Oregon - Portland - Powell's!!!

Every day I find some new and wonderful feature on LT! Just found this group today, but will definitely be back - I travel way more than I would like.

Inkdaub has already recommended Powell's, but the subject line didn't include the city and state.

The main store at 1005 West Burnside is so big you need a map. 68,000 square feet, and over 1 million books, with new and used shelved together.
They are open until 11 pm every day, but the Rare Books room closes at 7 pm.
http://www.powells.com/info/places/burnsideinfo.html#hours

The Technical books site is 2 blocks east of the main store.

They have two additional general stores, plus a Home and Garden specialty store adjoining the Hawthorne location.

If you are passing through the airport, check out one of the 3 small stores there.

Locations, hours, and local events calendar
http://www.powells.com/portland/

If you can't get to Portland, they have a very active online store.
http://www.powells.com/

Edited to fix the links

Oh yes, I have bought from them on line, but that does not beat the pleasure of the 'physical' hunt for the book in a place as wonderful as the one you describe. Perhaps, one day, I will be able to take a trip to Portland......sigh sigh sigh.....

Thank you, oregonobsessionz, for your kind words and most excellent review. Perhaps you will inspire others to contribute here as well.

Regards, WHL

I visited Powell's main store on Burnside for the first time last October. It was heavenly! And the coffee bar served the most exquisite coffee (I got a vanilla latte) and the pastry to go with it was incredible too: a ginormous almond paste-filled croissant. And cheap! I barely had time to visit more than a couple of areas...travel, children's. Obviously, I had to save time to savor the coffee & treat. It is definitely worth a visit if you're in downtown Portland. No one else has mentioned this: It covers an entire city block, and it's in an old building. Wonderful.

I will be there in July. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>5 aluvalibri: July is good - with any luck, it won't be raining.

I love Powell's! My aunt takes me there for a $50 shopping spree every year for my birthday and Christmas. I could look around the main store for days without getting bored.

Oh! Powells! I ride the train north for a day out in Portland from time to time, and every trip ends with a stop at Powells for things to take home. The hardest thing about Powells is managing sheer volume and variety of reading matter, book stuff and oddities.
Maybe I should go this weekend....

I should probably add a link to this. Tim & Co have added Powell's to the list of bookstores with local integration.

When you edit your profile, at the very bottom of the screen you will see a list of bookstores, now including Powell's. Select any of them, and when you look at a book in LT, the green field at upper right will indicate availability of that title at your selected bookstore(s). Actually, just go to the link above. Tim explained it much better than I could.