Powell’s Books on Hawthorne

A great place to grab souvenirs for back home. It’s curated really well with a lot of cute gift ideas. There’s plenty to see on Hawthorne too.

Great place to hit when in Portland. In town early for a meeting and hit up this spot after lunch. Able to listen to several conference calls while people watching in the coffee bar (didnt need to contribute and was careful not to disturb the writers) — great mint green tea by the way. Wandered thru the stacks for several hours. Amazing kids section and rare books section is breathtaking.

A novel mecca for anyone, you do not even have to enjoy novels to be sucked into the vortex of Powells. I got lost in one isle for like an hour simply perusing the publications in that section. I had want days and days to actually consume the entire encounter of Powell’s.

Powell’s rules — seriously… even if you are not into books you will find something to buy here. Such a variety of great stuff. oh yeah, and books!

The bookshop that has absolutely every book you’re in search of, and ones that you didn’t know you’d been searching for either.

Such a lovely little bookstore was a HUGE selection! Actually ended up purchasing a vegan leather bag there, go figure I went to the big one too and was equally impressed by both!

Oh Powell’s Books… You stole my heart from the very first time I walked through your doors in the city center and continue to do so every time I visit a different store.
Today we went to Hawthorne Blvd.
What I –among other things– love are the «staff recommendations,» handwritten.
Endless books. Friendly staff.
And next door is Powell’s for Home and Garden Books; right up my alley. A feast for the eye.
I’m hooked.

Love this place, Just wrote a review of the downtown store, but I’d rather go here. I look up books on the website and have them sent here. Great great staff. Always good staff selections up front. And soon they’ll be expanding for more goodness, including a bigger performance space.

I had a fantastic Sunday wandering around here last weekend. For being a much smaller version of the DT Powells, they still pack a mighty punch. There’s a wide selection of both new and used books and they also offer a book buy back service. What’s also really nice is that a couple of doors down there’s a Powell’s Home and Garden spot that has a great selection of other things besides books. The coffee shop attached to Powell’s serves a solid coffee. Will be back for sure!

Great prices | Good location | Nice coffee shop next door
$ — $$
I really like this bookstore! If you’re from California, it’s very similar to Copperfield’s Books.
My husband ended up getting a book called The Master and Margarita for $ 9, regular price. Not bad! Usually books are going for a much higher price than that at other stores. And, that book is actually going for the same price or more on Amazon.
The store is really big.
Lots of books on sale.
I like that they have signs for ‘new’ and ‘staff pick’ with a description. It’s really helpful! What I also really liked about this place is the greeting card selection. Lots of letterpress items, which I really appreciate because I enjoy the thickness of the paper and the feeling of the indentation as I run my fingers over it. (I swear I’m not a little strange. It’s just satisfying!)
Next door is a small coffee place called Fresh Pot.
Good stuff. Some seating is available to read and enjoy your coffee, but since it’s really popular you could just take your coffee and walk around the bookstore.
Hawthorne street is nice with lots of other shops to look at.
Parking: we were lucky enough to park a couple blocks over in a residential area.

I like other Powell’s better, because this one charges more being in Hawthorne District but being in the atmosphere that it is, I think this one isn’t too bad. Nice coffee shop and time killer. I think I’ve only bought a few books from this location though.

This place is amazing! I could spend hours here, love the used books selection, especially for children’s books which are typically so expensive!

It’s not everyday, at least for me, that you walk into a bookstore and find a display with autographed copies of the new book by your favorite author, Chuck Palahniuk. This place feels more cozy than the big, mega-​bookstores I’m used to in Cali. Can’t wait to visit again and see what else I can find.

A lot smaller than the Powells downtown, but the same friendly and helpful staff. The bathrooms are not kept as tidy as the other one but I’m guessing it’s because they seem to be always understaffed? (Bathrooms in bookstore that has a café inside is important to me). The staff at the café are not as friendly as the regular staff, but no worries, this is Hawthorne after all, you don’t have to get a drink from them, as there are quite a few cafes outside. The books are mostly in order, and easy to find.

Amazing. Considered hiding among the book shelves so i could stay there for 5 days. Still don’t think it would have been enough.

This place was amazing. I was only here for twenty minutes because we were running a bit late but those twenty minutes were amazing. I was overwhelmed with the plethora of books. I’m a huge fan of used books so this was amazing. A nice lady, Sarah, helped me find books to read/​purchase in the YA section. My partner also got a coffee. The coffee shop does close 15 min before the bookstore. We ended up purchasing five books, and with that, we got a free recycled bag with it! Love this place! I could spend all day here!

My wife sent me in here to fetch a book. Yes, dear.
She didn’t quite have the author’s name correct. At best, she paraphrased the title. Thanks, dear.
After wandering through the aisles for awhile, I waylaid this nice young person who had me follow her to the information desk.
I gave her my wife’s memo containing the (inaccurate) information. She spent awhile fiddling with names, pataphrases, etc. on her computer. I did my usual stunning imitation of a clueless old person.
Shortly, she pointed me to the new release table and Tah Dah, there it was.
You know, the table I walked by 5 times during my search. Duuhhhh…
Anyway, thank you, helpful young person.
Could you please come out and help me find my car?

