Powell's City of Books, Portland, Oregon

Can anyone tell me about this store, or any of the smaller Powell's Books stores in the city? What it looks like, smells like, how things are organized... Just any little thing, really. I've never been to Portland, so I haven't had a chance to check it out myself.

Perhaps this will help? See here

It's HUGE! Try searching for images on the web. The main store is in a big building and the signs for the different sections are color-coded; at least, they were when I was there about five years ago. They shelve new and used books together, which makes sense to me; if I'm looking for a particular author or subject, why should I have to traipse all over the store from new to used books instead of finding what I want all on the same shelf?

I loved it; they have everything! Check their website for current inventory, but I'm sure it's not exhaustive. By the way, if you click on "Our Stores" on the website, and then click on "City of Books," which is the main store (1 million books!), it takes you to a written tour of the store which explains it better than I can. There is also supposed to be a PDF map of the store on the website, which I couldn't take the time to locate (I'm on my lunch hour). Good luck!

A better tour is here See here with a link to a map.

Thanks, this is really helpful! Though, one more thing. What about the atmosphere of the place?

Most awesome store EVER! Almost every other bookstore looks dinky compared to it. And you can get just about any book in print there.

What does it look like? Mind-boggling how many books there are.
What does it smell like? That depends how close you are to the coffee shop, which has a pretty strong odor.
Personally, I would usually browse in one section when I visited the store . . . fantasy. Unless I was specifically looking for something else. In that case, I would find it, and then gravitate toward my favorite section.

It feels really multi-layered. The "colored" rooms really are that color throughout. There's a pillar in the Yellow Room (which smells like the elevator equipment--kind of a hot brake fluid odor) that has been signed by a whole bunch of visiting SF/F writers. The mezzanine between the Green and Yellow Rooms overlooks the Rose Room and has sections for calendars, featured books, chic Powell's T-shirts, notebooks and journals, a chalkboard listing this year's literary award winners, and even a few benches. There are all kinds of odd and fascinating juxtapositions--science, sports, and children's books are all in the same room. There are lots of stairs, not enough bathrooms, lots of unusual and wonderful old books, enthusiastic personalized staff recommendations all over the shelves friendly and cool clerks, featured artwork on the stairs up to the Pearl Room, seriously claustrophobic parking (but it's right on the streetcar line, which is free downtown), and an amazing coffee shop. If you're a local, you stand a very good chance of randomly running into someone you know. It's surprisingly well-organized and easy to navigate for a place where getting lost is half the point, and there are huge maps hanging from the ceiling everywhere. The Burnside entrance has a marquee board; the Couch entrance has a column made of concrete "books" with several languages on the spine. The Burnside entrance usually has a panhandler or two hanging out on the sidewalk, but they're usually friendly, and there is a weird-looking metal sculpture on the traffic triangle opposite (there is also sometimes a street busker who dresses like Elvis and does cheesy karaoke). The ceilings are very high, especially in the Orange and Rose Rooms; the building was, in a former life, a car dealership. Most nights there are author talks, book clubs, and the like going on. There are, obviously, usually a lot of hipsters around, but Powell's attracts people of every description. The one thing it isn't, though, is cozy; it's not the kind of small, quiet, intimate bookstore where you'll find lots of couches and a friendly cat wandering around.

Truly a MECCA for lovers of books. And, better still, it is in Portland! So one might see a woman with pigtails typing earnestly away in the coffee shop on a pink olivetti typewriter or happen upon a bookseller who is an expert on Baudelaire. Full of surprises and wonder. Oh! And they have these halogen bottles for sale in all different colors with the names of different authors and philosophers marking the levels of your beverage of choice.