hours | rare book room | bookbuying | ordering by phone
map & directions | take our online tour

STORE DESCRIPTION
Powell's City of Books is a book lover's paradise, 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. Nine color coded rooms house over 3,500 different sections, offering something for every interest, including an incredible selection of out-of-print and hard-to-find titles.

Each month, the Basil Hallward Art Gallery (located upstairs in the Pearl Room) hosts a new exhibit, as well as dozens of author events featuring acclaimed writers, artists, and thinkers such as Roddy Doyle, Susan Sontag, Robert Olen Butler, Annie Leibovitz, and former President Jimmy Carter.

The City's Rare Book Room gathers autographed first editions and other collectible volumes for readers in search of a one-of-a-kind treasure.

Every day at our buyers' counter in the Orange Room, we purchase thousands of used books from the public. Powell's purchases special collections, libraries, and bookstore inventories as well.

A few facts about the City of Books:

• 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
• our parking garage provides space for 40 cars (ok, so there are bigger parking garages)
• 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 40,000 book lovers browse the City's shelves every day, in Portland and via the Internet. So is our mothership the world's largest bookstore? Heck, it may be bigger than your whole town.

For those who'd like a closer look at what the Washington Post called "perhaps the best bookstore in the world," we've created a special online tour to simulate an in-store visit, presenting some fifty photographs along the way. If you're in the local area, we also offer walking tours of the City to individuals and groups. You can also browse our store map online in .PDF format.

If you've already placed an order for a book via our website and would like to check on its status, please email the internet office at help@powells.com.

ORDERING BY PHONE

Though many people order books directly from the web page, many use the web page to look for books, then reach our Call Center and order it by phone.

	(all hours listed are Pacific Standard Time)   HOURS • Daily: 9am to 11pm   Thanksgiving Day: 11am to 7pm   Christmas Eve: 9am to 7pm   Christmas Day: 10am to 6pm   New Year's Eve: 9am to 7pm   New Year's Day: 11am to 11pm   ORDER BY PHONE   BOOKBUYING • Daily: 9am to 8:30pm   RARE BOOK ROOM • Daily: 11am to 7pm or by appointment   PHONE Click here to order by phone

Map and Directions
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