Powell's Books

Powell's Books
IndustrySpecialty retail
Founded1971 (53 years ago) (1971)
FounderWalter Powell
Headquarters
Portland, Oregon
,
United States
Number of locations
Four (three full-service locations and one specialty bookstore)
Area served
Key people
  • Emily Powell
  • Chase Powell
ProductsNew, used, and rare books, magazines, cards, and sidelines[2]
Revenue$45 million (as of 2009)[3]
Owner
  • Emily and Chase Powell (1971–1982)
  • Michael Powell (1982–2010)
  • Emily Powell (2010–present)
Number of employees
About 500 (as of 2010)[2]
Websitewww.powells.com

Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in Portland, Oregon, and its surrounding metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world.[4] 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 contains over 68,000 square feet (6,300 square metres), about 1.6 acres of retail floor space.

The City of Books has nine color-coded rooms and over 3,500 different sections.[5] The inventory for its retail and online sales is over four million new, used, rare, and out-of-print books.[6] As of 2009, Powell's was buying around 3,000 used books a day.[7]

  1. ^ Murphy, Peter (May 12, 2017). "The Other Powell's Bookstore". 1859 Oregon's Magazine. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Chamberlin, Jeremiah (March–April 2010). "Inside Indie Bookstores: Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon". Poets & Writers. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference pbj201003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Powell's Books on Burnside". Powell's City of Books. Retrieved March 12, 2009.
  5. ^ "Powell's City of Books at Burnside - Powell's Books". www.powells.com.
  6. ^ "Internet Retailer Best of the Web 2006". Internet Retailer. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved August 28, 2007.
  7. ^ "Powell's City of Books". Powell's Books. Archived from the original on December 12, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2021.