by Geon, Bryan
Architectural Salvage
You never know what you might find at Portland’s architectural salvage stores; a single establishment could have everything from Victorian oak mantels to rows of 1950s movie theater seats. Inventories change often, so you may need to check in frequently if there’s something in particular you’re looking for.
Aurora Mills Architectural Salvage, 14971 1st St NE, Aurora, 503-678-6083, www.auroramills.com
Habitat ReStore, pdxrestore.org, operated by Habitat for Humanity, has three Portland-area stores.
Hippo Hardware, 1040 E Burnside St, 503-231-1444, www.hippohardware.com
Northwest Salvage and Second Hand House, 7402 NE St Johns Rd, Vancouver, 360-694-0662
Old Portland Hardware and Architectural, 700 NE 22nd Ave, 503-234-7380, www.oldportlandhardware.com
Rejuvenation, 1100 SE Grand Ave, 503-238-1900, www.rejuvenation.com; best known for its reproduction light fixtures (see Lamps and Lighting, above), Rejuvenation also sells original salvaged hardware and house parts.
The ReBuilding Center, 3625 N Mississippi Ave, 503-331-1877, www.rebuildingcenter.org, markets high-quality salvaged, surplus, and green building materials and provides jobs for residents of North Portland. Because they are often called in to dismantle and salvage reusable building materials from homes, you have a good shot at finding a match for your own old doors here.
Garage Sales and Flea Markets
If your idea of the perfect Saturday afternoon is spending a few hours poking through tubs of other people’s flotsam, you’re in luck. Most Portland garage and yard sales take place from May through September, but there are always at least a few sales on any given weekend. In addition to the widely used sign-on-the-utility-pole method, garage sales are advertised in the Oregonian classifieds (available online at www.classifieds.oregonlive.com under “Garage-Yard and Estate Sales”) and on Craigslist (portland.craigslist.org/gms/).
Portland’s flea markets come and go, and some of the more fleeting flea markets seem suspiciously like clearinghouses for stolen goods, but the legitimate versions can offer good deals. Keep an eye on the classifieds for large semi-regular events at such places as the Memorial Coliseum. Two established weekend indoor markets to try are M & M Swap Meet, 346 SW Walnut St, Hillsboro, 503-846-0691, which is largely geared to Hispanic shoppers, and the diverse Fantastic Flea Market, 19340 SE Stark St, 503-618-9119, www.fantasticfleamkt.com.
Vintage and Second-Hand Stores
There is a fine line between “antique” and “vintage.” There is an equally fine line between “vintage” and “junk.” Portland has an abundant selection of places to try your hand at distinguishing between the two qualities, as well as plenty of ordinary second-hand stores. If you poke around any Portland neighborhood, you’re bound to find at least one or two vintage or second-hand stores where you can try your shopping luck. Online maps listing some (but by no means all) Portland vintage stores are available from www.shopvintageportland.com/maps. Be aware that the stock at most vintage and thrift stores turns over frequently, so be ready to buy if you find something you want. (Conversely, if you like the store but didn’t find what you were looking for, try again in a few days.) Here are a few suggestions to get you started, although these really just scratch the surface of Portland’s vintage scene:
Bombshell Vintage, 811 E Burnside St, 503-239-1073, www.bombshellvintageclothing.com, is a great place to look for vintage dresses and World War II–era fashions as well as absurd ’70s duds.
City Liquidators, 823 SE 3rd Ave, 503-230-7716, www.cityliquidators.com, carries everything from a rotating stock of used and new commercial furniture (very useful if you need to furnish an office) to boxes of artificial flowers. Several other unrelated businesses in the immediate area also sell used office furniture.
Decades Vintage Company, 328 SW Stark St, 503-223-1177, www.decadesvintage.com, sells everything from original 1950s eyeglass frames to vintage men’s Hawaiian shirts.
Goodwill, 1943 SE 6th Ave, 503-238-6165, plus more than two dozen other Portland-area locations, www.meetgoodwill.com; you’re unlikely to find a cheap Matisse now that Goodwill has started selling its most valuable donated goods on eBay, but you can still find some good used stuff here. Goodwill’s three area outlet stores, a.k.a. “The Bins,” which overflow with jumbled masses of cheap, unsorted goods, are infamous for their treasure hunting possibilities.
Red Light Clothing Exchange, 3590 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 503-963-888, redlightclothingexchange.com, has many racks of used (although not necessarily vintage) clothes.
