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[[Image:PowellsBookstoreFromWikimedia.jpg|150px|left|Powell's NW 10th & Burnside entrance]]
'''Powell's Books''' is a chain of [[bookstore]]s in the [[Portland metropolitan area]]. Powell's headquarters, dubbed '''Powell's City of Books''', claims to be the largest [[independent bookstore|independent new and used bookstore]] in the world.<ref name="burnside">{{cite web | title = Powell's Books on Burnside | publisher = Powell's City of Books | url = http://www.powells.com/info/places/burnsideinfo.html | accessdate = 2009-03-12}} </ref> Powell's City of Books is located in the [[Pearl District]] on the edge of [[Downtown Portland|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 ft² (6,300 m² or about 1.6 acres) of retail floor space.

The inventory for its retail and online sales is over four million new, used, [[Book collecting|rare]], and out-of-print books.<ref>{{cite web | title = Internet Retailer Best of the Web 2006 | publisher = [[Internet Retailer]] | url = http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=16892#powells | accessdate = 2007-08-28}}</ref> Since 2005, its website has also offered [[DVD|DVDs]] with free shipping, with an inventory of over 40,000. At its retail stores it shelves all new and used books side-by-side. Powell's buys around 3000 used books a day.<ref name="burnside" />

Powell's has an Internet presence which began in 1993 as email and [[File transfer protocol|FTP]]-based access to its technical bookstore; it has since expanded to incorporate fiction and other genres as a traditional [[ecommerce]] site.<ref>[http://www.powells.com/info/details.html History of Powells.com] from its website</ref>  Their website was established in 1994, before [[Amazon.com]], and has contributed substantially to the chain's recent growth.<ref>{{cite web | first = Lisa  | last = Baker | title = Powell’s success story adds a chapter | publisher = [[Portland Tribune]] | date = [[March 19]], [[2004]] | url = http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=23515 | accessdate = 2007-08-28}}</ref>

==History==
[[Image:Powells-City-of-Books-NW-Entrance Portland-OR 2008-May.jpg|thumb|Powell's NW 11th & Couch entrance]]
Powell's was founded by Walter Powell in 1971. His son, Michael Powell, had started a bookstore in [[Chicago, Illinois]] in 1970 which specialized in used, rare, and discounted books, primarily of an academic and scholarly nature. 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. <ref>[http://www.powells.com/info/briefhistory.html History of Powell's Books] from the company's website</ref> 

Some of the store's actions have made big news in Portland. When the [[Oregon Citizens Alliance]] qualified [[Oregon Ballot Measure 9 (1992)|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 [[trade union|unionizing]] the employees tarnished his reputation as a champion of liberal causes.<ref>{{cite web | first = Andy | last = Giegerich | title = Powell’s owner and his workers: between a book and a hard place | publisher = [[Portland Tribune]] | date = [[December 5]], [[2003]] | url = http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=21783 | accessdate = 2007-08-28}}</ref>  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<ref name="10 Great Places">USA Today, January 21, 2002. [http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/10great/2003-09-29-books_x.htm?loc=interstitialskip "10 Great Places to Crawl Between the Covers"]</ref>.

Michael Powell announced in June 2006 that he plans to hand over the business at an undeclared future date to his daughter, Emily.<ref name="emily">{{ cite web |  title = Powell's in the Press | publisher= Powell's Books | url = http://www.powells.com/info/press.html| accessdate= 2006-07-28 }}</ref>

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 {{convert|10000|sqft|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.<ref>{{cite web | first = Laura | last = Gunderson | title = Powell's plans expansion in two years | publisher = OregonLive.com | date = [[January 22]], [[2008]] | url = http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/01/powells_plans_expansion_in_two.html | accessdate = 2007-01-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | first = Edward | last = Nawotka | title = Powell’s to Expand Flagship in 2010, Absorb Technical Store | publisher = Publisher's Weekly | date = [[January 23]], [[2008]] | url = http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6524823.html | accessdate = 2007-01-24}}</ref>  Plans submitted to the Portland Design Commission in November 2008 called for a rooftop garden atop the new addition and an "art cube" over a redesigned main entrance.<ref>[http://chatterbox.typepad.com/portlandarchitecture/2008/11/powells-unveils-design-for-new-entrance-to-flagship-store.html Portland Architecture: Powells Unveils Design For New Entrance to Flagship Store]</ref>

== List of locations ==
[[Image:PowellsTechnicalBooks.jpg|thumb|Powell's Technical Books]]
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, Oregon|Beaverton]] and opened in November 2006, replacing a decades-old location near [[Washington Square (Oregon)|Washington Square]] less than half its size;<ref>[http://www.powells.com/info/places/beavertoninfo.html Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing] from the company's website</ref>
*another in Portland's [[Hawthorne, Portland, Oregon|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 gifts.<ref>[http://www.powells.com/info/places/airportinfo.html Powell's Books at PDX] from the company's website</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.powells.com/ Powell's website], including a [http://www.powellsbooks.com/info/citytour.html tour of the City of Books] 
*[http://www.ilwulocal5.com Website for ILWU Local 5, Powell's employee's union] 
*[http://www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=1708 Best of the Web summary] from ''[[Forbes]]''

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[[Category:Independent bookstores]]
[[Category:Companies based in Portland, Oregon]]
[[Category:Bookstores of the United States]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1971]]

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