The Egatz Epitaph

Two weeks ago I was treading the boards for Beneath Stars Long Extinct in the beautiful city of Portland. For the past twenty years, the United States has seen chain superstores expand in the book retail business faster than the national debt. With their Walmart-like invasion across the dark fields of the republic, as Fitzgerald wrote, we’ve seen independent bookstores disappear at a steady pace.

The new century has witnessed many of the larger independent bookstores going away forever, let alone the smaller bookshops. Larger indie retailers in New York City such as Gotham Book Mart and Coliseum Books are no more, but New York is not alone. Most major American cities have seen their long-established independent stores go the way of the dinosaurs. Cody’s in Berkeley, Midnight Special in Santa Monica, and A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco have disappeared on the West Coast, leaving California particularly hard hit. You know a current event has passed into the realm of common knowledge when Hollywood acknowledges it, such as it did with the film You’ve Got Mail in 1998.

Throughout this decimation, one of the rare establishments to defy the conventional wisdom that independent bookstores can no longer thrive is Powell’s Books in Portland. Powell’s is the blueprint for any smaller independent bookstore to follow if they want to not only stand against the generic sterility of a Barnes & Noble or Borders chain store, but surpass them in every way. What follows are a few reasons it seems the staff and management at Powell’s knows what they’re doing, and they continue to do it well.

Powell’s is clean. Don’t laugh, and don’t dismiss this. Ernie Hemingway might have called it clean and well-lighted, unlike the dark and grimy-feeling landmark The Strand, the last of New York’s big indies. Not only is it clean, but Portland is known for rain. It was amazing how, during this visit (in the rainy season), the floors were barely wet near the entrance, despite constant drizzle outside. Deeper into the store, you’d think you were in a store in perpetually-dry Phoenix.

Powell’s has a color-coded system to help new customers find the sections they’re looking for. Again, don’t laugh. Having a clerk tell you “blue room,” as opposed to “keep going this way until you find the biography section, then turn left,” is a more efficient and less confusing response. There is signage everywhere, explaining, for example, one room lies beyond the next one you’re about to enter. A huge board greets you near the front of the store with subject matter listed in alphabetical order, followed by the color of the room it’s in. Not complicated, a little hokey, but it completely works. As a newbie, I was able to find what I wanted without having to ask anyone. Listen up, chains.

Powell’s has books. I mean books. Along with all the usually-hyped swill we are bombarded with at any chain bookstore, Powell’s is more like a library. Their selections in each section are deep and wide. They had shelves of books specifically on appetizers and finger foods, let alone all the usual cookbooks. The woman I run with was very happy, as some of her finds gave her ideas for a new cooking business she’s contemplating getting off the ground. We left laden.

Powell’s discounts on current best sellers were better than Amazon, and that says a lot. Is there any other excuse you can think of to not stop there next time you’re in Portland?

Selection is king. There are sections of books at Powell’s you won’t find in many chain bookstores, and if the chains do have them, they’ll be tiny. For instance, Powell’s sports an erotica selection, and it’s far from small. I’m talking big. I can’t even remember the last time I saw anything like it. Ditto their graphic novel section located near the coffee bar. A book on shipwrecks, no problem: they’ve got shelves of them. Baking French bread? Same thing: many to choose from. Gardening, biography, test prep? Powell’s has serious shelf-space for all of them, and more.

Finally, Powell’s has the best poetry section I’ve seen in a brick and mortar store in the last twenty years. If you’re in town, run there for your copy of Beneath Stars Long Extinct. I’ve been told it’s a pretty good read.

As with all cycles, things come to an end. The massive chain book superstores are being slowly phased out by eBooks. It’s my hope there will still be a physical store here and there worth going to in order to browse analog versions of books with two hands. Powell’s is the model I hope other independent retailers of the future will follow. It’s the best book retail experience I’ve had in years.