More details here, including how the front entrance will move slightly west to what's now the Poetry and Literature areas.
Powell's is a genuinely neat place. The science fiction/fantasy/horror/gaming/mystery room -- the Gold Room -- has cool touches like a pillar signed by all sorts of writers (including a Neil Gaiman sketch of Morpheous) and elevator machinery that makes these great whooshing noises, like it's the sound of a door irising instead of just opening. Very science fictional. And its selection is impressive; it's a bookstore with hand-out maps (PDF) available at the door, after all.
From The Oregonian's website: "In 2010, Powell's Books plans to expand its downtown store, adding as many as two floors to the store's southeast corner at Northwest 10th Avenue and West Burnside, according to Miriam Sontz, a company spokeswoman.
"The Portland-based bookseller will rework the store's Burnside entrance west to the poetry and literature section, what's known as the Blue and Green rooms.
"The expansion, which will add at least 10,000 square feet of new retail space, will include a second floor - and possibly a third - and house Powell's technical books, which are moving from their current location in the company's other building on Northwest Park Avenue.
-- Laura Gunderson"
