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froggy_dearYesterday, as I mentioned, we took a little drive down to Portland Oregon. To Powell's book store.
Yes it's huge. But I was disappointed. Why? Because. Because the new books were at least full list price and many of the used books were overpriced. For example, the Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches and Techniques was $45. I got it for like $8 bucks at half priced books a while back. Sure it's a good book, sure it's out of print, but damn. That's expensive.
Don't get me wrong. It's a fabulous place if you know what you're looking for or want used copies of in print mass market books. It's also a fabulous place if you want something hard to find. It is furthermore still a fabulous place to Christmas shop I would imagine.
I left without buying any books - I did get some Smile Frog japanese stationary and a Book Magic keep-your-book-open-without-using-your-hands deally. But that was it. I was really excited when I saw an 8" Totoro plush toy, but it was $29.95. :P That's no deal. I love a good deal!!!
I did get two spiral bound notebooks for $.10 each at Shopko on the way home. That was a good deal.
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We got lost in Portland. Because Powell's directions were bad. It says to exit on to Everett street which is the first exit after the river. Two things wrong with this: There is no exit labeled Everett street. And there are THREE RIVERS. So we got lost. We turned around and ended up on the wrong side of the river for a while (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
glassmeow, I saw a green Beetle and thought of you), searching for any of the streets named in the directions (which didn't include the directional information (for example, 9th Ave SW or SE (bastards))), and wasted time that way. And I freak out easily when lost in new places. In the end though, we found it. By accident almost. Moral of the story: they need to revise their directions.
For all my complaining now, it was a really nice trip. I like driving places.
Yes it's huge. But I was disappointed. Why? Because. Because the new books were at least full list price and many of the used books were overpriced. For example, the Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches and Techniques was $45. I got it for like $8 bucks at half priced books a while back. Sure it's a good book, sure it's out of print, but damn. That's expensive.
Don't get me wrong. It's a fabulous place if you know what you're looking for or want used copies of in print mass market books. It's also a fabulous place if you want something hard to find. It is furthermore still a fabulous place to Christmas shop I would imagine.
I left without buying any books - I did get some Smile Frog japanese stationary and a Book Magic keep-your-book-open-without-using-your-hands deally. But that was it. I was really excited when I saw an 8" Totoro plush toy, but it was $29.95. :P That's no deal. I love a good deal!!!
I did get two spiral bound notebooks for $.10 each at Shopko on the way home. That was a good deal.
------------------------------
We got lost in Portland. Because Powell's directions were bad. It says to exit on to Everett street which is the first exit after the river. Two things wrong with this: There is no exit labeled Everett street. And there are THREE RIVERS. So we got lost. We turned around and ended up on the wrong side of the river for a while (
glassmeow, I saw a green Beetle and thought of you), searching for any of the streets named in the directions (which didn't include the directional information (for example, 9th Ave SW or SE (bastards))), and wasted time that way. And I freak out easily when lost in new places. In the end though, we found it. By accident almost. Moral of the story: they need to revise their directions. For all my complaining now, it was a really nice trip. I like driving places.
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Date: 2006-07-31 07:31 pm (UTC)But now that you've discovered that Powell's doesn't really do it for you, you have no reason at all to ever go back there...unless you like light rail, which is the only other thing they do really well.
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Date: 2006-08-01 02:42 am (UTC)Yeah. The traffic thing was muy confusing, but we escaped with our lives, so all is well.
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Date: 2006-08-01 12:52 am (UTC)Yeah. The 'good old days' of really cheap books are gone, even at Powells. I remember hanging out on lunch hours and after work when you really could get lost in their racks for days (and they might not have noticed you in there for days either). They've gotten a bit slick. But they still are one of the best bookstores ever.
Probably wasn't my beetle. I was chained to the easy chair, nose in my book, round cat on my lap most of the weekend.