by Geon, Bryan
Nordstrom Rack, 245 SW Morrison St, 503-299-1815; 18100 NW Evergreen Pkwy, Beaverton, 503-439-0900; 8930 SE Sunnyside Rd, Clackamas, 503-654-5415; 9175 SW Cascade Ave, Beaverton, 971-327-6161; www.nordstrom.com
Ross Dress for Less, 17 Portland-area stores, 800-945-7677, www.rossstores.com
Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth, 7455 SW Bridgeport Rd, Tualatin, 503-620-6536, www.saksoff5th.com
Target, 14 Portland-area locations, 800-440-0680, www.target.com
T.J. Maxx, 604 SW Washington St, 503-224-1417; 2135 N Parker Ave, 503-240-9412; 11370 SE 82nd Ave, 503-653-7913; 3805 SW 117th Ave, Beaverton, 503-641-1828; 8635 SW Tualatin-Sherwood Rd, Tualatin, 503-612-0000; 8101 NE Parkway Dr, Vancouver, 360-256-9606; www.tjmaxx.com
Walmart, nine Portland-area stores, www.walmart.com
And don’t forget membership warehouse stores such as Costco and Bi-Mart. They offer low prices on food, electronics, cameras, small appliances, housewares, and automotive supplies. Membership fees apply, and you don’t get—or pay for—the level of service you expect from a regular department store. See the “Food” section below for more details.
Household Shopping
In addition to the businesses listed below, most department stores (and many discount department stores) carry a wide range of household goods, from mattresses and sheets to home electronics and appliances. A category-defying option for furniture, accessories, and Swedish ginger cookies is IKEA, which is located just off I-205 at the Portland International Airport exit (10280 Cascades Pkwy, 888-888-4532, www.ikea.com). The store’s ridiculously large sign is hard to miss from the freeway, especially at night.
Appliances, Computers, and Electronics
Although many of the national big-box electronics chains with Portland stores have gone “el foldo” in the last couple of years, Portland nonetheless boasts an impressive array of electronics and household appliance stores. In addition to the stores listed below, for appliances, you might consider home improvement retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe’s (see “Hardware and Paint” below) or department stores like Sears. For computers, also check prices and offerings at office supply chains such as Office Depot (13 Portland-area stores, 800-463-3768, www.officedepot.com), Staples (five Portland-area stores, 800-333-3330, www.staples.com), and OfficeMax (seven Portland-area stores, 800-283-7674, www.officemax.com); all three of these companies frequently place advertising inserts in the Sunday Oregonian.
For specialist or smaller-scale computer dealers, look online or check the Yellow Pages under “computers”; look for other home electronics and appliance retailers under “Appliances,” “Stereo & Hi Fi-Dealers,” and “Television-Dealers,” or try one of these stores:
Apple Store, Pioneer Place, 450 SW Yamhill St, 503-265-2010; Bridgeport Village, Tigard, 503-670-8400; Washington Square, Tigard, 503-495-2080; www.apple.com
Basco Builders Appliance Supply Company, 1411 NW Davis St, 503-226-9235, www.bascoappliances.com
Best Buy, eight Portland-area stores, 888-237-8289, www.bestbuy.com
Bose Showcase Store, Pioneer Place, 503-224-5772, www.bose.com
DeWhitt Appliance, 12518 NE Airport Way, 503-546-4212, www.dewhittappliance.com
Echo Audio, 1015 SW Washington St, 503-223-2292, 888-248-3246, www.echohifi.com
Fred’s Sound of Music Audio/Video, 3760 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 503-234-5341, www.fredsoundofmusic.com
Fry’s Electronics, 29400 SW Town Center Loop, Wilsonville, 503-570-6000, www.frys.com
The Mac Store, 700 NE Multnomah St, 800-689-8191; Cedar Hills Crossing, Beaverton, and Clackamas Town Center, Clackamas; www.themacstore.com; as the name suggests, this Pacific Northwest chain is another Apple retail specialist.
NW Natural Appliance Center, 2610 SE 8th Ave, 503-220-2362, www.nwnaturalappliances.com; this is the gas company’s appliance showroom, so don’t come looking for electric cooktops here.
Pearl Audio Video, 1038 NW Johnson St, 503-222-2599, www.pearlaudiovideo.com
Radio Shack, 800-843-7422, www.radioshack.com, has 18 stores in the area.
Spencer’s Appliances, 7115 NE Glisan St, 503-254-7977, www.spencersappliancesonline.com, sells new and used appliances.
Standard TV & Appliance, 1205 NE 33rd Ave, 503-542-5120; 5240 SW 82nd Ave, 503-777-3377; 3600 SW Hall Blvd, Beaverton, 503-619-0500; www.standardtvandappliance.com; Standard has one of the area’s widest selections of major appliances. Standard also sells used appliances at 5240 SE 82nd Ave, 503-777-3377, www.stvausedappliance.com.
