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Powell's Books recently made a move that borders on the roguish mentality you'd expect to find in corporate chain stores. Most likely, the books and magazines you read these days are published by multimedia conglomerates such as Time-Warner, Rupert Murdoch and Viacom (proud owner of MTV), which use their massive buying and distribution power to dictate shelf-space priorities. That's why Portlanders have been lucky to have Powell's, a nationally acclaimed indie bookstore that has fended off the Wal-Mart paradigm of mass production by keeping Portland dialed in to small and independent presses--stuff that has little, if any, profit margin and even less industry clout.
Last Sunday, however, Miriam Sontz, manager of the Powell's flagship store at West Burnside Street and 10th Avenue, gave orders to "re-evaluate" its collection of 40-some independently produced 'zines. Small-press section head Marty Kruse yanked the 'zines from the shelves and put up a sign asking customers to "please be patient as we restructure." Homemade, photocopied 'zines like Bitch, Beer Frame and Fuck Tooth, with their unfiltered first-person sensibilities, are now MIA. As of late Monday night, the 'zine nook in the Blue Room looked like an expurgated edition of Huckleberry Finn. When a Willamette Week staffer asked to see the 'zines Tuesday, an employee said, "They're over there--what's left of them."
The purge caused a parade of e-mails from Powell's employees demanding to know why the 'zines were dumped. Two days later Sontz sent out a message explaining that the 'zines weren't profitable. "This is routine," Sontz told Willamette Week. "We have an ongoing process where we constantly evaluate our shelf space based on how well things are selling." Sontz said the decision to zap 'zines had nothing to do with their content.
What isn't routine, however, is targeting an entire genre. Sure, you might want to ditch the Mike Tyson story and replace it with the Tiger Woods story, but would you knock out the entire category of sports biography?
That Powell's would consider wiping out the most indie of the independent publishers is ignorance at best and censorship at worst. As the Portland landmark re-evaluates its 'zine collection, we hope it doesn't close the book on an important literary genre.
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