Bookstore Adventures — Powells City of Books

I visited Powell’s City of Books in Portland Oregon last year on my birthday. I had a fabulous couple of hours browsing this wonderful store. When they use the word City in their name, they mean it. The place even has is own parking garage.

This store is a book lover’s paradise. It’s known as the largest used and new bookstore in the world. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon, and occupying an entire city block, the City stocks more than a million new and used books.

The 9 book rooms are colour-coded rooms and contain over 3,500 different sections. There’s  something for every interest and topic, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles in a dedicated rare book room.

Here’s some facts from Powell’s website:

• 68,000 square feet packed with books.
• We buy 3,000 used books over the counter every day.
• Approximately 3,000 people walk in and buy something every day.
• Another 3,000 people just browse and drink coffee.
• We stock 122 major subject areas and more than 3,500 subsections.
• You’ll find more than 1,000,000 volumes on our shelves.
• Approximately 80,000 book lovers browse the City’s shelves every day in Portland and via the Internet.

I bought a used copy of The Artist’s Way and a creative diary and sat for a while in the cafe, soaking up the atmosphere. If I lived in Portland, this would be my go-to place for creative inspiration.

I can’t tell you enough how much I loved spending time here. The opening hours are 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m. daily. A bookstore open until 11pm? How fabulous!

I felt like I was in a university library, but a progressive one, that allowed people to chat and drink coffee. It’s not stuffy at all and would be a fun place to go with a friend.

Here’s a gallery of photos from my visit.

#365adventure is a book lover’s year of adventures. Adventures in travel, friendship, family, soul, heart and, of course, book stores!