Portland's iconic progressive Powell's Books announces mass layoffs amid financial hardships

An infamous Portland bookstore that previously banned journalist Andy Ngo's best-selling book on Antifa has announced a series of layoffs, citing ongoing financial struggles. Powell's City of Books, located in the heart of downtown Portland, began the layoff process in July, eliminating 18 positions across departments, according to an email obtained by the Portland Business Journal. More layoffs are expected in the coming months.

"We will conduct additional layoffs in phases over the next few months and do our best to manage the impact for everyone involved," Powell's owner and president, Emily Powell, said in the email.

The majority of layoffs that have occurred thus far have been in management and business services. Raises for non-union employees have also been frozen, KGW8 reported.
 

Powell's attributed multiple factors to the layoffs, including financial difficulties that originated during the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a reduction in in-store sales that has not fully recovered, competition from online retailers, and decreased foot traffic and tourism in downtown Portland.

"While many factors impact our financial health, Portland is simply not where we had hoped it would be in its recovery," Powell said in her email. "While online sales are growing, this increase has not made up for the decline at our Portland store."

In 2021, Powell's Books made the decision to stop selling in-store hard copies of the senior editor of The Post Millennial, Andy Ngo's book Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy, following a harassment campaign from leftist extremists affiliated with Rose City Antifa. Violent demonstrations forced the bookstore to temporarily close to ensure the safety of its staff members.

At the time, the bookstore released a statement condemning Ngo, falsely accusing him of being a "provocateur who has made a career of inciting violence." This is despite Ngo being brutally assaulted by Antifa members several times for his accurate reporting on the extremist group responsible for much of Portland's decline.

"It feels ugly and sickening to give any air to writing that could cause such deep pain to members of our community," Powell's said in the statement, announcing its decision to keep Ngo's book online but not in stores.

Ngo reacted to the recent news of Powell's financial hardships in a post on X. He suggested that Powell management banned his book because they "didn't want the public to read and learn about what was causing the decline of the city," which the company has now fallen victim to.