I gave this Powell’s two stars because it’s gone way downhill in the past five or so years. The reason why? Management.
Yes, the original owner retired and his MBA-​wielding daughter took over. She’s all about market trends and slick books instead of really good books. Then again, the publishing business is also slipping on the whole.
So in all fairness Powell’s is kind of along for the ride down a muddy slope into a stinky swamp of insider book deals with author after author being published more because he or she is related to the people in charge than actually having talent. Also, the propaganda arm of the US government is getting way to cozy when it comes to the same shakers and movers controlling publishers that also control Congress and the Senate. Hollywood is even worse, so don’t get me stared on how the motion picture industry is not only floating in a stinky swamp of insider mud baths, but literally drowning in that swamp.
As for the publishing biz, it’s not so much that our government is horning in on books and periodicals; it’s that the same carpet bagger robber barons control both the book biz AND government.
Talk about a bum deal for original books and fresh new authors! Chances are good that you’ll never see their books any longer and they will have to go back to their day jobs for lack of being able to make a decent living. .. even as the hopeless hacks in the biz get deal after deal because they are writing not so much what sells or what is fresh and novel and original, but rather what the zombified public has being conditioned to buy. .. literally zombie crap and vampire crap and crap crap crap!
Brahm Stoker’s novel does not fit in that cesspool of a category. It’s grrrrreat! Even the vampire novels of the past thirty years are alright. But stuff that’s being published in 2014? Vampire schmampire. Get a life already. Seriously. And why are vampire books being rushed to press? Because they normalize the psychopathy that people running our government and our society exude in the very cores of the beings. That’s right: vampire crap is being pushed because it symbolically normalizes morally and spiritually bankrupt bankers in charge of our lives!
Yes, the All Seeing Eye Agency used to censor the media like the Mockingbird it was, but now things are getting downright creepy. Not only is the general public way dumbed down as tabula razah graduate from public schools that are encumbered in red tape thanks to «national standards» but publishers have clear cut political agendas now. Our population is being poisoned by GMOs and other crap even while it is being dumbed down by rigged schools that pretend to be all concerned about «standards.»
The American education system started going downhill as soon as a Secretary of Education was appointed. Today, Arnie Duncan is more like Lurch from the Addam’s Family. He’s just a big stooge taking orders from shrewd little men who want a population of self entitled surfs rather than a well educated middle class.
If you want to see what Powells on Hawthorne used to be like, go to the main Powells downtown. It’s still fairly good. When I walk in there, I still feel at home. That place gets five stars fo sho. As for Hawthorne, it’s lucky to get two. I’ve browsed through the stacks along the main aisles there and seen the same overexposed beat poets, «edgy» novels, bla bla bla nearly every time. And all of them printed on cheap pulpy paper. What’s up with that? Seriously lame-​o. The same old drivel on disposable paper designed to turn yellow and rot in a decade or two.
I once took a class at NYU from Alan Ginsberg. Believe you me, he wasn’t very interesting. All he cared about was Gregory Corso, his long lost love. Yawn. No more Beats in the central stacks of Powell’s on Hawthorne.
How many beat novels and poets can you fit on the main displays? Burroughs was the son of billionaire insiders. He was morally bankrupt. I mean, think about it, he shot his wife in the forehead and got away with it! Do you think a guy who wasn’t related to the bloodlines of billionaires could have gotten away with offing his wife, even in Mexico? Burroughs was a lying drug addled spittoon of vampire sputum.
The Beats are passé, man, they are washed up, and no they were never truly original: the counter culture was designed by bankers. It’s fake, just like today’s vampire novels. The only difference is back in the 50’s and 60’s the public was more educated than ever before (or since) so the brainwashing gimmicks had to be more convincing and yes, better written and creatively conceived, but still poisonous brainwashing designed to depress people and eat away at their sense of universal goodness so that they could be turned into yuppies by the time they were in their 40’s, which is exactly what happened. I lived through it. I saw hippies turn into yuppie materialists. Cultural programming 101. And Powell’s Hawthorne is forwarding the agenda of today.

Kinda surprised that there are only 87 reviews for this incredibly popular, long-​running (since 1971 in PDX), and amazing hometown bookstore. But, obviously from the reviews, folks really love this Hawthorne location (one of 5 in the metropolitan area). I am yet another thumbs up.
Staff — friendly! Hey, what do you know? A bookstore with staff that isn’t too exasperated by a request to actually come out and walk the floor looking for a specific section or book.
Selection — if you can’t find it in a brick and mortar branch, don’t miss the web site (
). BUT, you will likely find it or can have it shipped to a store near you!
Smell — yes, it’s important to me. It smells like books! GOOD, paper printed books!
Coffee and snacks right in the store. Oh yeah, that works for me.
Parking can be tricky, but there are lots of other very sweet shops in the area, inclding a huge Fred Meyer supermarket in walking distance in case you need to do errands.
Word UP to the wise — give yourself plenty of time to browse. And, there is a limited selection of games and other small gift-​ables on hand as well.

Everyone knows Powell’s is the shit. You know what’s simply ‘shit’ though? Making a trip to the Pearl District.
GOOD THING YOU DON’T HAVE TO!
Powell’s on Hawthorne is surprising large. There’s a café attached and you will still have 2 – 3 choices of used copies for that book you came in there for. «The Master and Margherita» for $ 7.50. Boom. Thanks, Powell’s.
Just gonna go ahead and read some dark Russian lit to stave off these 90º summer days.