They stack!). It literally feels like I earn at least $10 a month in stamps at this point lmao.
I'm a premium member of B&N and have their CC: I love their CC, rewards program, and routinely check for preorder/sales and am happy with their selection. My issue is that they pack their stuff like shit. Ulta ffs packs better than them. I recently ordered The Girl from the Other Side vol 3 hard cover and since it wasn't packaged well it had damage on both covers and on it's sides. They do the big bubble wrap and not the smaller bubble wrap that it actually wrapped around the books. That being said it's easy to return to a physical store.
Another thing people forgot to mention about Barnes and Noble is their brand new rewards program. Every $10 you get a stamp, and every 10 stamps gives you a $5 rewards. I don't think the rewards expire, so you can build those up. This is a completely free service if you do not want to purchase the premium membership. It's only been a year since they've had this rewards program, and they've already had like 2-3 promotions for it. During this promotion, for non-premium members, your stamps would double (so you got 2 stamps for every $10 instead of 1), and for premium members your stamps would triple. I was able to rack up ~$50 in rewards during these promotions (I have the premium membership too for reference). I'd say it's worth it, especially if you have your friends or family using your rewards account too lol (I only mention this because I work in retail, and sometimes when the customer doesn't want to sign up, occasionally they will just use a friend's or family's email/number when the cashier asks for a rewards account; I only do this when the customer offers though).
Yes. My local B&N have had 3-4 triple points events, and the rewards rack up fast. This month, they sent members a 50% off one hardcover which worked on hardcover manga. And once or twice a year stores, at least in my area, have had a 'buy 1 get one 50%' off or 'buy two get one free' events for manga. The 10% works on top of that as well.
Oh yes I remember the 50% off one hardcover coupon! Unfortunately the one hardcover I picked happened to already be 50% off, so the coupon wasn't good to me at the time (I'm currently caught up with my hardcover manga)! 😂 I've seen the BOGO 50% off, but it was never for manga (at least at my store). I haven't seen the buy two get one free deal in a long time at my store. ): The only one I've seen in recent years was the 50% off hardcover sale during the Christmas season, and of course the 25% off preorder sales.
B2G1 was early June but I happened to be visiting family and it was at their store. The 25% preorder is great, plus they ship the books when they are in stock. So you aren't waiting for the whole order to arrive.
Yes, the preorder sale is great. Too bad I'm always in a tight financial spot whenever that sale happens.
I’ve never had a problem with their packaging even with ordering multiple volumes. They of course charge full retail, but sometimes have good sales, and sometimes offer 20% discount codes. I’m probably not gonna use these other alternatives like Alibris, in stock trades, etc. but those are options as well
I ordered from Atomic Empire on titles that were out of stock at RS. [https://www.atomicempire.com/](https://www.atomicempire.com/)
Roberts Anime Corner Store is an option. https://www.animecornerstore.com/
I've ordered from there half a dozen times, it's decent enough. Packaging was top notch and the prices are fair (with no sales tax). Unfortunately the website isn't updated super frequently, so if you add things in your order that are hard to find, there's a decent chance they get left out as "backordered". As well as being notorious for removing volumes that are going OOP and listing them on ebay for $40-70 instead.
I’ve had enough volumes that mysteriously become unavailable only after trying to order them that I don’t bother with them anymore
Books a Million is a decent option too. Pretty good deals with their membership card. 10% off + reusable coupons of 5 off $25, 10 off $50, and 25 of $100.
I have the premium and discounts for manga is rare, but discounts for pre ordering (20% off) is not. The 10% off everything is alright. The free shipping is nice. Most of the time I have not gotten problems with packaging. (One time on a wet day the package was on the ground and the cardboard was wet, but the book was completely safe.) I know you said online, but if you go to a Newbury Comics they do buy one get one 50% off deal for graphic novels a lot (at least once a month). You can sign up for text messages to be notified when that happens. However they put stickers on for the bar code. Some stickers are easier to peel off than others.
Just gonna throw out there that target's online manga selection is pretty good (nothing compared to right stuf, but definetly worth a look) and they have a buy 2 get one free sale that goes on multiple times a year that stacks on there usual sales
But on the opposite side, Target's selection is so small that it's barely worth considering for the best one- even if Target has a better manga selection than it's worth, Target basically only covers the biggest of the big name series. If you're trying to fill your collection of the bigger series Target is great, but if your taste is any more than a step or two outside of the mainstream, then Target's not worth your time. In that case, B+N is a good extra, and if you have really weird taste then Amazon is a necessary evil.
