Is there a better bookstore anywhere? I think not. We love that place, and it is a mecca to my 14 year old daughter, so that's a blessing. In the past two months she found the British edition f every Harry Potter book. Why she wanted those I have no idea, but then again, who cares? Lately I go to rooms where I would normally never go and always find something cool. Does anyone else here love that place?
I can spend countless hours there . . . and the best part is I can take a date and we can spend countelss hours there (unlike home depot). I have lived in a few places, but don't know a book store that compares to Powells.
I like all the Powell's stores. Good selection and service, and Powell's seems to treat their staff pretty well. The guy with the British accent that manages the Beaverton Powell's is a big Blazers fan. That's reason enough to buy my books there all by itself.
If you ever get down to Chicago, they have at least two. One on S. 57th in Hyde Park and one in the South Loop. The one in Hyde Park gives a better idea of what the Powell's experience is all about.
also, in LA, another one of my favorite stores for books is Hennsey-Ingalls. mostly picture bookz. yay.
Michael Powell went to the U of C. He opened a small store in Hyde Park and then opened a couple more years later.
I took my boys there (ages 6 mo and 2.5 at the time) on a vacation to the Oregon Coast. I'm sitting in the kid's book section trying to find a good book with my older kid about the ocean, because he won't see it again for another year and I figure he needs something to remember it by. Well, this granola hippie chick is wandering by, and she stops and says, "Oh man, that's just so AWESOME. You are one great dad! I wish my dad had been there for me like that! Blah blah blah." My first thought is, "This chick has some fantastic breasts." My second thought is, "Stop that. You're married and have two kids." My third thought is, "Keep talking." Who doesn't like being told they are AWESOME? She just keeps on going about what a stud I am as a daddy, and then she just stops and looks up. "Is there a leaking pipe in here?" she says. And my heart sinks. My son is sitting among a pile of books I haven't yet bought, and it's formed an island because there's a pool of urine all around him. We'd just started potty training him a few weeks earlier, and he forgot to warn me in all the excitement. I grab the urine-soaked books and the drenched little boy, and run to find a bathroom three flights up in that goddamn maze of a place. And of course there was a five minute wait in line to pay for the books. This year I think we skip Powells.
I have to admit I considered it. The look the dude at the checkout gave me definitely made me reconsider my attempt at honesty. Still, when you're with your kids you tend to feel like you should be more moral than you would in other circumstances. I never did go back to clean the puddle, which sort of nags at me even now. But I guess it wouldn't be the first one to appear in the kids' picture book section.
