Portland a Shopping Mecca?

 

I haven't enjoyed shopping in the past few years.  Make that the past few decades.  Maybe it was all of those Back to School clothes shopping trips with my daughters that ended up with all of us bickering and somebody crying.  Usually me.  Like many girls, I grew up loving to browse through stores to check out the new clothes each season and, if I was lucky, maybe buy something.  My sister and I would meet up with our group of friends and walk downtown on a Saturday afternoon to work our way from one end of Chicago Street to the other.  Sears, Penney's, Klines, Printer's Ink, Fehrenbacher's and the ultimate in 1970's teen cool, Al Baskin.  Hours and hours of time spent browsing the day away and hoping to run into cool guys. 



Since I've been an adult, shopping has just been an annoying chore to get through.  If I have money to spend, it seems like I can't find anything I want to buy and if I'm not in a position to purchase (like now, with no home to furnish and no room to store more clothes or knickknacks in our car) I seem to find lots of things that strike my fancy. 

 

Portland is a browsers paradise and I've really begun to enjoy shopping again since I've been here.   Although the Portland Saturday Market is full of vendors and shoppers and gets a lot of positive press I haven't been that impressed the two times I've visited the Market.

 

My favorite places are the quirky little shops and second hand stores scattered in different neighborhoods throughout Portland. The Mississippi Arts District and the Sellwood District have become two of my favorite areas to explore.  I love to browse for vintage clothes and collectibles and these neighborhoods in particular seem to have my kind of stores.  (No, I did NOT buy the Troll Dolls but aren't they cute?  They are selling for almost $10 a piece!)

 

We've had guests the past two week-ends and it's been fun to take our visitors  to some of my favorite shopping spots, especially when they love to shop like our daughter Emily and her fiance' Grant.

 

I get a kick out of the way the small shops curate their displays (the wackier the better as far as I'm concerned)

 

mixing together old and new things.  My favorite store so far is Flutter, where 1950's prom dresses

 

 

mix with unusual odds and ends and the changing room is a crazy silk tent.

 





 

The STARS Antique Mall in the Sellwood neighborhood is another favorite spot.  It has so many items that they need two large buildings to house everything.  The aisles are wide, the antiques are clean and somehow they have avoided that musty smell that antique stores often have. 

 

 

My heart beat just a little faster the first time I walked through the door.  Our friend Nadine found an amazing Pendleton jacket there (very Katherine Hepburn) and Jack found a great Black Watch Pendleton shirt.  All I can say is thank goodness I broke my vintage jewelry addiction several years ago. It could have been very, very bad.  (One GOOD thing about menopause, I guess.  I can't stand to wear necklaces and bracelets they are just too hot!) 

 

There are so many great things about Portland: the food, the beauty of the city, the wonderfully preserved housing stock, it's proximity to some amazing natural wonders like Multnomah Falls and the Pacific Ocean, the wealth of microbreweries and wineries, I never thought that I would be writing about shopping.  All I can say is - visit Portland.  And maybe bring a slightly empty bag on the airplane.  You may need it