ReRun
707 NE Fremont St., 517-3786, portlandrerun.com. Neighborhood consignment shop ReRun is the coolest garage
and yard sale around. Outside, a sea of used furniture—both immaculate
and questionable in condition—is on display daily. Inside is a sea of
vintage clothing that veers female but has ample options for dudes. But
the real joy of ReRun lies in treasure hunting through antiques, toys
and other bits of randomness that make for perfect white-elephant
fodder. Where else does a bust of Samuel L. Jackson share a shelf with a
kabuki doll, or the
Six Million Dollar Man
board game feel
comfortable among boxes of checkers? The place is littered with goodies
like ancient Super 8 cameras (some functional) and rusty railroad
spikes. For the last-minute shopper looking for an oddity, you can't go
wrong.
Buy this: A ragged Iron Maiden leather jacket ($20), complete with hand-painted Eddie the Head. Get it while you can.
A Childrenâs Place
4807 NE Fremont St., 284-8294, achildrensplacebookstore.com. Like a little bookwormâs version of
downtown toy store Finneganâs, A Childrenâs Place is stocked ceiling to
floor with childlike wonder, only of the literary variety. Sure, there
are
board games, stuffed animals, trinkets, baubles and the like, but the
locally owned (for more than 30 years) independent bookstore is more a
playground for the mind, with massive sections covering everything from
science to science fiction, fantasy, fart jokes, young-adult literature
and beyond. Add a rocking chair for sample reads and an exceedingly
helpful staff (a request for recommendations for a locally written book
for a precocious 12-year-old prompted a 15-minute bookshelf safari
courtesy of owner Pam Erlandson), and youâve got the kind of bookstore
experience that has fallen by the wayside: friendly, warm and full of
discovery.
Buy this: Portlander's Bart King's The Big Book of Gross Stuff ($19.99) is loads of icky fun, but the place is packed with more local authors than Wordstock (and more copies of Wildwood than Colin Meloy's basement).
Green Dog Pet Supply
4327 NE Fremont St., 528-1800, greendogpetsupply.com. In Portland, dogs are treated as
crotch-sniffing royalty akin in status to cats in ancient Egypt. Theyâre
pampered accordingly. This being PDX, canines are just as
environmentally conscious as people. Well, maybe notâthese are animals
that eat garbage, given the chance. But you wouldnât know that walking
into Green Dog Pet Supply, a small boutique specializing in
environmentally friendly products, from leashes and harnesses to balls,
dog (and cat) beds and beyond. The real draw, though, are the treats,
which range from real refrigerated meats to gourmet rawhide chews, moose
knuckles (not that kind), organic kibbles and bits and other culinary
delights for Rover to swallow whole without appreciating that theyâre
made of free-range meat. At least when the dog eats its own feces, itâll
be extra organic.
Buy this: Wholesome Hide Bacon in a Blanket
($5.99), a rawhide bone wrapped in pork skin, because dogs, like all
Portlanders, love their bacon. (Yes, it does have a bacony flavor. And
yes, I licked one.)
Gazelle Natural Fiber Clothing
4100 NE Fremont St., 288-3422, naturalfiberclothingportland.com. Entering former downtown goddess
outfitters Gazelle is like walking into a particularly fashion-centric
meditation center. New-Agey music provides the soundtrack to a store
where nag champa fills the nose and workers greet you with quiet warmth.
But there are treasures to be had for the earthy women on the shopping
list, including a bevy of purses, dresses, hand-woven scarves, hats and
blouses (all made in the Northwest) that would seem right at home at the
Oregon Country Fair. The storeâs most popular section, though, is a
back wall full of hand-crafted earrings and medallions from such
designers as Susan Klein and Jazzola, ranging in style from simple
geometric shapes to elaborate (and functional) chimes that hang from the
earlobes. Namaste, apparently, doesnât mean you canât look good while
finding enlightenment.
Buy this: Handcrafted earrings and medallions ($6.99-$59.99), which can be converted to pins free of charge.
Garden Fever
3433 NE 24th Ave., 287-3200, gardenfever.com. Part nursery, part neighborhood
garden-supply shop and part agrarian museum (dig all those nifty antique
gardening tools adorning the walls), Garden Fever offers one-stop
shopping for both green thumbs and those whose thumbs are slightly
wilted. Aside from the ample supply of garden plants, the storeâs
biggest strength is its huge collection of garden decor, with fountains,
Grecian statue heads, chimes and the like, making ideal gifts for
people who treat their gardens as Zen oases.
Buy this: For the ambitious
gardener, Japanese rain chains ($39.99-$159.99) are a twofold gift—a
series of linked, decorative funnels that turn rainfall into art while
replacing downspouts. You'll have to dig a French drain, so a shovel is a
must—Garden Fever has those, too.
Paperjam Press
4730 NE Fremont St., 238-5777, paperjampress.me. Christmas cards are so boring. Who the
hell needs another picture of a Christmas tree? Or a goddamn snowflake?
How often do we even have snowflakes here? Sure, the thought is nice,
but most cards are doomed to be kindling. Beaumontâs Paperjam Press has a
solution for turning holiday cards into actual gifts in the form of
fully customized, digitally printed photo cards. Why send your grandma
back in Jersey a card with a snowman on it when you can send her a photo
of you doing something uniquely Portlandianâ¦you know, baking while
biking or occupying something while knitting or some other thing people
back East think we do. Why not put a little more thought into sending
the easiest gift ever?
Buy this: Customized photo cards
come in various styles—postcards, fold-overs—and in stacks of 25 ($60
and up) and 100 ($125 and up). Envelopes are included.
WWeek 2015
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