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Powell's prowling Seattle for used books

By Tyrone Beason
Seattle Times staff reporter

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The bookstore chain will launch a temporary book-buying site in the University District next month to build up its stock of used titles, a spokesman said yesterday. The store at 4321 University Way N.E. will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 9-19.

Powell's pays cash for books at eight locations in the Portland area. Those stores buy 3,000 to 5,000 books a day, mostly from individual customers unloading volumes they no longer want, marketing manager Michal Drannen said.

The Seattle event will mark the first time Powell's has opened a site away from its hometown base for the sole purpose of buying books from the public.

Why now?

Exploding demand. Customers in search of used recent bestsellers, as well as rare and out-of-print titles, are forcing the bookstore to think of new ways to acquire books, Drannen said.

"Used books are a huge, booming part of the book-sales market" accounting for about 50 percent of Powell's annual sales, Drannen said. "The need to acquire more inventory at this point is pushing our boundaries outside the Portland area."

Sales of used books are on the rise nationwide, up about 13 percent in the last two years, according to industry surveys, Drannen said.

The Internet, home to Amazon.com and other retail book sites, has played a major role in boosting demand. Powell's also operates a popular online book site, extending its customer base far beyond The Rose City.

"Our inventory is now shipped internationally, and we have people from all over the world buying books off of our shelves," Drannen said.

The rising cost of new hardcover releases has turned more people on to used books. Some hardcover titles cost upward of $30 new but sell for a fraction of that price used.
 
Seattle, widely known as a haven for readers, is home to several booksellers that pay for used titles, including University Book Store, whose main store is across the street from Powell's site; and Third Place Books, which has branches in Lake Forest Park and the Ravenna neighborhood. Those stores compete, to some extent, for sought-after used books.

Third Place General Manager Robert Sindelar said Powell's effort ultimately will deprive local readers and sellers because the books bought next month will go to Portland and be resold from there.

"I would just hope that the book lovers and booksellers of Seattle see that it's not very advantageous to take books out of local circulation and thus not enhance the book wealth of our own city," said Sindelar, who otherwise spoke highly of Powell's business.

Powell's has no plans to turn the temporary Seattle store into a permanent location, Drannen said, but he didn't rule it out.

"To be honest, we're just opening this up and seeing how successful it will be for us," he said.

But if the experiment in Seattle proves to be a hit, Powell's may open temporary book-buying locations in other cities, Drannen said.

Tyrone Beason: 206-464-2251 or tbeason@seattletimes.com