Stark’s Vacuums, eight Portland-area locations, 800-230-4101, www.starks.com
Stereotypes Audio, 1401 SE Morrison St, 503-280-0910, www.stereotypesaudio.com
Vern L. Wenger Company Video/Audio, 5904 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, 503-292-9211, www.wengersvideoaudio.com
Video Only, 1900 N Hayden Island Dr, 503-283-3400; 8200 SE Sunnyside Rd, Clackamas, 503-653-8200; 12000 SW Canyon Rd, Beaverton, 503-520-0520; www.videoonly.com
Carpets, Rugs & Tile
Portland has scores, if not hundreds, of carpet and tile retailers, ranging from discount warehouses to small stores that specialize in antique Persian rugs. For a complete list, look online or in the Yellow Pages under “Carpet & Rug Dealers” or “Tile-Ceramic-Contractors & Dealers.” If you’re in the market for gorgeous, high-end designer tile, be sure to check out the showroom of Portland-based Pratt & Larson Tile and Stone (1201 SE 3rd Ave, 503-231-9464, www.prattandlarson-or.com).
Furniture
A home furnishings showroom may be one of the first places you visit as you try to fill the empty spaces of your new home or apartment. There are plenty of furniture stores waiting for you, both in the city and in the strip malls and shopping centers of almost every suburban community. Simply do an online search or check the Yellow Pages under “Furniture-Retail” for a complete listing. Many department stores also offer good selections of traditional home furnishings. If you’re looking for something beyond standard pieces in traditional styles, Portland has a plethora of options, with a heavy concentration in the Pearl District and on the Inner East Side. Here’s a partial list of stores to try:
Altura Furniture, 3500 N. Mississippi Ave, 503-288-2228, www.alturafurniture.com, sells locally crafted, contemporary solid wood furniture.
Beam & Anchor, 2710 N Interstate Ave, 503-367-3230, www.beamandanchor.com, sells “warm industrial” housewares.
Design Within Reach, 1200 NW Everett St, 503-220-0200, www.dwr.com; offers a wide selection of modern furniture, including authorized reproductions of classic designs such as the Eames lounge and ottoman.
Eclectic Home, 2259 NW Raleigh St, 503-224-0551, www.eclectichome.com, sells “sustainable” furniture and organic mattresses.
Eco PDX, 2289 N Interstate Ave, 503-287-8181, www.ecopdx.com, offers hand-crafted furniture from salvaged tropical lumber.
Hip, 1829 NW 25th Ave, 503-225-5017, www.ubhip.com, specializes in the kind of clean-lined Euro-style furniture that’s perfect for your new condo in the Pearl.
Hive, 820 NW Glisan St, 503-242-1967, www.hivemodern.com, carries a wide selection of modern furniture, lighting, and accessories.
The Joinery, 4804 SE Woodstock Blvd, 503-788-8547, www.thejoinery.com, builds beautiful dressers, tables, and other pieces from certified sustainably harvested wood.
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, 1106 W Burnside St, 503-972-5000, www.mgbwhome.com, sells furniture best described as “modern traditional” from a highly visible showroom on West Burnside.
Natural Furniture, 800 NE Broadway, 503-284-0655, www.naturalunfinishedfurniture.com; Natural Furniture sells ready-to-finish tables, chairs, bookcases, and other wood furniture.
Portland Furniture, 908 NW 23rd Ave, 503-546-5468, www.portlandfurnitureonline.com, has a wide selection of living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture in styles ranging from respectably traditional to uber-modern.
Hardware and Paint
As they do nearly everywhere in America, Home Depot (www.homedepot.com) and Lowe’s (www.lowes.
com) dominate Portland’s home improvement market. These stores offer everything from paint and wallpaper to lumber, lighting, flooring, countertops, appliances, and plumbing fixtures under one very expansive roof. But the big boys haven’t yet put neighborhood hardware stores and specialty retailers out of business; Portland and the surrounding communities still have quite a few traditional hardware stores, many of them affiliated with Ace (www.acehardware.com) or True Value (www.truevalue.com). Do a web search look in the Yellow Pages under “Hardware-Retail” or “Building Materials-Retail” or go for a walk in your neighborhood to find more options. Most hardware stores (as well as Home Depot and Lowe’s) now carry paint and can match colors, but for the best quality and a wider (or at least different) selection you may want to try a specialty paint store (listed in the Yellow Pages under “Paint-Retail”). Here are a few paint and hardware options:
A-Boy Plumbing & Electrical, 503-287-0776, www.aboysupply.com, is a locally owned chain with three locations in the Portland area.