Xtabay, 2515 SE Clinton St, 503-230-2899, xtabayvintage.blogspot.com, primarily sells mid-century clothing and accessories.
Food
Major Supermarket Chains and Warehouse Stores
Almost every neighborhood in the Portland metropolitan area is only a short distance from one or more major chain supermarkets. Fred Meyer (800-576-4377, www.fredmeyer.com) probably has the most pervasive presence; known to three generations of Portlanders as “Freddy’s,” the chain was indeed founded by a man named Fred G. Meyer in downtown Portland in 1922. Most Fred Meyer stores offer one-stop shopping for food, hardware, toys, sporting goods, small appliances, low-end household furniture, and the like. The chain is now owned by Ohio-based Kroger, as is the more upscale and less ubiquitous QFC (Quality Food Centers) supermarket chain (800-576-4377, www.qfc.com). Safeway (877-723-3929, www.safeway.com) runs neck-and-neck with Fred Meyer for local market dominance. Both Albertsons (877-932-7948, www.albertsons.com) and Thriftway (www.thriftwaystores.com) also have numerous stores in the area. (Thriftway stores are individually owned, and their names often bear identifiers, as in Bales Thriftway or Lamb’s Thriftway.) Walmart has opened eight Walmart Neighborhood Markets, www.walmart.com, in the area, primarily in suburban locations, with more on the way; these stores have much smaller footprints than the company’s better-known superstores, and focus on food rather than non-edible plastics. Bellingham, Washington–based Haggen (www.haggen.com) has expanded into the Portland area in recent years, with stores in Beaverton, Hillsboro (Tanasbourne), Oregon City, and Tualatin.
A few discount supermarkets such as WinCo Foods (12 area stores, www.wincofoods.com, no credit cards, bag your own groceries, open 24 hours) and Grocery Outlet (14 area stores, www.groceryoutlet.com) can be found in outlying neighborhoods and in surrounding communities.
Two warehouse store chains in the Portland area, Costco (seven Portland-area locations, 800-774-2678, www.costco.com) and Bi-Mart (nearly 20 Portland-area stores, 541-344-0681, 800-456-0681, www.bimart.com) offer good deals on bulk foods and other household items. (Sam’s Club does not have any local stores.) Both stores have membership requirements. Call ahead or check out their websites for details.
Small and Specialty Supermarket Chains
Low prices and convenience are consumers’ most-cited reasons for shopping at large chains. However, don’t miss out on the unique offerings of Portland’s smaller supermarket chains, most of which boast larger selections of natural and locally produced foods, organic and specialty produce, and esoteric wines and cheeses than the big chain stores do—for a modest price premium, of course.
Zupan’s Markets (3301 SE Belmont St, 503-239-3720; 2340 W Burnside St, 503-497-1088; 7221 SW Macadam Ave, 503-244-5666; 16380 Boones Ferry Rd, Lake Oswego, 503-210-4190; www.zupans.com) and Eugene-based Market of Choice (8502 SW Terwilliger Blvd, 503-892-7331; 5639 Hood St, West Linn, 503-594-2901; www.marketofchoice.com) both focus on relatively affluent shoppers, and the food selection reflects this fact. Market of Choice has one of the best supermarket cheese selections in town.
Portland is an ideal breeding ground for natural foods supermarkets. Locally owned New Seasons Market (www.newseasonsmarket.com) has 13 supermarkets in the Portland area, with more on the way. New Seasons focuses on natural foods, but still stocks staples such as Hershey’s chocolate syrup. New Seasons has higher prices than the major chain stores, but its customer service is outstanding and
the wheels on the shopping carts actually revolve freely. National natural foods supermarket chain Whole Foods (eight area stores, www.wholefoodsmarket.com) boosted its meager local presence when it purchased erstwhile competitor Wild Oats, then promptly rebranded or closed that chain’s seven Portland-area stores. (A bit of history: Wild Oats had itself purchased local chain Nature’s Fresh Northwest in 1999; after the acquisition, disaffected refugees from Nature’s started New Seasons.) Natural Grocers (http://www.naturalgrocers.com/), a Colorado-based newcomer to the region, currently has stores in Beaverton, Clackamas, and Gresham, and plans to open a market in Northeast Portland as well.
While it’s not really a full-service supermarket, California-based Trader Joe’s (eight Portland-area stores, www.traderjoes.com) is an indispensable stop for many foodies, pleasing both gourmets and gourmands. Famous for its inexpensive wine (so-called two-buck chuck, now up to $3), Trader Joe’s offers a giant selection of packaged and frozen foods and specialty items, many branded under its own private label. It offers a wide selection of bread and dairy products, but its fresh produce selection is relatively limited.
