PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Powell’s Books says it will no longer sell on Amazon, declaring that the online retail giant undermines communities by extracting business from the real world and replacing it with internet commerce.
“For too long, we have watched the detrimental impact of Amazon’s business on our communities and the independent bookselling world,” CEO Emily Powell wrote in a note to customers Wednesday, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
“The vitality of our neighbors and neighborhoods depends on the ability of local businesses to thrive,” Powell wrote. “We will not participate in undermining that vitality.”
Portland-based Powell’s is among the world’s largest bookstores. But it’s overshadowed by the inventory available through Amazon’s website.
Powell’s and many other retailers supplement their business by listing their products on Amazon’s site and giving Amazon a share of each sale. That puts smaller retailers at a disadvantage, given that they are depending on a much larger competitor for an important share of their sales.
Many feel they have no choice but to list on Amazon given that company’s dominant market position online.
The bookstore declined to elaborate on Wednesday’s statement or say how much business it does through Amazon. Seattle-based Amazon did not respond to a request from the newspaper for comment.
Powell’s closed its stores in March, amid the start of the pandemic. It has been reopening slowly with in-person pickup of books ordered online. This month it reopened its Cedar Hills Crossing store and part of its flagship store downtown.
Powell’s sells books through its own website, too, and saw a surge of business online in the spring as customers throughout the country raced to show support for the business. Emily Powell said in May that online orders declined considerably in subsequent weeks.
“We understand that in many communities, Amazon - and big box retail chains - have become the only option,” Emily Powell wrote. “And yet when it comes to our local community and the community of independent bookstores around the U.S., we must take a stand.”
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