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Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in the Portland metropolitan area with origins (and a "sister store") in Chicago, Illinois. Powell's headquarters location, Powell's City of Books, is the largest independent bookstore in the United States.
Powell's City of Books is located on the edge of downtown and the Pearl District, occupying a full city block between NW 10th and 11th Avenues and Burnside and Couch Streets. It is open 365 days a year, and contains over 68,000 ft² of floor space.
The inventory for its retail and online sales is over four million new, used, rare, and out-of-print books.Internet Retailer Best of the Web 2006 from Internet Retailer; since 2005 it has also offered DVDs, with an inventory of over 40,000, available online only. At its retail stores, it follows the somewhat unusual practice of shelving new and used books side-by-side. It buys thousands of used books a day in order to keep its shelves well-stocked.
Powell's has had an Internet presence dating back to email and ftp-based access for its technical bookstore.History of Powell's from its website Their website was established in 1994, before Amazon.com.
The company was founded by Walter Powell, whose son, Michael Powell, had started a bookstore in Chicago, Illinois which specializes in used, rare, and discounted books, primarily academic and scholarly. Michael Powell soon joined his father in Portland, leading the expansion business to what it is today.
Powell's is a member of the American Booksellers Association.
List of locations
In addition to its "City of Books" location, Powell's Books also has several smaller stores:
- a technical bookstore on the North Park Blocks, a few blocks east of the main store
- a general bookstore in Beaverton
- another in Portland's Hawthorne neighborhood
- a store with cooking and gardening materials two spaces east of the Hawthorne store
- three stores at the Portland International Airport.
Other information
Powell's is a one-time sponsor of Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac. As of April 2004, Powell's is part of Portland's wireless community, courtesy of Personal Telco.Powell's Books Has Wi-Fi, an AdSense-supported Wifi News website
Some of the store's actions have made big news in Portland. When the Oregon Citizens Alliance qualified Ballot Measure 9 in 1992, an anti-gay rights measure, the bookstore actively campaigned against the measure. A few years later, a prolonged labor dispute between Powell's employees and Michael Powell over unionizing the employees tarnished Michael Powell's reputation as a champion of liberal causes.Powell's owner and his workers, a Portland Tribune article
Fans of the bookstore include Chuck Palahniuk, Patti Smith, Tony Hawk, Ursula Le Guin...Powell's City of Books is a book lover's bonanza, a March 2003 article from AAA's VIA Magazine, Ralph Nader, Powell's in the Press, with a quote from a January 23, 2002 article from The Oregonian, and Susan Sontag.
Michael Powell announced in June 2006 that he plans to hand over the business at some future date to his daughter, Emily.
Notes
References
- Powell's success story, a Portland Tribune article
External links
- Powell's website, including a tour of the City of Books and a monthly newsletter
- Powell's Bookstores Chicago
- Website for ILWU Local 5, Powell's employee's union
- Seattle Times article (registration required)
- Best of the Web summary from Forbes
Companies based in Oregon | Independent bookstores | Businesses in Portland, Oregon | Portland, Oregon | Bookstores
"Powell's City of Books"