Food Co-Ops
Besides offering unsprayed produce and the gamut of “free” foods—gluten-free, pesticide-free, cruelty-free, free-range, etc.—co-ops sell many foods in bulk, allowing you to buy the exact one tablespoon of celery seed that you need to make your favorite tempeh marinade. Co-ops sell shares to members, and some allow you to volunteer at the store for a discount on groceries, but non-members are welcome as well. There are three co-ops with four locations in Portland:
Alberta Cooperative Grocery, 1500 NE Alberta St, 503-287-4333, www.albertagrocery.coop, offers a diverse selection of foods.
Food Front Cooperative, 2375 NW Thurman St, 503-222-5658; 6344 SW Capitol Hwy, 503-546-6559; www.foodfront.coop, has some of the city’s best and freshest produce, and stocks many specialty foods from local vendors.
People’s Food Co-Op, 3029 SE 21st Ave, 503-232-9051, www.peoples.coop, is probably the kind of place you think of when you think of a co-op. Besides its vast bulk foods section and selection of organic foods, this venerable co-op (which has expanded into a “green” remodeled space) hosts a year-round farmers’ market on Wednesdays.
Specialty Foods
Portland and its suburbs harbor many specialty food stores. Here are some of the best-known examples to get you started:
Beaumont Market, 4130 NE Fremont St, 503-284-3032; a classic neighborhood market, Beaumont Market provides a fine selection of groceries, produce, meat, beer and wine.
Benessere, 907 SW 9th Ave, 503-206-5317; 1428 NE Broadway St, 503-281-6389; www.benessereoil.com; these two locations sell a mind-boggling selection of olive oils, and also offer a great place to start a balsamic jihad.
Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store, 5000 SE International Way, Milwaukie, 503-607-6455, www.bobsredmill.com; this is basically the factory store for this nationally known miller of whole and stone-ground grain and seed products. And yes, Bob is a real person.
Cacao, 712 SW Salmon St, 503-274-9510; 414 SW 13th Ave, 503-241-0656; www.cacaodrinkchocolate.com; Portland has a fine selection of chocolate makers, many with their own storefronts. Cacao sells chocolates from several of these local chocolatiers, plus various gourmet and single-origin chocolates from around the world.
Cheese Bar, 6031 SE Belmont St, 503-222-6014, www.cheese-bar.com, has the widest cheese selection in town, with a focus on artisanal cheeses; don’t come here looking for Velveeta and cans of Cheez Whiz.
City Market, 735 NW 21st Ave, 503-221-3007, offers an outstanding (but expensive) selection of imported cheeses, fresh fish, fresh pasta, and sausages and pâtés from multiple vendors.
Food Fight, 1217 SE Stark St, 503-233-3910, www.foodfightgrocery.com, is an only-in-Portland (OK, maybe it would work in a few other places, but not many) phenomenon: a vegan convenience store.
Foster & Dobbs, 2518 NE 15th Ave, 503-284-1157, www.fosteranddobbs.com, sells artisanal food products, with an emphasis on cheese, wine, and cured meats.
Gartner’s Country Meat Market, 7450 NE Killingsworth St, 503-252-7801, www.gartnersmeats.com, is one of the city’s most popular non-nightclub meat markets. Gartner’s not only sells meat but will also butcher your dead moose, elk, or deer.
Lamb’s at Stroheckers, 2855 SW Patton Rd, 503-223-7391, www.lambsmarkets.net; while it sounds like a vendor of young sheep, Stroheckers is actually an upscale grocery store perched high up in Portland’s West Hills, with a specialty and imported foods selection that reflects its affluent surroundings. The store basement features a well-regarded wine cellar.
Pastaworks, 3735 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-232-1010, www.pastaworks.com; best known for its fresh pasta, Pastaworks also sells meats, cheeses, produce, wine, and various local and imported grocery items.
Penzey’s, 120 NW 10th Ave, 503-227-6777; 11787 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, Beaverton, 503-643-7430; 11322 SE 82nd Ave, 503-653-7779, Clackamas; www.penzeys.com; this Wisconsin-based spice chain has three Portland-area outposts.
Proper Eats Market and Café, 8638 N Lombard St, 503-445-2007, propereats.wordpress.com, sells local organic produce and vegan groceries; its kitchen serves prepared vegan and vegetarian food.
