Powells City of Books is the nerve center of the world renowned Powells Books, located in the Pearl District on the edge of downtown Portland Oregon; and occupies an entire city block, between Northwest tenth and eleventh avenues and between West Burnside and Northwest Couch streets. It contains over sixty eight thousand square feet or about one and half acres of retail floor space. Considered to be a book lovers utopia, Powells Books rightfully claims to be the worlds largest independent bookstore for used and new books. The store has multiple color coded rooms housing over thirty five hundred different sections, stocking more than a million new and used books. It offers something for every interest, including an astounding selection of out of print and hard to find titles. You need to ask for the free map of the City of Books as it is easy to get lost among one million books. As you enter the store from the side of tenth Avenue, the Green room immediately welcomes and encourages you to enjoy your Powells experience and walk out with an armful of great books. But if you manage to resist and move on, then enter the well known Blue room where the alphabet begins. You can start by helping yourself to a free copy of Umbrella, Kevin, Julianne, and Jons guide to the wildly diverse shelves in the corner, or curl back around through the literature shelves and lose yourself in the twelve foot stacks. Stop to check the Reading group bulletin board as you gradually stroll westward, where the open floor space begins to open up. As you walk into the Gold room, the mystery and fiction novels greet you. You will find a world of pixies, buckaroos, space adventures, blood and guts, romantics, clones, and sleuths in this room brimming with strong personalities. You can continue west to find the World Cup Coffee and Tea House, among the audio book and humor sections. It is the perfect place to browse Alternative Comix and catch a coffee buzz at the same time. You can double back through the Gold room and skip out onto the Mezzanine to pursue your literary cravings. Gigantic blackboards loom overhead in the distance as the ground rises up to meet you, and your fingertips almost touch the floor. Turn left and head down to the Rose room to find the childrens book section to your right. Also enclosed in the room is the Powell Forestry section full of oceanography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, agriculture, and the environment. Whether you are a natural born American or visiting from abroad, be glad to find out about the United States rich history in the Purple room. Alternatively, the history section also captures the global past, and acknowledges foreign cultures ways of life. You can move on to the Red room to find one of the most comprehensive collections of World Atlases around you, along with information on cultures followed around the world. There are self awareness sections to know more about you, plus relationships, mythology, and religion. The Pearl room in the loft will not disappoint and is also known as the Art section. Here, you can gather information about all artistic forms like music, cinema, paintings and photographs. And if you are a career oriented person, the Orange room downstairs will be disproportionately popular with you as the Careers and Business section is inhabited here with knowledge on the most diverse and complete range of career options. As you walk to the cash counters silently admiring the assortment of books both old and new, coupled with the vastness of this City of Books, the most famous feature still awaits you. At the Pillar of Books, customers can buy the book, read the book, then sell the book, back to Powells Bookstore. As you get out of the store, you cannot help but acknowledge this visit to an historical landmark while looking at the sun setting down on the horizon with a sense of pride and privilege. Powells City of Books is definitely more than just a book store; it is a grand experience, and a different one at that. Powells City of Books is located at 1005 West Burnside, Portland, OR 97209.