Powell's City of Books becomes a Portland landmark (1971)
Michael Powell opened a small used-book store in Portland, Oregon, in 1971. It grew into Powell's City of Books, a store that fills an entire city block.
It became one of the largest independent bookstores in the world and a required stop for visitors.
Its café and events helped establish the bookstore-as-gathering-place model.
Denver Book Society's mix of books, coffee, wine, and events is the same model, scaled to a 3,500-square-foot neighborhood space.
