1. Smith Family Bookstore 525 Willamette Street. 541-343-4717. SmithFamilyBookstore.com.
2. Tsunami Books 2585 Willamette Street. 541-345-8986. TsunamiBooks.org.
3. Black Sun Books 2467 Hilyard Street. 541-484-3777. BlackSunBooks.net.
Smith Family Bookstore is a longtime stalwart for those of us who love to wander through aisles piled high with tomes, musty or otherwise. We will no longer be able to wander the aisles of Smith Family near campus, but never fear, the Smith Family on Willamette soldiers on with expanded space and increased online textbook sales.
Print isn’t dead — of course as a newspaper, we would say that — but really, it’s not. So many of us still like to curl up with the printed page and read without electronic interruptions. So support bookstores, authors and print by heading to Smith Family, Tsunami and Black Sun. And don’t forget Tsunami, which finished in a strong second place, is also a frequent host to author reads, concerts, activist events and political functions. Local indie bookstores are still the heartbeat of the world, not Amazon.com.