North America / USA / Oregon / Portland OR / Best Shopping

Powell's City of Books

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Frommer's Staff

Powell’s covers three floors on an entire city block. Every booklover in Portland knows about it and has probably shopped there numerous times in the last 40 years. It’s a longstanding Portland tourist attraction and remains an all-round fabulous bookstore, with roughly a million books on the shelves. Both new and used are shelved side by side. Pick up a store map to help guide you to the various color-coded rooms. Serious book collectors won’t want to miss a visit to the Rare Book Room. City of Books has several satellite stores, including Powell’s Books for Home and Garden, 3747 SE Hawthorne Blvd.; Powell’s Books on Hawthorne, 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd.; and Powell’s Books at PDX, Portland International Airport, 7000 NE Airport Way, Ste. 2250.