Powell's Books
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Powell's Books, with seven different locations, is a bookstore in the Portland metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters location, Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world.[1] Powell's City of Books is located in the Pearl District on the edge of downtown, and occupies a full city block, between NW 10th and 11th Avenues and between W Burnside and NW Couch Streets. It is open 365 days a year, and contains over 68,000 ft² (6,300 m² or about 1.6 acres) of retail floor space.[1] since 2005 it has also offered DVDs, with an inventory of over 40,000, only available online. At its retail stores it shelves all new and used books side-by-side. It buys around 3000 used books a day.[1]
Powell's has had an Internet presence which began as email and ftp based access to its technical bookstore and has since expanded to incorporate fiction and other genres.[2] Their website was established in 1994, before Amazon.com, and has contributed substantially to the chain's recent growth.[3]
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[edit] History
Powell's was founded by Walter Powell in 1971. His son, Michael Powell, had started a bookstore in Chicago, Illinois in 1970 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. The Chicago-area stores still exist, but under different ownership.[4]
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.[5] Powells.com is the only major online bookseller to be unionized.
In 2002, Powell's was cited by USA Today as one of America's 10 best bookstores[6].
Michael Powell announced in June 2006 that he plans to hand over the business at some future date to his daughter, Emily.[7]
In January 2008, Powell's announced plans to expand the downtown City of Books by adding as many as two floors to the store's southeast corner. The expansion will add at least 10,000 square feet (930 m²) of new retail space, and will house Powell's technical books, which are moving from their current location in the company's other building on Northwest Park Avenue.[8][9]
[edit] 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 32,500 ft² (3,000 m²) general bookstore with the "largest children's book section of any book store on the West Coast", located at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton and opened in November 2006, replacing a decades-old location near Washington Square less than half its size;[10]
- another in Portland's Hawthorne District;
- a store with cooking and gardening materials two spaces east of the Hawthorne store; and
- three stores at the Portland International Airport, offering popular fiction and non-fiction, "choice" used books, games, toys, and a wide range of gifts.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Powell's Books on Burnside. Powell's City of Books. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
- ^ History of Powells.com from its website
- ^ Baker, Lisa (March 19, 2004). Powell’s success story adds a chapter. Portland Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
- ^ History of Powell's Books from the company's website
- ^ Giegerich, Andy (December 5, 2003). Powell’s owner and his workers: between a book and a hard place. Portland Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
- ^ USA Today, January 21, 2002. "10 Great Places to Crawl Between the Covers"
- ^ Powell's in the Press. Powell's Books. Retrieved on 2006-07-28.
- ^ Gunderson, Laura (January 22, 2008). Powell's plans expansion in two years. OregonLive.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
- ^ Nawotka, Edward (January 23, 2008). PPowell’s to Expand Flagship in 2010, Absorb Technical Store. Publisher's Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
- ^ Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing from the company's website
- ^ Powell's Books at PDX from the company's website
[edit] External links
- Powell's website, including a tour of the City of Books
- Website for ILWU Local 5, Powell's employee's union
- Seattle Times article (registration required)
- Best of the Web summary from Forbes