Chown Hardware, 333 NW 16th Ave, 503-243-6500, www.chown.com, has knowledgeable staff members and a vast selection of hardware and fixtures.
Green Depot, 819 SE Taylor St, 503-222-3881, www.greendepot.com, sells no-VOC paints and stains.
George Morlan Plumbing Supply, 2222 NW Raleigh St, 503-224-7000, 5529 SE Foster Rd, 503-771-1145, 12585 SW Pacific Hwy, Tigard, 503-624-7381, www.georgemorlan.com; this is a veritable supermarket of plumbing fixtures, supplies, and related items.
Miller Paint Co., 503-255-0190, www.millerpaint.com, is a local company with more than 20 stores in the Portland area.
Mr. Plywood, 7609 SE Stark St, 503-254-7387, www.mrplywoodinc.com, is a basic, close-in lumber yard and building supply store.
Parr Lumber, www.parr.com, is a local hardware company with nine Portland-area retail yards.
Rodda Paint, www.roddapaint.com, is another local paint manufacturer with multiple stores in the Portland area; among the featured paint lines is Devine Color, a unique “color from the Northwest” high-end specialty interior paint designed by Gretchen Schauffler, a nationally recognized Portland-area artist, color consultant, and entrepreneur.
WC Winks Hardware, 200 SE Stark St, 503-227-5536, www.winkshardware.com; chased out of the Pearl District several years ago by gentrification, Winks stocks obscure hinge types, door pulls, and other hard-to-find hardware. It is also closed on weekends.
Woodcrafters, 212 NE 6th Ave, 503-231-0226, www.woodcrafters.us; a woodworker’s Disneyland, Woodcrafters sells tools, blades, and cabinet hardware, and has probably the city’s best selection of millwork and moldings.
Housewares, Kitchenware, and Linens
If the department stores don’t have just what you’re looking for, one of these specialty stores might:
Bed, Bath & Beyond, eight Portland-area stores, 800-462-3966, www.bedbathandbeyond.com
Crate & Barrel, Bridgeport Village, Tigard, 503-598-9005, www.crateandbarrel.com
French Quarter Linens, 530 NW 11th Ave, 503-282-8200, www.frenchquarterlinens.com; luxuriate in high thread counts and the silkiness of fine Egyptian cotton at this purveyor of European bedding and towels.
Indigo Traders, 7878 SW Capitol Hwy, 503-780-2422; 6532 SW Capitol Hwy, 503-972-6020; www.indigotraders.com; this store specializes in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern textiles and glassware.
Kitchen Kaboodle, 800-366-0161, www.kitchenkaboodle.com; this local kitchenware chain has four stores in the area, and also sells furniture.
Mirador Kitchen & Home, 2106 SE Division St, 503-231-5175, www.miradorkitchenandhome.com, sells an eclectic collection of natural (e.g., made from organic fibers) linens, kitchenware, canning supplies, and other items for the home.
Natural Spaces, 5331 SW Macadam Ave, 503-695-6177, www.naturalspaces.com, offers natural linens and products made from recycled glass.
Please Be Seated, 8309 SE 13th Ave, 503-595-1736, www.pleasebeseatedpdx.com, has a little bit of everything for the table: linens, china, glassware, and more.
Sur la Table, 1102 NW Couch St, 503-295-9679; 390 N State St, Lake Oswego, 503-636-2181; Bridgeport Village, Tigard, 503-968-8015; www.surlatable.com
Williams-Sonoma, 338 NW 23rd Ave, 503-946-2300; Washington Square, Tigard, 503-684-2784; www.williams-sonoma.com
Lamps and Lighting
Many building supply stores, hardware stores, and furniture stores sell light fixtures. In addition, lighting “superstores” such as Lamps Plus (9369 SE 82nd Avenue, 503-788-7772; 8748 SW Hall Boulevard, Beaverton, 503-641-7546; www.lampsplus.com) and Globe Lighting (five Portland-area stores, 800-689-1000, www.globelighting.com) carry thousands of different light fixtures. For something a bit out-of-the-mainstream, or for historical reproduction lighting, try one of the following stores:
Ferguson, 824 NW 18th Ave, 503-222-1144, www.ferguson.com, stocks not only lighting, but bath and kitchen fixtures and appliances.
Porteco Lighting, 1401 SE Morrison St, 503-719-5011, portecolighting.com, carries an assortment of low-voltage and energy-efficient lighting.
Rejuvenation, 1100 SE Grand Ave, 503-238-1900, www.rejuvenation.com; this Portland-based company manufactures reproduction light fixtures from periods ranging from the early electric era to the “atomic age” of the mid-20th century.
Schoolhouse Electric, 2181 NW Nicolai St, 503-230-7113, www.schoolhouselectric.com; another period lighting maker, Schoolhouse Electric casts many of its shades from the original early–20th century molds.
