Powell's in the Press

"The alternative America of Portland is epitomised by the presence of Powell's City of Books, a must-see for anyone with even a passing interest in reading. I could have got lost in there for couple of days were it not for the jetlag and pressing itinerary. Powell's stocks a myriad of second-hand books, some rare, some not-so rare, and is so big it takes up a block of its own. If you do love books and you go to Portland, to miss Powell's would be nothing short of criminal." —Aled Blake, South Wales Echo

 
"Call it Amazon with a soul. Based in Portland, Oregon, Powell's offers as sizeable a selection as its online and mega-store competitors, and its blogs keep you better informed about literary options than any "personalized" recommendations list." Details.com

 
"And I love the unique sense of expectancy that, time and again, carries me into Powell's. It's not unlike the anticipation wrought by a great book ... and it is the hallmark of a great bookstore." Steve Duin, The Oregonian

 
"A Portland landmark for new and used books — so vast you need a map to navigate. The children's section, like everything here, is phenomenally well stocked." New York Times, March 2007

 
"Recently... Portlanders got some dance-in-the-aisles-worthy news: Owner Michael Powell, 65, announced that his daughter, Emily, has been in training for the past two years to take over the business. 'There wasn't a Plan B,' Powell acknowledged to the Oregonian's Joe Rojas-Burke." The Oregonian, April 2006

 
"An attractive destination for anyone with a healthy appetite for the written word." Financial Times

 
"Best bookstore: Powell's in Portland, Ore. Use every superlative you can think of ...and it probably will fit this oversized warehouse of a store." The Times-Picayune, December 2004

 
"With a huge selection of new, used and rare books, all swathed in smart content, Powells proves that regional bookstores don't have to kneel down to the so-called superstores." Forbes Favorite, Best of Web 2004

 
"Underlying all of the decisions about services and site content is the company's passion for reading and books." OP Magazine, July/August 2004

 
"The once heretical notion of putting new books next to used ones turned out to be absolutely brilliant." Inc. Magazine, May 2004

 
"Powell's became one of the few retailers to successfully export its brand onto the Web." The Business Journal, June 2004

 
"Powell's encyclopedic, entertaining website — which accounts for about a third of its business — tempts us to stay home and order, but why miss what author Susan Sontag calls 'the best bookstore in the English-speaking world'? American Airlines, February 2004

 
"With three rambling floors covering an entire city block, the flagship store (there are now five locations) is a bibliophile's mother lode....Powell's sense of humor was evident even in the Weapons section, where small signs read, 'Achtung! Books are to be shelved ALPHABETICAL BY AUTHOR! This means you!'" Washington Post, November 16, 2003

 
"The greatest bookstore in the world, bar none, sprawls in the blandest of buildings on Portland's Burnside Street....The store that calls itself the City of Books has been dubbed 'the best bookstore in the English-speaking world' (author Susan Sontag), 'the world's greatest bookstore' (The Seattle Times), 'the mother monster of bookstores' (author Ursula Le Guin), and 'one of the most innovative and creative enterprises in the country' (The Wall Street Journal). How does Powell's, an independent in a sea of chain stores, stay afloat? Answers: a vast offering of used books, a stunning selection of out-of-print books, a crammed roomful of rare books, its knowledgeable and verbose staffers, the comfortable ambience of the mother store, and its secret weapon: www.powells.com...." VIA: The Magazine For The Western Traveler, March 2003

 
Best of the Web — Spring 2002
"This Portland, Ore-based bookstore's roots include seed money from Saul Bellow in 1970. In 1994, the business turned to the Web and now site visitors can browse and purchase from 1 million new and used books. For recommendations, check the Daily Dose or staff picks on topics as general as biography or as varied as akido. Recently arrived used titles are arranged by section, but you must compete with walk-ins for books on the shelves. Links to "host" sites such as The Atlantic Monthly and Salon.com provide smart features." Forbes Best of the Web — Spring 2002

 
"There was a surprise guest when Powell's Books, the world's largest independent new and used bookstore, recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. It was the ghost of the store's founder, Walter Powell....It was Mr. Powell who began buying back used books and placing used and new books side-by-side in what was then considered a startling innovation. (Now, as many as 5,000 used books are purchased from customers each day.) His son, Michael Powell, has lifted his father's quirks to legendary status, creating — thanks to the Internet — a global empire of new and used books through www.powells.com." The Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2002

