Powell’s City of Books closed in March, and even though some Oregon businesses have reopened, it’s still not clear when the Portland landmark will be able to welcome readers again.
Emily Powell, the third-generation leader of this privately held company, talked to OPB’s "Think Out Loud®" Friday about the challenges of trying to keep a business — even a world-famous one — afloat in a pandemic.
She sees some reason to hope but also worries about adjusting Powell's business model to a new, socially distanced reality.
Here are the highlights of her conversation with "Think Out Loud®" host Dave Miller. You can listen to the entire conversation using the audio player at the top of this story.
Dave Miller: How is business right now, halfway through July?
Miller: How does it compare to when you first reopened online sales?
Miller: How much federal support have you gotten?
Miller: What are your various considerations as you think about what it would mean for your physical stores to reopen?
Miller: I'm thinking in particular about the flagship on Burnside, which has a lot of long, narrow aisles. How much is that in and of itself an issue, and maybe an insurmountable one?
Miller: It seems like one of the ingredients for reopening would be limiting the number of people in the store at any given time. When we've talked to restaurant owners about that exact calculus, many of them have said it wouldn’t work as a business model to have fewer customers or a smaller inventory. Is it the same for a bookstore? Is it possible to have fewer people at a given time?
Miller: The beauty of any bookstore, whether it is the size of a city block or a small storefront, is wandering around, picking a book up off the shelf that you have never seen before, maybe putting it back, maybe buying it. This is the kind of thing that we didn't think twice about pre-pandemic, but now seem like potentially scary actions. How can you make the experience of being in a store now anything close to what we love about bookstores?
Miller: What goes through your mind when you see an Amazon delivery truck?
Miller: What does the data you have say about the books that people are buying right now? And what does that tell you about the lives we're living right now?
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