About Smith Family Bookstore
People sometimes wonder about the history of Smith Family Bookstore in the neighborhood. The store opened in 1974, when Delbert and Misa Smith rented a small space on Alder Street near the University of Oregon, with boxes of books for sale and few shelves on the walls. From 1974 to 1976, Smith Family Bookstore filled a small Store on Alder Street with used books, textbooks and books bought and sold by students and others. In 1977, the Smiths bought a vacant lot at 13 East and built a new building for their growing secondhand book business. In the mid-1980s, the Smiths bought the vacant Eagle Hotel on Willamette Street and over the next two decades developed the historic building into a second downtown. In September 2019, they closed the campus location and moved its inventory to their newly opened store on Willamette Street.