 
"Party crasher Ralph Nader, on walking Monday night through Mike Powell's bookstore: 'This is what civilization should look like.'" The Oregonian, January 23, 2002

 
"There simply is no place in America like Powell's. No bookstore is so big or so meticulously organized, and none has such a psychic hold on so large a community.... Authors on book tours have been known to ask for an extra day [in Portland] just to wander its aisles." John Balzar, Los Angeles Times

 
Best of the Web — Winter 2001
"Scan the more than 1 million books stacked up on more than 68,000 square feet of shelves in the retailer's Portland, Ore.-based store. Not sure which book to read? Check out the site's Daily Dose or staff picks. If mystery is your forte, look over the weekly top five titles. On new books, there's a full panoply of information, reviews and excerpts. Used books are brilliantly subdivided into browsable sections and boasts a list of new arrivals. There are also guest essays, links to 'host' sites on matters literary, and excellent author interviews....The most browsable used book section around." Forbes Best of the Web — Winter 2001

 
"The Powells.com Review-a-Day feature is absolutely brilliant. Corralling reviews from Salon.com, Esquire, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, and Powell's own staff members, the Review-a-Day drops a thought-out and well-written book review in your email box every morning. One morning it's Laura Miller from Salon on Nancy Milford and Edna St. Vincent Millay, the next it's Adrienne Miller from Esquire on Sam Lipsyte, and then sometimes it's James Wood from The New Republic on Jonathan Franzen and you know you have to set aside a good chunk of time that day. But it's always something worth taking seriously, and it's just the kind of simple stroke of brilliance that the world of book reviewing needs." Nan A. Talese Publishing newsletter, November 12, 2001

 
"Literate commentary, imaginative subject categories, and a fast search engine make Powell's a bibliophile's dream." Yahoo! Internet Life magazine, December 2001

 
"...I read Powell's on the Web because the writing is sensational. This is a very big store and a mighty presence on the Internet, but the attitude is playful, light, independent, adventurous, no-nonsense, sly and professional all at once." Holt Uncensored, #225, March 20, 2001

Best Book Site 2000
	"...[C]ompared to the Powell's experience, the virtual aisles at Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, or Buy.com feel like the Mall of America: generic, a bit fluffy, and corporate. For book browsing and buying, we'll stick with Powell's, which combines convenience and customer care with a passion for the written word." Yahoo! Internet Life magazine, Winter 2000 E-Shopping Guide

 
"It's fitting that the huge Powell's Books in Portland has a truly huge site. It's faster, of course, to negotiate Powell's online than going to Portland. A favorite reason for bookmarking it is the Author Interviews link." Irene Wanner, The Seattle Times, September 24, 2000
 
 
 
"...Powell's biggest asset may lie in what it isn't: It ain't Amazon, and so it attracts a slice of Web customers who detest corporate gigantism and cozy up to Powell's intimate, independent feel." Forbes Magazine, April 17, 2000
 
 
 
"....for smaller booksellers, Powells still represents the exception to the rule, the AOL to Microsoft. Few others in this widely populated industry have the resources or unique core competence to launch such a successful site..." TheStandard.com, March 27, 2000
 
 
 
"Don't toss the map aside, even if you've been here before. The store has recently expanded, and you'll need the map as you wend your way through rows housing more than a million volumes..." Chicago Tribune, March 19, 2000
 
 
 
"[PowellsBooks.News is] a newsletter recommended by a friend of mine who is an ardent book lover. If you're passionate about books, be sure not to have this ezine sent to your office address or you'll risk being sucked into another dimension on company time." List-A-Day.com, March 30, 2000
 
 
 
"This site boasts a huge collection of used, out-of-print, rare and autographed books. A search service tracks down out-of-print titles. . . Powell's is a must for out-of-print editions. Time Magazine, December 13, 1999
 
 
 
"[A] Portland institution, one of the finest bookstores in the West, Web site to match." The San Francisco Chronicle, December 6, 1999
 
