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Domonic, now 46, vice president of the company and the father of four children — the older two, at 17 and 18 have held summer jobs there — says he never agonized over what he was going to do.

“I knew at a pretty young age what I wanted to do,” he said, reminded that, according to the Small Business Administration, although 90 percent of U.S. businesses are family-owned, only 30 percent of such companies succeed in the second generation and less than a third of those survive the third generation.

“Actually, that goes down to 6 percent,” he said, cit-ing figures from the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University.

A key for him, said Domonic, is recognizing what you have to offer.

“My grandmother and my dad, they had a highly respectful relationship,” he said. “They were just extremely close.” And, reflecting a typical work ethic of immigrants to the country, he said, they totally bought into the idea: “Work hard, work hard, work hard.” “Dad really got into it, and he started developing products,” said Domonic. “Grandma got things started; Dad got into specialty products.”

But it was his father who advised him, “Don’t try to do what your parents do.” So he set out “to just keep moving forward” and to find his own direction. He

focused on sales and marketing, and that became his thing.

“I have four kids, and I tell them the same thing my dad told me: ‘Life’s too short to do something you hate.’” It’s true, he added, you need to get an education, work hard, pay your dues, etc. “But don’t do it unless you love it.”

“My grandmother was that way, and my dad was, too. They’re absolutely right.”

“My dad actually thought I was going to grow up and be a college professor, and I thought, ‘how can I ever do anything but this?’”

Even when there’s no family member directly involved, it’s a challenge for a successful business person to figure out who will take over when he or she is gone. When you confront that prospect, said Powell, you have to ask: “Is this something that’s really going to work, and is something you really want to do?”

Having a vision for the company is important, too, she said, adding that she thinks she does.

“I think that is one of my strengths. I think that I have a pretty good sense, after having been in the business for such a long time.”

Like all businesses everywhere, Powell’s is having to adapt to a changing world, just to survive. Recognizing that not all readers are content to pore through shelves of books, Powell’s formed partnerships with Amazon.com and eBay some time ago.

After summarizing her thoughts on the need to keep up with the changes in technology, she paused and laughed a little.

“Does that make sense?” she asked. “I usually don’t know what I think until I hear it come out of my mouth. I suppose I should record myself and then listen to it later.”

One thing she knows is that Powell’s is ranked as the No. 2 destination in Oregon, and people from all over the country still want to go see it.

“I think people are always going to want to shop,” she said, after being asked if the stores will always be impor-tant to her company. “And they want to shop in a variety of ways.”