Opinion
Emily Powell: Amazon Marketplace will never help independent bookstores succeed
“And Amazon is never going to help us be successful in the long run. They're going to help Amazon be successful, and I don't believe that's good for Powell's. It's certainly not good for our community, so it wasn't something we had to put a lot of brain power b…”
Opinion
Powell: Amazon fails its workers and harms local economies
“They're not the best employer. They're not taking care of their people. But they're also not supporting small businesses that allow our local economies to thrive.”
Disclosure
Powell: Powell's closed and laid off staff before Oregon mandated shutdowns
“The governor hadn't moved yet to close us down. I think a lot of folks thought we were responding to, you know, a demand, but no, we felt really the compulsion that we need to do what we have to protect Portland. And so we shut down in the middle of the day, w…”
Opinion
Emily Powell: Bookstore economics make opening in Manhattan or SF nearly impossible
“Most cities don't have a neighborhood that is an obvious fit. And I know that probably sounds strange. Think of so many wonderful places to be. But they have to have that morning to nighttime, you know, possibility for business. And then they have to have affo…”
Disclosure
Emily Powell: Powell's will stay in Portland rather than expand nationally
“I believe books are a deeply personal product and a consumption process. And that means we need to know our community Pretty intimately, and I don't want to presume to take my business into, say, Austin, Texas, and know exactly what that community is going to …”
Disclosure
Emily Powell: Powell's requires 9 AM to 9 PM pedestrian traffic
“So we say to be successful, we need nine AM to nine PM pedestrian traffic.”
Assertion Supported
Emily Powell: Powell's Books permanently closed two stores, leaving three locations
“We had five we're down to, we just closed our airport store and our home and garden store permanently. So now we have three at this point.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Powell: Pre-pandemic internet sales were roughly 20% of Powell's revenue
“Originally, you know, pre pandemic, we would have said our internet business was maybe 20% of our overall sales.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Powell: Powell's Books overall sales are down 75% to 80%
“Now all of our sales, you know, collectively we're down about 75 to 80%.”
What-if
Powell: Powell's Books would not have survived without PPP funding
“First of all, if not for the PPP program, we wouldn't be here today, you know, fundamentally our loan that we received. So we shut down March. 15th, we received our loan in early May. If not for that loan, we wouldn't have been able to bring people back to wor…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Powell's Books remains financially unsustainable after exhausting its PPP funds
“At this point, of course, those funds are exhausted, but we've been able to open the stores that's helping internet business has remained somewhat steady, but no, it's not sustainable. You know, that's the bottom line.”
Assertion Supported
Emily Powell: Powell's Books workforce dropped from 500 to about 200 employees
“The number fluctuates a little bit, especially this year of COVID, but we're right around 200 employees. We were about 500 before this, so we're still nowhere close to where we'd like to be.”
