Floating World Comics is a shop for readers, for artists, for book lovers of all ages. As inviting and accessible as an independent bookstore, we specialize in the coolest books of all – comics! Check out a fresh batch of genre comics every Wednesday – superhero, drama, crime, horror, romance, humor, sci-fi, fantasy, action and adventure. Explore the literary section and find your new favorite auteur. Our all ages section has a wonderful selection of classic and contemporary children’s books and YA graphic novels. Browse the best selection of small press, self published, underground and international comics found anywhere. Feeling inspired? Bring in your own mini-comic or zine to sell on our shelves. We are also home to Gravy Toys, featuring toys and art by local designer Bwana Spoons.
Since 2006 we have been proud to be a part of Portland’s renowned art community. We have hosted hundreds of events, signings, readings, performances and exhibits at the shop over the years. As part of the Downtown First Thursday art walk, you can always find new art on our gallery walls each month. We curated a psychedelic animation festival from 2008-2014, showcasing experimental videos from all over the world. In 2012-2013 we helped organize The Projects international art festival, supported by the IPRC and RACC. After 16 years in Old Town Chinatown, we made a move across to the Lloyd Center. With our friends Musique Plastique and Dreem Street, we are the cornerstone of a new Lloyd Arts District, revitalizing the shopping center as an indie mall filled with local independent businesses.
Floating World is also an independent publisher, an exciting progression of our role in the comics community. Just as Floating World carries a unique, curated selection of the most interesting comics from around the world, our publications reflect this same comprehensive vision. Starting with tabloid newsprint comics and collaborations with Arthur Magazine, we have published over 60 comics, graphic novels and art monographs. Our books are distributed to the direct market through Lunar Distribution and to the trade market through Consortium Book Sales. We attend multiple comic conventions a year, sharing our books with new audiences and meeting new artists wherever we go. Our entire combined inventory is available to order in our web shop. Retailers may contact us for wholesale terms.
Consignment – We generally start with 3 copies of your book, approximately a $15 value. Please email us first if you are sending books with a total retail value of more than $20. Check on your sales every month or so. When your book sells you get 50% of the cover price. The shelving period is 3 months. If you want unsold books returned, it’s your responsibility to pick them up within 3 months. Returns are possible, but not guaranteed after 3 months. After a year or so, unsold items are discounted or donated to a local zine library. We are not responsible for lost or stolen items. If you mail us books, provide contact and PayPal info. No returns on out-of-state zines.
Subscriptions – Set up a box in person or via email with a list of titles you’d like to subscribe to. Subscription customers on good terms receive a 10% discount (excludes purchases from Gravy Toys). Please buy everything in your box and if you need to cancel, try to give as much notice since we order in advance. Please clear out your box weekly if possible, or once a month at the very least. If we haven’t heard from you in over a month your box could be closed.
Floating World is also home to Gravy Toys.
Notable press:
Lloyd Center
“Marking the quirky last chapter of Portland’s Lloyd Center” Think Out Loud on OPB, 5/25/26
“Portlanders are feeling nostalgic about the Lloyd Center mall as closure approaches” The Evergreen, 5/4/26
“Local Businesses Revive Lloyd Center Mall” Travel Portland, 5/3/26
“Where your favorite Lloyd Center stores are moving as Portland says goodbye to the mall” Oregon Live, 3/31/26
“Welcome to the Lloyd Center’s Hangout Era” Portland Monthly, 3/3/26
“Looking for Portland’s best bookstores and comic book shops” Portland Mercury, 2/16/26
