I've read the other posts with people concerned about the welfare of the child - but no one bothered to ask how the store was set up. While I've never visited this location, the one out by me only has an exit in the front with wide spaces full of non book trinkets before it turns into bookcases with the cafe off to the side. My mother who has no interest in books would often browse through the trinkets before settling into the cafe - within view of the exit - while I browsed through the store. Understandable that things could happen in the back of the store but my mom knew I had a big mouth if anyone tried to "molest" me. Now it would be a different story if it was like the bookstores within malls - and several exits a kid could be taken through or wondered through....

On another note people have been saying why not watch them in the childrens section? When I was eight I was reading Goosebumps and Fearstreet books - def not in the childrens section......

The first thing the employee should have done if there was a problem with the child in the store was calmly ask him if his parents where there, and then proceeded from there. A big scene was not called for - even if regulations said that children weren't supposed to be left unsupervised.