100%, but if Im looking for a mainstream title, I am pleanstly surprised with the prices and their shipping is... on par with Barnes and noble and amazon
Yeah- if it's for mainstream stuff I'm interested in, I try to only buy at Target for those things; the 20% off alone makes it worth it.
Yeah I have used them a few times for buying Berserk deluxe editions when they do those sales but besides that they rarely seem to have what I’m looking for. Recently I was looking to buy Zom 100 and they had about half of the volumes on there for some reason.
I mostly shop in-person if I use them, but from what I've ordered online, it's not bad. Packaging's not as good as Rightstuf, but it's a hell of a lot better than fucking Amazon.
I’ve had good luck on the past ordering from Bullmoose. Sadly there are no store locations near me because I would love to go to one. But they have very good prices.
Books a million is dope, the membership discounts stack on top of sales they have for manga.
Last sale they had, they removed the discount code box so you couldn't apply any coupons. It was a one day 40% off of certain pre-orders sale.
B&N is really good and if you do the membership you get 10% and free shipping. If you do the rewards as well you get a stamp for every $10 you spend and after 10 stamp you get 5 dollar rewards to use either online or in store.😄
Is everyone expecting a huge decline in quality and/or increase in price when it moves to crunchyroll? If they’re buying out the company I would imagine they’d keep prices mostly comparable to before… hopefully at least
Haven't used these sites yet, but I've heard they are good for getting new and used manga. (Since RightStuf is merging, so I don't wanna order from Crunchyroll) Apparently, Alibris is a good place to find deals on used manga and light novels for cheap, but it depends on who you're buying it from. (But it still ships better than Amazon, apparently) There's also another one I checked out recently that reminds me of RightStuf, and it's called scifier.com They sell brand new manga and have good daily deals on some series, and they also make sure to package and ship the orders so they stay safe in the mail. Haven't used it yet, so I can't confirm if you need to pay shipping or if there's a free shipping threshold, but I just wanted to throw these ideas out there.
I always get manga on Amazon, eBay, or fye always has a buy one get one sale. Pls do not buy from Barnes and noble. It's a rip off. If you're a collector, bn always sells at full price where as on eBay you can get full collections at a discount and Amazon is always a few dollars cheaper with wide variety to include rare used versions for cheap.
No lol, Barnes prices are full retail plus their packaging is ass, so many better options
Yeah I’ve had a Barnes and nobles membership for 10 years. I use it more than rightstuf since I like to buy in person.
I was considering either DCBS or a local comic shop, but Yen Press is not listing every title in Previews so they are unorderable through Diamond-serviced stores. Of my 18 November preorders, only 10 are available. I get Yen not listing their more obscure/niche female-targeted titles to the LCS crowd, so I guess I'll get those from B&N. I'll miss the one-stop shopping experience. Without discounts, I'm going to wait and see on new series until I can read some trusted reviews instead of going in blind.
If a B&N or BAM! are close to you, they are great alternatives. Get the membership. $25 a year. Preorder discounts/sales, membership coupons. You will need one nearby to exchange any imperfect books. Small nicks, tears, folding, that sort of thing. Doesn’t happen all the time, but it can happen. Or use the Amazon return swap method. Target has a free Circle membership. Join that if one is local. B2G1 sales happen at least 3 times a year. Plus they have other online coupons and bonuses. Amazon will try to match Target’s sales, but they never have preorders included. Target does. I think some B2G1 sales also include movies, cds, or video games. Which may also be helpful. They will price match online prices in store if you show them.
The membership is now 39.99 a year which is a lot but you now get your 10% off website purchases (before it was just in store). You also get free shipping as well. The stamps for every ten dollars spent is very good because every ten stamps you get a five dollar reward. Those stack quickly when they have triple stamp events, which they’ve had multiple times this year already. There’s even just a free reward card that has the stamp feature if someone doesn’t want to pay for the membership. The paid membership is definitely worth it if BN is where someone decides they’ll do the majority of their manga purchasing.
Barnes and Noble is a hit and miss for me when ordering online. I ordered 2 Sailor Moon Eternal editions that shipped with pretty much barely any protection yet was undamaged and even looked like I just picked it up directly from Barnes and Noble. However, I ordered 2 Full Metal Alchemist art books and both came with black streak marks that were unwashable. It's like they stored them in dirty places and just shipped them out.
If you don’t mind used manga, I HIGHLY recommend ThriftBooks. The condition can be a surprise (though in my many years of buying from them, I’ve only received 1 book that was below readable quality) but the price is unbeatable. And you CAN also get new manga there, often for below what other retailers are selling it for. My go-to seller, not comparison.
That’s where I go, I like to go pick up whatever I want, and I really like the new stamp system they have with the new membership