Powell's Books is a chain of
bookstore
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...
s in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, and its surrounding
metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest
independent new and used bookstore in the world.
Powell's City of Books is located in the
Pearl District
The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significan ...
on the edge of
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
and occupies a full
city block
A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design.
A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...
between NW 10th and 11th Avenues and between W. Burnside and NW Couch Streets. It contains over , about 1.6 acres of retail floor space. In 2016, CNN rated it one of the "coolest" bookstores in the world.
The City of Books has nine color-coded rooms and over 3,500 different sections.
The inventory for its retail and online sales is over four million new, used,
rare, and out-of-print books. As of 2009, Powell's was buying around 3,000 used books a day.
History
20th century
Powell's was founded by Walter Powell in 1971. His son, Michael Powell, had started a bookstore in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, in 1970 which specialized in used, rare, and discounted books, primarily of an academic and scholarly nature. In 1979, Michael Powell joined his father in Portland, right after his father's store was not offered a lease renewal; within a year, they found the location that became its current headquarters.
Michael bought the bookstore from his father in 1982.
In 1984,
["Loehmann's Plaza gains 85 percent occupancy". (November 25, 1984). ''The Sunday Oregonian'', p. D11.] Powell's opened its first branch store, in a suburban shopping center named Loehmann's Plaza
[ (later renamed Cascade Plaza),]["Beaverton retail mall rechristened". (June 2, 1987). ''The Oregonian'', p. D8.] near Washington Square. The new branch was not a replica of its City of Books location; Powell was concerned that the "edgy" neighborhood of its headquarters location was limiting its customer base, so the new store was "fairly fancy" with white shelving, a tile floor, and banners over the aisles. It was also four times the size of the typical chain bookstore.
A travel bookstore was established in 1985 on Pioneer Courthouse Square
Pioneer Courthouse Square, also known as Portland's living room, is a public space occupying a full city block in the center of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1984, the square is bounded by Southwest Morrison Street on t ...
, and other stores followed, one a year for the next few years. By the early 1990s, Powell's bookstores were part of the resurgence of the independent bookstore
An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, cl ...
, which collectively made 32 percent of book sales in the U.S. The travel store closed in 2005.[Nkrumah, Wade (February 7, 2005). "Food carts at Pioneer Square may be ousted". ''The Oregonian'', p. C1.]
Powell's established its Internet presence in 1993, beginning with email and FTP
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...
-based access to its technical bookstore; it has since expanded to incorporate fiction and other genres as a traditional ecommerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain managemen ...
site. Their website was established in 1994, before Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
, and has contributed substantially to the chain's recent growth.
The City of Books location grew to its current size after an expansion that opened in 1999; it included a new entrance facing the Pearl District
The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significan ...
which featured the "Pillar of Books", a Tenino sandstone carving depicting a stack of eight of the world's great books, on a base with the inscription "Buy the book, read the book, enjoy the book, sell the book" in Latin. For the year ending June 2000, Powell's revenue was $41.8 million.[Powell's Books, Inc.](_blank)
from fundinguniverse.com
21st century
In 2002, Powell's was cited by ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' as one of America's 10 best bookstores.[''USA Today'', January 21, 2002]
"10 Great Places to Crawl Between the Covers"
Retrieved 2016-06-18.
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 was due to add at least of new retail space. 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.
In March 2010, Michael Powell confirmed plans to hand over management of the business to his daughter Emily as of July. That same month, Powell's announced it would close its technical bookstore on the North Park Blocks
The North Park Blocks form a city park in downtown Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Most of the park is in northwest Portland (north of Burnside), but one block (Ankeny Square) is in southwest Portland (south of Burnside).
Description and ...
, moving its sections on math, science, computing, engineering, construction and transportation into "Powell's Books Building 2" at the corner of 10th and Couch Street, near the main City of Books location; the consolidation was in response to a five-year decline in brick-and-mortar
Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...
sales of technical books in favor of online sales.
In October 2010, Powell's announced it had bought 7,000 books from the library of author Anne Rice
Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941 – December 11, 2021) was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature.
She was best known for her series of novels ''The Vampire Chronicles''. B ...
; Powell's offered these association copies on their website. The bookstore was revealed as a charter member of the Google eBooks
Google Play Books, formerly Google eBooks, is an ebook digital distribution service operated by Google, part of its Google Play product line. Users can purchase and download ebooks and audiobooks from Google Play, which offers over five million ...
service when the news was announced by Google on December 6, 2010.
In June 2011, Powell's participated in Google Offers
Google Offers was a service offering discounts and coupons. Initially, it was a deal of the day website similar to Groupon, but it later changed focus. Rather than a small number of prepaid offers, it instead offered many smaller discounts. It ...
during that service's first month of operation; according to TechCrunch
TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare.
In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...
—which characterized Powell's as a "Portland institution"—"5,000 Powell’s vouchers sold out in a matter of hours", making it "most popular deal in the month."
Starting in May 2012, Powell's began offering access to print on demand
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
books via the Espresso Book Machine
The Espresso Book Machine (EBM) is a print on demand (POD) machine created by On Demand Books. It prints, collates, covers, and binds a single book in a few minutes.
Introduced in 2007, EBM is small enough to fit in a retail bookstore or small ...
.
In early 2013, Emily Powell announced that Miriam Sontz, the company's chief operating officer, would take over as chief executive officer.
