The City's Best

Portland's Top Places to Shop

From midcentury furniture to locally designed suits, the best of Portland’s thriving indie retail world awaits you.

Edited by Eden Dawn June 30, 2017 Published in the Newcomer's Guide: 2017 issue of Portland Monthly

Newcomers guide 2017 north of west wsqbwt

North of West illuminates the downtown boutique scene.

Women's

West End Select Shop

Focused on emerging designers, from local leather Ara handbags to Budapest’s Nanushka.

Una

High-end designers, from romantic (Gary Graham) to cutting edge (Alexa Stark).

Frances May

This shop features up-and-coming, innovative designers. Owner Pamela Baker Miller hops the globe buying pieces with classic appeal and a modern aesthetic. 

Haunt

Owned by Holly Stalder, Portland’s indie-fashion godmother, this studio stocks Stalder's line and veteran locals like Kate Towers.

Wildfang

The tomboy mecca.

Radish Underground (CLOSED)

Super-cute, affordable everyday looks from PDX and beyond.

Amelia

Snag easy-to-wear local designers such as Alyson Clair as well as Amelia’s in-house line.

Adorn

Stylish ready-to-wear, shoes, and accessories.

Altar

Find scores of independent artists stuffed into one small shop with a dark boho edge.

Liza Rietz

A vestige of Old Portland, patternmaker Liza Rietz has been outfitting stylish women with her modern architectural dresses and sculptural pants for nearly two decades. 

Palace

An eclectic store with colorful new and vintage pieces, plus body care, jewelry, and every motif of sock imaginable.

Men's

Collier

A place for the dapper gent, complete with a house line made in Italy.

Bridge & Burn

Classic Northwest apparel with a high regard for fit and function alongside fashion.

Adam Arnold

One of the city’s most respected designers for both women and men, Arnold will tailor pieces to you and keep patterns on file.

Jewelry

Grayling

Designer Katy Kippen and her crew make the stylish jewelry on site, combining shiny crystals and edgy chains for a polished look. 

Betsy & Iya

Look to any style-minded, local-oriented lady: chances are she owns at least one of B&I’s geometric brass beauties, like their ubiquitous St. Johns Bridge cuff. 

Twist

Find unusual pieces in this gallery-like space, from a jaw-dropping oval African ruby ring to one-of-a-kind Tahitian pearl necklaces.

Gem Gem

Co-owner Allison Bartline’s funky pieces garnered such a fan base that she opened a Belmont storefront last year to showcase her line and other designers. 

Dea Dia

Sheets of brass and silver, clipped and polished into simple, geometric shapes, make designer Jessica Lawson’s Dea Dia line of rings, cuffs, hair accessories one for all occasions. 

Kassab

A family-owned stalwart dating from 1990.

Alchemy

The avant-garde end of upscale. 

Gem Set Love

A variety of vintage, from engagement rings to Victorian lockets.

Packouz

A downtown institution: from pocketknives with mother-of-pearl handles to $92,000 peridot and diamond earrings.

Backtalk

A bastion of indie designers from across the US. Think brass and neotribal geometry. 

Books & Vinyl

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At Mother Foucault‘s, rare literary joys are within reach.

Mother Foucault’s

Proprietor Craig Florence, a onetime lodger at Paris’s illustrious Shakespeare and Company, stocks literary fiction, poetry, philosophy, and foreign-language gems. 

Cameron’s

A densely packed den of come-as-you-are used books, magazines, and comics. 

Monograph Bookwerks

An aesthete’s haven of clean white shelves, stacked with new and used books about art, architecture, and design. 

Mississippi Records

A sizable and sweet selection of rock, punk, world, and jazz vinyl delights.

Beacon Sound

Used and new records, skewing toward electronic and indie rock.

Crossroads

Dozens of independent dealers sell vinyl here, giving each bin its own distinct organizing principle.

Gifts & Fun

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King, at Flutter

Flutter

A place to get lost in: piles of photography books, apothecary, and a beloved shop cat, King. 

Cargo

All things Asian, from Burmese Buddhas to Vietnamese Virgin Mary statues, antique Chinese furniture, and brass Indonesian headdresses. 

Boys Fort

A painstaking collection of big-boy toys: banjos, shaving mugs, boxing gloves, and more. 

Porch Light

Everything you need to craft a sepia-toned vintage life.

Paxton Gate

The place to pick up a taxidermied mouse in a cowboy hat. 

Ink & Peat

Silk scarves and soaps, crafted cushions and candles: a tasteful mix of domestic delights and gorgeous gifts. 

Woonwinkel

Everything from hooks to hammocks: heavily designed and instantly covetable.

North of West

A textile-tastic haven of refined clothes and home goods.

Milk Milk Lemonade

Home of jewelry, art magazines, and Olo fragrances. 

Vintage

Xtabay

High-end, full-skirted taffeta darlings, swingin’ sexy ’60s cocktail frocks, and curve-hugging “wiggle” dresses fill Xtabay’s gilded racks. 

Rock n Rose

Scour shelves of cowboy boots, vintage denim, and band tees for men and women: the Holy Trinity of vintage. 

Red Fox

Surrounded by a food haven of Dame, Expatriate, and DOC, Red Fox packs racks and shelves with vintage serving ware, fur coats, and 1970s Playboys: the perfect pre-dinner shopping locale.

Magpie

Owner Todd Wooley has a trusted network of “little old ladies” he taps for one of the city’s most eclectic collections: Victorian lockets, 1930s dress clips, and even antique hand-painted portrait pins, with most items under $100.

Maloy’s

In addition to their stunning collection of carefully curated antique watches, rings, pins, and necklaces, the staff are also experts at vintage jewelry restoration and repair.

Avalon

Filled to the brim with colorful vintage sport coats, slim-to-wide ties, and slick suits, this venerable vintage shop is the place for midcentury masterpieces. 

Hollywood Vintage

To really understand this massive block-size shop, spend an afternoon touring the cases of vintage eyewear, the room of hats, the rounds chock-full of costumes, and wigs—so many wigs. It deserves time. 

Animal Traffic

Vintage Pendleton, western button-ups, and piles of patterned sweaters. 

Hawthorne Vintage

The sheer size of this 7,000-square-foot ode to the midcentury, coupled with a collection that’s renewed daily, makes it the mod mecca for furniture addicts. The most popular styles—Scandinavian contemporary, Danish, and teak—disappear quickly. Jump on that Herman Miller coffee table you’ve been eyeing. 

Lounge Lizard

Furniture hounds now have dual Lounge Lizard locations two blocks apart, equally packed with gorgeous Sputnik lamps, Plycraft armchairs, and kooky cat art.

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