“It’s a Comix Thing, you wouldn’t understand” The Comics Journal, 10/10/25
“New Documentary Looks at Lloyd Center Past and Present” Willamette Week, 9/27/25
“Portland’s “dead mall” is actually not very dead at all.” Here Is Oregon, 8/27/25
“Oregon Transformed A Nearly Abandoned Portland ‘Ghost Mall’ Into An Ultra-Hip Destination Full Of Local Shops” Islands, 8/12/25
“How Portland’s ‘ghost mall’ became the city’s coolest startup incubator” Oregon Live, 6/26/25
“Because We’re Still a Hub for Comics” Willamette Week, 2/11/25
“Portland’s Lloyd Center mall isn’t dead, just different” Courthouse News, 1/24/25
“Read Local: Venture Inside Portland’s Literary Arts Scene” Portland Eco House, 12/29/24
“Dawn of the Undead Mall” Willamette Week, 6/26/24
“Why I Take My Kids To Lloyd Center (It’s Not Always To Shop)” Oregon Kid, 1/11/24
“Indie businesses thrive as Lloyd Center mall reinvents itself — again” OPB, 6/11/23
“Portland’s next creative hot spot? An abandoned DMV in a mostly empty mall” Ad Age, 1/25/23
“The Mall Goes Small” Oregon Business, 1/20/23
“Hear me out: Lloyd Center is Portland’s perfect holiday destination” Oregon Live, 12/16/22
“What Does Lloyd Center’s Indie Rebirth Say about Portland’s Future?” Portland Monthly, 11/23/22
“Shopping mall fills empty stores with indie shops and pop-ups” Marketplace, 11/15/22
“Floating World Comics working to breathe life into Lloyd Center”, Oregon Live, 8/29/22
“Mall Party – Grand Opening of Floating World, Dreem Street, and Musique Plastique”, EverOut, 8/19/22
“Bringing Life to a Forgotten Mall” Flaunt, 8/18/22
“Why one downtown Portland business is moving to the Lloyd Center” Think Out Loud on OPB, 8/10/22
“Floating World Comics moves from Old Town to Lloyd Center” KGW, 8/11/22
“Can an Indie Takeover Bring Back the Lloyd Center’s Glory Days?” Portland Monthly, 8/11/22
“A long-time Old Town business heads for Lloyd Center” Portland Business Journal, 8/4/22
“Floating World Comics Is Moving Out of Old Town… to the Mall” Portland Mercury, 7/29/22
Chinatown
“Favorite Portland Bookstores” Travel Portland, 11/28/19
“Floating World has proven itself as an artistic driving force in the world of creator owned/independent content.” For the Love of Indie, 8/28/19
“The Coolest Comic Stores in the USA” Raddison Red, 9/25/17
“Portland’s Floating World Is Celebrating its 10th Anniversary” Willamette Week, 8/17/16
“10 Best Comic Stores in the US” MiniTime, 4/13/16
“Portland’s 10 Best Bookstores” The Oregonian, 1/7/16
“Comic Shops Across America You Need To Visit” Geek and Sundry, 8/12/15
“Comic book writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and writer/husband Matt Fraction Reveal Their Favorite Spots in Portland” Fast Company, 6/24/15
“The 20 Coolest Comic Shops in America” Green-Label, 10/9/14
“America’s Best Comic Book Shops” Travel and Leisure, 5/28/14
“Basically the Powell’s of comic books…” Finder 2013, Willamette Week’s Guide to Portland
“Bearer of one of the more compelling track records for a micro-publisher…” The Comics Reporter, 7/20/13
“Top 10 Cultural Hotspots in Portland” The Guardian UK, 5/24/13
“A Counterculture Totem To Return as a Leaner Magazine” The New York Times, 11/15/12
“You can call it the new Old Town” Portland Business Journal, 11/16/12
“10 Noteworthy Things to Do in Portland’s Old Town-Chinatown” Neighborhood Notes, 11/10/12
“Absurdly wonderful” Boing Boing, 10/1/12
“Simply one of the best comic stores in the country…” Finder 2012, Willamette Week’s Guide to Portland
Featured business in “The New York Times, 36 Hours: 150 Weekends in the USA and Canada“, published by Taschen
“Favorite Comic Shop” Portland Mercury Readers Guide, 7/28/11
“America’s 10 Greatest Comics Stores” Flavorwire, 9/21/10
“Why Portland Is The Best Comic City In America” Multiversity Comics, 9/21/10
“Comics Shop Confidential” The Oregonian, 10/9/08
“Comic Shop Focus” Daily Crosshatch, 12/3/08
“Not Just For Geeks” Portland Tribune, 12/19/06
“Trash Days” Portland Mercury, 8/14/08
“All Rom, All The Time!” Broken Frontier, 11/30/07
“Ten Geeky Places to Visit in Portland” Wired, 3/10