Shopping in Portland | The Official Guide to Portland (2024)

With no sales tax in sight, Portland is a shopper’s paradise. Explore the city’s vibrant maker scene and take home a made-in-Portland souvenir; go treasure hunting at one of the city’s many antique stores or vintage clothing shops; or spruce up your style at one of the specialty stores featuring iconic brands that call the City of Roses home. Visit these neighborhoods and Portland shopping centers to find everything you need, want and more.

Shopping By Quadrant

Counterintuitively, the City of Portland has six quadrants and a distinct downtown. Each area offers unique shopping experiences for visitors and locals alike.

South and Southwest

Downtown Portland is home to Pioneer Place shopping center, where you can score tax-free savings on major brands like Apple, Gucci and Louis Vuitton. This urban mall also houses local designer Jean Pierre Nugloze’s N’Kossi Boutique, and favorites like H&M and Zara. Portland State University hosts an impressive year-round farmers’ market every Saturday morning with dozens of local food, beverage, flower and other product vendors. A few blocks away, you’ll find the only MUJI store on the West Coast. Items from this affordable and well-designed Japanese brand fit nicely in the Portland aesthetic.

A little walk to the West End will bring you to the eclectic home store Woonwinkel, music label Tender Loving Empire’s gift shop, local favorite Portland Gear and feminist clothing brand Wildfang, all on the same block. A short jaunt down to the waterfront brings you to the home of the Portland Saturday Market, the largest continually operating arts and crafts fair in the U.S., open every Saturday from March to December.

The South Waterfront district, just south of downtown, holds a park, several restaurants, and a handful of shops, including the eclectic and playful Wonderful Jewelry and Gifts and locally owned Ecru Stationery.

Northwest

The country’s largest independent bookstore, Powell’s Books, sits at the edge of the Pearl District, across the street from the Dr Martens shop (and U.S. headquarters), which is also a short walk away from Anthropologie, CB2, Lululemon and other high-end retailers. Art collectors will find lots to love in this area’s dozen-plus galleries; see what’s on the walls at Froelick, Elizabeth Leach and J. Pepin for a start.

Heading north to NW 23rd Avenue will take you to Nob Hill, one of the most walkable window-shopping districts in the whole city. The retailers here — many housed in restored Victorians — include featuring more prominent brands like Cotopaxi, prAna and Paper Source, as well as smaller shops like curiosities dealer Paxton Gate and the fun and colorful boutique Spero Park.

In Old Town China Town, check out Pendleton for their iconic American wool blankets, or head over to Barnes & Morgan for bespoke threads, accessories and in-house tea service. Feeling snacky? Head over to Goodies Snack Shop next door, a first-generation market that can sate any craving, then explore the streetwear offerings from indie and emerging designers at Unspoken.

North and Northeast

While in North Portland, swing by North Williams Avenue and North Mississippi for some cute window shopping. With a few locations around town, The Meadow offers gourmands a global array of chocolates, condiments, spices and salts. Reach your maximalist dreams at Flutter for antiques, unique jewelry, and toys or find what sparks simple joys at Monochromatic, a woman-owned boutique featuring ethically-sourced and pronoun-inclusive garments.

Camera nerds and antique fans should head to St. John’s to check out Blue Moon Camera and Machines. Even if you’re not looking to buy, they have an impressive collection of used machines to oooh and ahh over under the glass.

In the Northeast, the Alberta Arts District is many people’s first stop in the quadrant. Between coffee shops, eateries and galleries like Blind Insect and Guardino, you’ll find Collage art supply store, esoteric gift shop Psychic Sister, Black-owned home goods store Ecovibe, and many more.

Southeast

If local and eclectic is your vibe, you can’t miss shopping in the city’s Southeast district. Southeast Division is the first stop, where we start with woman-owned adult toy boutique She-Bop, where patrons are greeted with expert knowledge on whatever they might need. Cross the street for the small but mighty Black-owned mystic book shop Third Eye, and then hit every cute little boutique and collectible shop on the way to Native-owned beauty store Coral Story. Eco-fans will make their way to SE Foster, Portland’s sustainability corridor, for secondhand everything from kitchen tools at Kitchen Culture to outdoor equipment at Foster Outdoor, as well as one of the friendliest stores in the city, Red Castle Games, where all the games are uncharacteristically brand new.

Shopping By Type

Vintage

Portland is well known for our vintage shops, which run the gamut from designer consignment goods at Seams to Fit and high-end luxury goods by appointment only at Recycled Chic Boutique, to beautifully cluttered multi-story buildings full of hidden treasures like Hollywood Vintage, Hippo Hardware, House of Vintage and Village Merchants. Artifact: Creative Recycle on Division is the best of both worlds, selling remixed vintage clothes, furniture and decor. Just a few miles away, Hawthorne Boulevard is a vintage lover’s paradise, with more than 10 secondhand and vintage shops on the street (see “10 to Try” below), many of those in the 5 blocks between 33rd and 38th.