 
 
"Used and rare bookstores have been swept up in the Internet revolution. And leading the way is Powell's, a Pacific Northwest institution that keeps breaking all the rules and getting away with it." The Seattle Times, July 13, 1999
 
 
 
"Powell's caters to such a breadth of reading tastes that at first sight it can be overwhelming. (It does, after all, encompass an entire city block.) Visitors often consult the maps neatly stacked just inside the front door..." The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 7, 1999
 
 
 
"Powell's, a quirky Oregon-based retailer, has become a Web powerhouse, selling used books through its site — and through Amazon.com. " The Industry Standard, March 8, 1999
 
 
 
"They are just one of the finest operations in the country, the most innovative and creative..." The Wall Street Journal, September 21, 1998
 
 
 
"Who says the traditional bookshop is dead? In this age of chain superstores and online selling, it often seems that the days of the old-style independent dealer are numbered. But one American bookseller, at least, refuses to believe that." The Independent (London), September 6, 1998
 
 
 
"His specialty as a generalist let Michael Powell's store grow voluminously. Now, at a 'critical phase,' he is facing online, chain challenges by growing in two directions." The Los Angeles Times, August 7, 1998
 
 
 
"Powell's Books plans to increase floor space at its landmark downtown store by 58 percent at a time when many independent booksellers are surrendering to the relentless expansion of national chains." The Oregonian, June 4, 1998
 
 
 
"...you get an inkling you've arrived at an unusual place when, just inside the front door, someone hands you a map....shelves devoted to appliance repair and Arthurian legends, comics and cognitive science, etiquette and ethnobotany, paper dolls and power tools, voodoo and vaudeville. " Houston Chronicle, October 5, 1997

"We went way past the traditional size of bookstores to find the limit of what people would be interested in, and we've never found that limit." Inc. Technology, No. 2 for 1997

"We don't have to compete with Amazon or Barnes & Noble; we can just sit back and watch the battle." Wired News, May 21, 1997

"Powell's stocks more than a million new and used books in over 4,000 sections, and buys 3,000 books a day over the counter. Of the one million books a year that it sells, more than half are used." Philiadelphia Online (The Philadelphia Inquirer), May 15, 1997

"...if there's a new edition of the Bible, people expect God to be at Powell's to sign books." The Nation, March 17, 1997

A BOOK MECCA: "Oregon is home to the largest used bookstore for English Language books" Die Zeit, February 2, 1996

"....a Powell's shopper can choose to pay $24.95 for a new hardback, $15 for the same volume used, and even less if the same book is available in paperback." The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 12, 1995

"To call Powell's City of Books a bookstore is rather like calling Mount Hood a nice hill. Powell's is not quaint, not cute, not anything you might expect a beloved literary landmark to be. It is a 43,000-square-foot, block-long, dull yellow building that looks as though it should be filled with drill presses or Linotype machines but that is instead filled with books: new books, old books, aisles of books, rooms of books." Sunset Magazine, May 1994

"My reason for wanting to return to Portland can be summed up in one word — books. Portland has one of the largest bookstores in the world..... Powell's bookstore, the reason I went to Portland in the first place, deserves special mention. The store is so big you need a map to get around. Powell's City of books is the biggest bookstore in the country, with 500,000 individual titles and perhaps 1 million new and used volumes on its shelves. Powell's was started in Chicago as a used bookstore near the University of Chicago campus by Michael Powell during his graduate student days. Powell opened his first Portland store in 1971. The building was a former garage that covered a city block. It has been carved into seven rooms, including the Anne Hughes Coffee Room where one can sip an espresso or cafe latte, nibble on cookies, or browse at the tables. Patrons are issued maps to find their way through the rooms filled with clearly marked three-metre tall wooden bookcases; 1.8-metre ladders provide access to the upper shelves." The Bangkok Post, May 2, 1994

"Considering all the concern about the decline of reading and the too-easy urgency of electronics, who can explain, please, how it is that great bookstores survive today at the threshold of the 21st Century? Better, who can explain Portland, the Mr. Medium of U.S. cities, and how a contender for America's greatest bookstore not only survives here, but thrives?" The Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1992

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