Something you’ve always loved is coming to a close unexpectedly… What is it? Why is it important to you? And how do you convince someone to drop everything and go with you in a short time frame?
The End of the World’s Largest Independent Bookseller
Powell’s City of Books? Closing? Forever? The iconic, three-level, largest bookstore on the West Coast – closing its doors? Suddenly, with no explanation? Can you hear every librarian, teacher, bibliophile west of the Mississippi screaming a collective, “Nooooooooo!”??
There it was: headlines on the evening news: all the books to be sold at a fraction of their ISBN code price. The retail and resell book seller was going out of business, permanently. All locations, but you know the one set between NW 10th and 11th, facing West Burnside has always been the best one: the new location out in Beaverton doesn’t have that musty old book smell to it, but smells like a Barnes and Noble store, with a Starbucks kiosk and nice carpeting.
I picked up my phone: who to call? Who would want to go downtown with me, armed with bags and a credit card? Who did I know in real life that is as rabid a bibliophile as I am? It’s not like I actually have any more room for books, but just the thought of all those books… The originals. The classics. The poetries. The plays. Children’s books. Novels and novellas. Mysteries. Science fiction, fantasy, historical fictions, histories, biographies, and controversial writings.
It didn’t take much arguing to convince Mary that we needed to go. The history of Powell’s Books was enough to convince her that this was a last minute, last moment of our life time. Audio books, how to books, crafting books. Old and new books. Antique books. We knew time was of the essence, before other collectors depleted the massive store’s supplies. We also knew that we were the only two suited for the long lines, the impatient jostling, the reaching-over-your-shoulder-book-grabbing madness that we were about the descend into…
Jaci Dawn 
Great story, Your Aunt Ellie Would have jumped at the chance. We always love to go to the annual library book sale. We loved to go to the book store in Paris named Shakespeare and Company. It featured an upstairs reading room that many of the well known authors had shared time with each other. Hemingway is one that comes to my mind now. Love Uncle Mike.
I would have gone with you Jaci! I probably wouldn’t buy much, but I could hold stuff for ya.