Sunlan Lighting, 3901 N Mississippi Ave, 503-281-0453, www.sunlanlighting.com, stocks almost every conceivable type of light bulb, including a range of full-spectrum bulbs to brighten up those pesky Portland winters.
Mattresses and Futons
For a standard, mass-produced mattress, your cheapest options are generally department stores or such chains as BedMart Mattress Superstores (888-840-4282, www.bedmartmattresssuperstores.com), Mattress World Northwest (503-594-0550, www.mattressworldnorthwest.com), and SleepCountry USA (888-887-5337, www.sleepcountry.com), all of which have multiple Portland-area locations. At any of these establishments, you’d be very unlucky to drop in on a day without a mattress sale in progress. For a futon or custom-made mattress, try one of the following stores:
Cotton Cloud Futons and Mattresses, 701 NE Broadway, 503-335-0758, www.cottoncloudfutons.com
Eclectic Home, 2259 NW Raleigh St, 503-224-0551, www.eclectichome.com
Mulligan Mattress Co., 1200 SE 7th Ave, 503-222-3723, ww.mulliganmattress.com, offers custom-built mattresses made with natural latex and organic cotton.
Rock Soft Futon, 3200 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 503-236-0921, www.rocksoftfuton.com
Garden Centers and Nurseries
Thanks to Portland’s mild, maritime climate, many kinds of plants thrive here. A single small urban yard might contain a rose bush, a windmill palm tree, an alpine rock garden, a eucalyptus tree, a dwarf Japanese maple, a yucca, and an ancient rhododendron. As you might imagine, gardening is a popular pastime here, and there are plenty of in-town garden centers, both large and small, that cater to the horticulturally inclined. Beyond the urban fringe, horticulture is a major part of Oregon’s agriculture industry, and Portland’s hinterlands are dotted with tree and plant nurseries. Some of these nurseries are highly specialized, and many sell directly to the public.
Here are a few of the more popular local garden centers and nurseries:
Cistus Nursery, 22711 NW Gillihan Rd, Sauvie Island, 503-621-2233, www.cistus.com; billing itself as “the home of zonal denial,” Cistus sells hardy subtropicals and southern hemisphere plants that can (and do) grow in Portland.
Cornell Farm, 8212 SW Barnes Rd, 503-292-9895, www.cornellfarms.com, has a wide selection of shrubs and annual and perennial garden plants.
Dennis’ Seven Dees and Drake’s Seven Dees, four Portland-area garden centers, www.dennis7dees.com, 503-777-7777; www.drakes7dees.com, 503-292-9121. (The “seven dees” stand for the first initials of the founders’ children, not the era of dis
co and bell bottoms.)
Garden Fever, 3433 NE 24th Ave., 503-287-3200, www.gardenfever.com, sells specialty plants, seeds, and garden accouterments.
Joy Creek Nursery, 20300 NW Watson Rd, Scappoose, 503-543-7474, www.joycreek.com; this nursery 18 miles north of Portland is worth the trip to buy unusual cultivars and hard-to-find plant species.
Livingscape Nursery, 3926 N Vancouver Ave, 503-248-0104, www.livingscape.com; this small urban nursery stocks ornamentals, edible plants, and a wide range of Northwest natives.
Pistils, 3811 N Mississippi Ave, 503-288-4889, www.pistilsnursery.com; this small neighborhood nursery focuses on locally and sustainably grown plants, and carries chicks in spring for urban poultry farmers.
Pomarious Nursery, 1920 NW 18th Ave, 503-490-6866, www.pomariousnursery.com, focuses on boxwood and textural plants.
Portland Nursery, 5050 SE Stark St, 503-231-5050, 9000 SE Division St, 503-788-9000, www.portlandnursery.com; Portland Nursery has huge selections of both garden-variety and unusual plants, and is one of the best close-in sources for trees and large shrubs.
Second-Hand Shopping
Shopping for second-hand stuff is a thrifty, sometimes quirky, and generally environmentally sound activity, and consequently is a favorite pastime of many Portland residents. What better way to spend a drizzly afternoon than searching for treasures that (usually) cost so little?
Antique Dealers
Portland is chock-full of stores that sell original and reproduction antiques (and that generally identify which is which, so you don’t need to fear embarrassment when you show up with your treasure on Antiques Roadshow). The city’s largest concentration of such stores is on Antique Row, an extended parade of stores and antique malls that stretches along Southeast 13th Avenue in Sellwood, but dozens of antique dealers are scattered throughout the city, with additional notable clusters in the Hawthorne District, the inner East Side, the Pearl District, and Northwest/Nob Hill. Many suburban communities, especially historic communities such as Aurora and Forest Grove or affluent suburbs such as Lake Oswego, also have antique stores.
