For anyone who is a fan of books, Powell’s Books in Portland’s Pearl District is a must see . It’s so large it occupies one city block. On our recent trip to Portland we made a stop and left with a ton of books.

The bookstore began its humble beginnings in 1971 when Michael Powell and his father Walter Powell opened the store in an old car dealership located in Portland, Oregon. Little did they know it would soon become the largest bookstore in the world, stocking over a million new and used titles. Each month the store hosts events and readings in its main gallery. A few of the featured celebrities include Susan Sontag, Annie Leibovitz and former president, Jimmy Carter.

What makes Powell’s Books different then most bookstores is that they stock new and used copies on the same shelf. On several occasions I’ve come across used copies of the same book I’m interested in for half the price. Categories I always visit in the store are: antiques & collectibles, restoration, art & design, photography and my personal favorite, excess culture.

Here are a few more facts about the store directly from Powell’s website.

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 80,000 book lovers browse the City’s shelves every day, in Portland and via the Internet. So is our mother ship the world’s largest bookstore? Heck, it may be bigger than your whole town.

If you’re in the neighborhood, don’t forget to take a 10min walk and check out Voodoo Doughnut, another favorite Portland destination of mine.