Vinyl

Portland’s oldest music store, Music Millennium on East Burnside, has anchored the city’s vinyl scene since 1969. Jackpot Records is known for having rare stock at reasonable prices.

Vinyl Resting Place in St. Johns specializes in folk, jazz and blues. Mississippi Records maintains a meticulously curated assemblage of rare releases. On the West side, Everyday Music remains a favorite for musicians and DJs for their massive selection of everything.

Jewelry

Downtown Portland is home to many of the city’s premium jewelers, all conveniently located within a few walkable city blocks. Packouz Jewelers is well known for its designer watches and superb customer service. Go to Kassab Jewelers for diamonds and Medallion Jewelers for its low-pressure, high-service vibes for the newly engaged. Marx Jewelers has people raving about its custom designs, while Maloy’s Jewelry Workshop repurposes antique pieces with great prices and personal service. ABC Jewelry uses modern tech to ensure everything comes out perfectly, and they get high marks on professionalism from their fans.

Leather

Family owned by a fourth-generation master leatherworker and his children, Orox stands for Oregon and Oaxaca and symbolizes the family’s present merged with their past. A visit to their Old Town showroom and workshop lets you see both the start and end of the production process, and since every product is meant to serve its owner for life, this is also where long-term customers come for repairs. Elsewhere in the city, Portland Leather Goods has multiple locations and boasts a maker team of more than 20 craftspeople. Customers find their goods to be trendy, accessible, and fun. In a class of its own, Langlitz Leathers, a local leather shop founded in 1947, is a favorite with motorcycle enthusiasts for its custom-fit riding leathers, bags and accessories.

Shoes and Sneakers

Celebrated in the Pacific Northwest for more than 80 years, Danner in Portland’s Union Way sells handcrafted boots, including the model Reese Witherspoon wore for her spellbinding performance in the film “Wild.” No trip to Portland is complete without visiting Nike Portland in downtown’s Pioneer Place, where you can test-run the latest kicks and tour the brand’s most groundbreaking designs inside their mini-museum. In the predominantly male sneakerhead culture, BAIT offers a refreshing assortment of shoes for women, along with a selection of collectibles, figurines and jewelry. With so many sneakerheads, designers and collectors in town, it’s no surprise Portland is the spot to find vintage kicks. Check out the offerings at Index, Drexler’s and Back to the Basket.

If you’re looking for imported shoes and goods without the price tag of an international trip, head to Halo Shoes in the Pearl District for European designers like Moma, Pantenetti and Il Bisonte. Downtown, Zelda’s Shoe Bar stocks fashionable footwear from Gini & Albert, Swedish Hasbeens and more.

Shopping Centers in Portland

Cascade Station

Conveniently located along the MAX Light Rail Red Line, two stops from Portland International Airport, Cascade Station is one of Portland’s top spots for big-box shopping. The Northeast Portland shopping center features 40+ stores, including Oregon’s only IKEA, Best Buy and the Banana Republic Factory Store.

Jantzen Beach

Jantzen Beach Center, just south of Vancouver, Washington, is an expansive outdoor mall with nearly 30 stores. The big brands on offer include Lane Bryant, TJ Maxx, Sierra and Ulta Beauty.

Pioneer Place

Downtown Portland’s home for big-brand shopping, Pioneer Place, houses major brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Yves-Saint Laurent, Tory Burch, H&M and Apple. In addition to more than 50 stores, the multi-block Portland shopping center has a large food court and a Regal Cinemas movie theater.

Union Way

A modern arcade connecting downtown Portland’s West End with the Pearl District, Union Way is tucked behind Shake Shack across the street from Powell’s Books and houses several small shops, including Danner, Self Edge and Wailua Shave Ice.

Columbia Gorge Outlets

Columbia Gorge Outlets is home to 40 stores, such as Coach, Eddie Bauer, Gap and Tommy Hilfiger. This shopping center is in Troutdale, just west of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and a short distance from Multnomah Falls.

Woodburn Premium Outlets

With more than 100 stores, Woodburn Premium Outlets is the largest tax-free outlet center in the West. Woodburn is located in the Willamette Valley, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Portland. Big-name brands, skylight-covered walkways and beautiful Northwest architecture and landscaping make this a unique and fun shopping experience.

Shopping Events in Portland

Combining two things this city does best (food and craft), the seasonal monthly Portland Flea + Food market takes over the Nova Building in Southeast Portland, offering more than 50 new and vintage vendors for browsing.

Held twice a year, My People’s Market brings together dozens of local artists, entrepreneurs and creatives of color for live music, networking and shopping. Supporting Indigenous artists and artisans, the Portland Indigenous Marketplace stages periodic pop-ups featuring handmade items such as jewelry, fine art and treats from local makers.

Over-the-top decorations and attention-grabbing booths from more than 100 local vendors invite shoppers to a century-old Central Eastside warehouse for the highly anticipated Portland Night Market, held a few weekends a year starting in the spring and ending in December. Find hanging lanterns and twinkly lights, music, food and libations at this festive celebration of culture and commerce that feels more like a party than a pop-up.

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