Sheridan Fruit Co., 409 SE Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd, 503-236-2114, www.sheridanfruit.com; this Portland institution dates back more than 90 years. Besides fruit (and vegetables), Sheridan’s stocks wine, meat, and bulk and specialty food items.
Stone Cottage Herbs, 8609 SE 17th Ave, 503-719-6658, www.herbsspicesteas.com, sells nearly 1000 types of spices, herbs, and teas.
Make-and-Take Meal Assembly
An option that might be more of a bargain than you’d expect is make-and-take meal assembly, where the store does the prep and all you do is the assembly. The now popular national concept actually originated in the Pacific Northwest in 2002. A couple of the more popular companies follow. You can also go to the website for Easy Meal Prep Company (www.easymealprep.com), an industry association, for updated lists and locations.
Dream Dinners, 360-804-2020, www.dreamdinners.com
Thyme Management, 503-380-5775, www.thymemanagement.com, operates out of a commercial kitchen in Old Town.
Farmers’ Markets, Community-Supported Agriculture, and Community Gardens
If you’re searching for the freshest fruits and vegetables, your best bet is to buy directly from the growers. Portlanders enthusiastically support local farmers’ markets, which are generally open one day a week in season (usually Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, or Sunday). Most local farmers’ markets are generally open from May through September or October, although some remain open through November or December and a handful, such as the Hillsdale and People’s markets, operate year-round. In addition to fresh produce from local farmers, offerings typically include locally produced cheese and cured meat, fresh bread, and fresh meat or seafood. Arts and crafts vendors are common at some markets, banned at others. For a more or less complete statewide list of farmers’ markets, visit www.oregonfarmersmarkets.org.
The following farmers’ markets are located in the city of Portland:
Cully Farmers’ Market, 5027 NE 42nd Ave, 503-284-6823, www.cullyfarmersmarket.com; open June–September, Thursdays, 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
Hawthorne Evening Market, SW César E Chávez Blvd at Lincoln St, 541-602-9730, www.hawthorneeveningmarket.com; open May-October, Saturdays, 4:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
Hillsdale Farmers’ Market, Wilson High School–Rieke Elementary School parking lot, SW Capitol Highway at Sunset Blvd, 503-475-6555, www.hillsdalefarmersmarket.com; open May–November, Sundays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m., and December–April, two Sundays per month, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Hollywood Farmers’ Market, NE Hancock St between 44th and 45th, 503-709-7403, www.hollywoodfarmersmarket.org; open May–September Saturdays, 8 a.m.–1 p.m.; October-November, Saturdays, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.; and December-April, first and third Saturdays of the month, 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
Lents International Fa
rmers’ Market, SE 92nd Ave and Foster Rd, 503-282-4245, www.lentsfarmersmarket.org; open mid-June–October, Sundays, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Lloyd Farmers’ Market, NE Holladay St between 7th and 9th Avenues, 503-730-8637, www.lloydfarmersmarket.net; open year-round (except between December 25 and January 1), Tuesdays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Montavilla Farmers’ Market, 7600 SE Stark St, 503-810-7413, www.montavillamarket.org; weekly late June–October and the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Sundays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Moreland Farmers’ Market, SE Bybee Blvd at 14th Ave, 503-341-9350, www.morelandfarmersmarket.org; open mid-May–late October, Wednesdays, 3 p.m.–7 p.m.
OHSU Farmers’ Market, MacKenzie Hall Courtyard, OHSU, 503-494-8792, www.ohsu.edu/farmersmarket/; open June–September, Tuesdays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Parkrose Farmers’ Market, 12505 NE Halsey St, 503-341-1402, www.parkrosefarmersmarket.org; May–October, Saturdays, 8 a.m.–2 p.m; also open Wednesdays, 2 p.m.–7 p.m., July-early September.
People’s Farmers’ Market, People’s Food Co-Op, 3029 SE 21st Ave, 503-232-9051, www.peoples.coop/farmers-market; open year-round, Wednesdays, 2 p.m.–7 p.m.
Portland Farmers’ Market—Buckman, SE Salmon St at 20th Ave, 503-241-0032, www.portlandfarmersmarket.com; open May–September, Thursdays, 3 p.m.–7 p.m.
Portland Farmers’ Market—Downtown, Winter Shemanski Park, South Park Blocks at SW Salmon St, 503-241-0032, www.portlandfarmersmarket.org; open, May–November, Wednesdays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.; and January–February, Saturdays, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
