Starting with a small warehouse and pieces of wood salvaged from old crates and bleachers, Tsunami Books has built itself into one of Eugene’s most eclectic bookstores.
With roughly 25,000 titles, Tsunami Books doesn’t rival the massive selections of chains like Barnes & Noble or the locally owned Smith Family Bookstore. But it has managed to withstand the tough times that have befallen other small independent bookstores, such as downtown Eugene’s Book Mark, which recently announced plans to close its doors. As Tsunami Books enters its 10th year of business, it remains one of Eugene’s best places to find specialty books and one of the city’s most frequent hosts of literary events and cultural gatherings.
At 2585 Willamette St., Tsunami Books opened in the front section of a warehouse in fall 1995. When the store expanded into the rear section of the building in 1999, co-owner Scott Landfield, a former tree-planter, constructed bookshelves and a stage using wood salvaged from shipping crates and high school bleachers. He added seating using salvaged stadium chairs from Autzen Stadium, including a seat he said once belonged to Phil Knight. The store expanded again in 2003 and began housing rare collections in the small storefront next door.
With books spanning the best in contemporary literature to a Latin biblical text dated less than two centuries after Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type to the west, Tsunami gets the most out of its inventory.
Writers like Ken Kesey and
Jack Kerouac are featured prominently amidst a selection Landfield said contains “books for the
progressive mind.”
The store’s selection covers all genres except romance and history, co-owner David Rhodes said, and its biggest strength is its fiction offerings.
Roughly 99 percent of the stock is used, and the limited selection of new books, which is discounted at 10 percent, is based on what customers are asking for, he said. The store also features 4,000 rare books at prices averaging $50.
Over the years the store has featured over 1,000 events, ranging from Oregon Book Award readings to a performance by local band Mood Area 52 of its score to the vampire film, “Nosferatu.” The store often features students and faculty from the UO’s creative writing program, School of Music, English department and literary non-fiction program in the journalism school.
They also host a range of community gatherings, typically for writing and reading groups, like the Wordos, a local group of writers, who meet every Tuesday. Overall, Tsunami hosts about four events per month, Rhodes said.
Rhodes pointed out that the store’s greatest competition doesn’t come from Eugene’s large selection of bookstores.
“Compared to the Internet, they don’t affect us at all,” he said.
Ironically, Tsunami’s recent sales growth originated in cyberspace.
The store recently sold an 1814 print of the Lewis and Clark’s journals for $40,000 on consignment. Landfield said that while Internet sales made up 10 percent of the store’s total sales a year ago, today they account for 30 percent of the store’s business.
The store sells their books on the web through Abebooks (www.abebooks.com), an online bookseller that lists more than 13,000 booksellers. Tsunami currently lists 7,000 of their 25,000 titles on the site. While their Internet business has been good, Rhodes said he hopes that in-store business doesn’t become a thing of the past.
“The idea is to have a neighborhood business where people show up, but that whole concept is disappearing,” he said.

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