specialty retail founded 1971 1971 founder walter powell headquarters portland oregon united states number of locations five four full service locations and one specialty bookstore area served portland metropolitan area key people miriam sontz ceo 1 emily powell 2 products new used and rare books ; ebooks and google ebooks ; 3 magazines cards and sidelines 2 revenue 45 million as of 2009 4 owner walter powell 1971 1982 michael powell 1982 5 2 number of employees about 500 2 website http www.powells.com powell s books is a chain of bookstores in portland oregon and its surrounding metropolitan area . powell s headquarters dubbed powell s city of books claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world . 6 powell s city of books is located in the pearl district on the edge of 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 square feet 6 300 m2 about 1.6 acres of retail floor space . cnn rates it one of the ten coolest bookstores in the world . 7 the inventory for its retail and online sales is over four million new used rare and out of print books . 8 powell s buys around 3 000 used books a day . 6 contents 1 history 1.1 20th century 1.2 21st century 1.3 labor relations 2 list of locations 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit 20th century edit 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 . in 1979 michael powell joined his father in portland right after his father s store had lost its lease ; within a year they found the location that became its current headquarters . 2 michael bought the bookstore from his father in 1982 . 5 in 1984 9 10 powell s opened its first branch store in a suburban shopping center named loehmann s plaza 10 later renamed cascade plaza 11 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 . 2 it was also four times the size of the typical chain bookstore . 5 a travel bookstore was established in 1985 on pioneer courthouse square and other stores followed one a year for the next few years . 2 by the early 1990s powell s bookstores were part of the resurgence of the independent bookstore which collectively made 32 percent of book sales in the u.s. 5 the travel store closed in 2005 . 12 powell s nw 11th & couch entrance featuring the pillar of books . powell s established its internet presence in 1993 beginning with email and ftp based access to its technical bookstore ; it has since expanded to incorporate fiction and other genres as a traditional ecommerce site . 13 their website was established in 1994 before amazon.com and has contributed substantially to the chain s recent growth . 14 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 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 . 5 for the year ending june 2000 powell s revenue was 41.8 million . 5 21st century edit in 2002 powell s was cited by usa today as one of america s 10 best bookstores . 15 since 2005 its website has also offered dvds with free shipping with an inventory of over 40 000 . citation needed 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 10 000 square feet 930 m2 of new retail space . 16 17 18 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 . 19 powell s technical books at its original north park blocks location closed in 2010 . in march 2010 michael powell confirmed plans to hand over management of the business to his daughter emily as of july . 2 that same month powell s announced it would close its technical bookstore on the north park blocks 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 sales of technical books in favor of online sales . 4 in october 2010 powell s announced it had bought 7 000 books from the library of author anne rice ; powell s offers these association copies on their website . 20 the bookstore was revealed as a charter member of the google ebooks service when the news was announced by google on december 6 2010 . 3 in june 2011 powell s participated in google offers during that service s first month of operation ; according to techcrunch 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 . 21 starting in may 2012 22 powell s began offering access to print on demand books via the espresso book machine . 23 24 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 . labor relations edit 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 . 25 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 ilwu because they could charter their own self governing local union 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 . a month later by a vote of 161 155 ilwu local 5 became official . 25 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 practices 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 . 25 in february 2011 powell s announced the layoffs of 31 employees over 7 percent 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 . 26 list of locations edit powell s books at cedar hills crossing in addition to its city of books location powell s books also has several smaller stores a 32 500 square foot 3 020 m2 general bookstore with the largest children s book section of any book store on the west coast 27 located at cedar hills crossing in beaverton and opened in november 2006 replacing a 22 year old location near washington square that was less than half the size ; 9 another in portland s hawthorne district ; a store with cooking and gardening materials two spaces east of the hawthorne store it was announced in january 2016 that powell s will be taking over the lease of the space between the general interest store and the home and garden store and combine the two stores into one with larger children s books and authors event sections . 28 one store at the portland international airport offering popular fiction and non fiction choice used books games toys and gifts . 29 see also edit cameron s books and magazines references edit nunjs elliot april 25 2013 . owner new ceo of powell s books see strength in brick and mortar . the oregonian . retrieved 2016 06 17 . a b c d e f g h inside indie bookstores powell s books in portland oregon from the march april 2010 issue of poets & writers magazine . retrieved 2016 06 18 . a b discover more than 3 million google ebooks from your choice of booksellers and devices . official blog . google . december 6 2010 . retrieved 2010 12 06 . a b powell s to move tech store . portland business journal . march 4 2010 . retrieved 2010 12 07 . a b c d e f powell s books inc. from fundinguniverse.com a b powell s books on burnside . powell s city of books . retrieved 2009 03 12 . frances cha july 30 2014 . world s coolest bookstores . cnn . retrieved 2016 06 18 . internet retailer best of the web 2006 . internet retailer . retrieved 2007 08 28 . a b powell s books at cedar hills crossing from the company s website . retrieved 2012 07 14 . a b loehmann s plaza gains 85 percent occupancy . november 25 1984 . the sunday oregonian p. d11 . beaverton retail mall rechristened . june 2 1987 . the oregonian p. d8 . nkrumah wade february 7 2005 . food carts at pioneer square may be ousted . the oregonian p. c1 . history of powells.com from its website baker lisa march 19 2004 . powell s success story adds a chapter . portland tribune . retrieved 2012 08 27 . usa today january 21 2002 . 10 great places to crawl between the covers . retrieved 2016 06 18 . bennett sam november 13 2008 . new design for powell s books features an art cube . daily journal of commerce . retrieved 2016 06 18 . gunderson laura january 22 2008 . powell s plans expansion in two years . the oregonian . retrieved 2007 01 24 . nawotka edward january 23 2008 . powell s to expand flagship in 2010 absorb technical store . publishers weekly . archived from the original on february 9 2008 . retrieved 2007 01 24 . portland architecture powells