In late 2014, "Powell's Books Building 2" was closed and the technical books at that location were moved into the main City of Books location.
CEO Miriam Sontz retired in January 2019. Emily Powell remains president and owner.
By 2022, this is also considered the largest new and used bookstore in both Portland and the world, which occupies an entire city block and housing that is more than a million titles. Many people around the nation considered this Pearl District landmark as the bookstore bucket list.
Labor relations
In 1991, following some post-holiday lay-offs, some of Powell's employees formed an organizing committee, seeking to become part of the Oregon Public Employees Union (OPEU). They got more than 35% of the employees to sign union cards but chose not to file for a union certification election because less than 65% had signed, a threshold suggested by the OPEU.[ILWU Local 5: A Brief History of Local 5: Powell’s Books, Inc.](_blank)
from the ILWU
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 Wes ...
Local 5 website In response to issues identified by the organizing employees, Powell's updated and expanded its employee handbook in April 1992 with changes that addressed processes for problem solving and grievances, the probation and termination procedure, and other employee assistance, among other changes.
In September 1998, email from Powell's managers announcing reductions in employee's wage increases prompted the creation of a new organizing committee of 26 employees. They chose the International Longshore and Warehouse Union
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 Wes ...
(ILWU) because they could charter their own self-governing local union
A local union (often shortened to local), in North America, or union branch (known as a lodge in some unions), in the United Kingdom and other countries, is a local branch (or chapter) of a usually national trade union. The terms used for sub-bran ...
which would include about 350 employees serving in a variety of jobs in all stores and in the Internet, corporate, and shipping departments. By March 1999, they filed for a union certification election with the National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...
. A month later, by a vote of 161–155, ILWU Local 5 became official.
In September 1999, ILWU Local 5 met for the first time with Powell's management, to begin the contract bargaining process. After some early successes, 2000 saw a slowdown in the discussions, followed by rallies, filings of unfair labor practice
An unfair labor practice (ULP) in United States labor law refers to certain actions taken by employers or unions that violate the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 449) (also known as the NLRA and the Wagner Act after NY Senator R ...
s, an unsuccessful decertification campaign, a one-day shutdown of the shipping department (accompanied by the slashing of a van's tire), and federal mediation. A three-year contract was finally announced in August 2000.
In February 2011 Powell's announced the layoffs of 31 employees, over 7% of its unionized workforce, in “response to the unprecedented, rapidly changing nature of the book industry". It was the first round of layoffs since the store's workers formed a union. A union representative said that Powell's had reduced its workforce by about 40 in the prior year through attrition, but felt that layoffs were still necessary because of a decline in sales of new books and a rise in health care costs.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Powell's announced the closing of its five locations and the termination of nearly all employees in mid-March 2020. The letter released by CEO Emily Powell on March 17, 2020, did not disclose the exact number of employees that were laid off. However, roughly 85% of the 400 members of the company's unionized workforce were terminated. More than 100 former staffers were then rehired to fulfill a large surge of online orders, but the union pointed out that only 49 were union-represented, and that the rest were managers who were now doing front-line work normally done by represented employees. In July 2020, Powell's announced that the store and kiosk in the Portland International Airport
Portland International Airport is a joint civil–military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of the state's passenger air travel and more than 95% of its air cargo. It is within Portland's city li ...
would remain closed permanently.
As Powell's gradually began re-hiring staff beginning in April 2021, former employees were forced to apply for open positions as new employees. Powell's claimed that their right to return to their old jobs had expired, and an agreement to extend those rights (and maintain previous pay levels) had not been reached between Powell's and the union. The majority of hired staff have been previous employees.
Politics
Powell's Books was a key opponent of Oregon's Measure 97, which would have raised corporate taxes to fund schools, healthcare and senior services. Michael Powell contributed $25,000 to the opposition campaign. Powell's Books was featured in television ads for the No campaign, and Emily Powell signed a statement opposing the measure in the voter's pamphlet.
List of locations
In addition to its "City of Books" location (1005 W Burnside St, Portland, OR 97209), Powell's Books has the following smaller locations:
*A store in Portland's Hawthorne District (3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214). Another location focused on cooking and gardening materials was located two spaces east; it was announced in January 2016 that Powell's would expand into the intermediary space and combine the two stores into one, with larger children's books and authors' event sections.
*A general bookstore with the "largest children's book section of any book store on the West Coast", located at Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton (3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR 97005) and opened in November 2006, replacing a 22-year-old location near Washington Square that was less than half the size.[Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing](_blank)
from the company's website. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
*A small corner of the Condon Local in Condon, Oregon
Condon is a city in, and the seat of, Gilliam County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The population was 682 at the 2010 census. The city, with an historic main street along Oregon Route 19, is a farming and ranching community. The John Day River/C ...
(201 S Main St, Condon, OR 97823) consisting of 12 bookshelves. The outpost was started in 1993 by Michael Powell after discussions with Darla Seale, the then-owner of the Condon Local (then called Country Flowers).
See also
* Cameron's Books and Magazines
References
External links
Powell's website
including
{{Authority control
1971 establishments in Oregon
American companies established in 1971
Antiquarian booksellers
Book selling websites
Bookstores established in the 20th century
Companies based in Portland, Oregon
Ebook suppliers
Independent bookstores of the United States
Internet properties established in 1993
Online retailers of the United States
Pearl District, Portland, Oregon
Privately held companies based in Oregon
Retail companies established in 1971