Day Of Thrifting In Portland

Well we had quite the adventure this weekend; Amanda and I went on a thrifting adventure in Portland! Let me just pause and give you some background…I have always been the girl that kind of shuddered thinking about a thrift store. I attempted it a couple of times and would start scratching and get goosebumps…you know the rest. The even stranger thing is I have always loved garage sales! Obviously I have eclectic taste so it was the way to go for me to decorate my home (you can’t beat the price either!). Well when the garage sales start to end, I would get kind of bored…what to do but enter the thrift store! I started small, I just wanted a large mirror. So with my heart thumping in my chest, I went to the local Goodwill. I went directly to the front counter asked where they would be, went there looked (none to be found) and left immediately, lol! Anyhow, they said you have to constantly check back, so that is how it began…then next time I actually looked from left to right, etc.

I still haven’t strayed much from home for the thrift stores but when we are so close to Portland…they have over 50 thrift stores for the love of Pete! So I got online and mapped out our course. Here was our first stop.

William Temple House

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I was happy with this store, was in a fun part of town...I really want to go back and check it out! The prices were great, we got some great finds at this store. Here is Amanda as we left:



See that pile of baskets, can I just tell you now...my friend has a problem with baskets, or wood bowls, boxes, etc.! I think she left every store with a pile that size of the things! Here are my finds:



The owl will receive some spray paint, probably all white. Who knows what I will do with the rest!

Stop 2-Little Edie's Five and Dime
3120 North Williams Avenue

Portland, OR

(503) 284-1051

This little place doesn't look like much from the outside! Kind of run down but the inside was so fun. They had the coolest vintage items. It was just so much fun looking through all the goodies. It was well-organized and clean and jammed packed. The prices were a bit steep, but if you love vintage this is the place to go. Amanda got a handmade ceramic teal cup, and a cute bird picture. Check out this display of trinkets.



Here it is a little closer (oh yeah, notice picture off the phone AGAIN! Forgot a camera!)



I was in love with this case! It would be so cute in my house!

Stop 3-Rerun



This place was so busy! It was fun to look at the goodies, but the prices were higher than closer to home. We are just heading into thrift store central in Portland so we are seeing a price increase in the goods as well.

Stop 4-Avant Garden



This was an interesting place, we walked to the front and it said call this number for service. I called and she said "Oh I will be right there". Amanda spotted some awesome old wooden spools in the window and checked the price, said $6.00 each, SCORE! The shop person quickly told us "Those aren't for sale" big disappointment, kind of ruined our trip in the store..I did get a really cute old gas can, though!



Stop 5-White Rabbit Vintage



This little gem wasn't even on our list, Amanda spotted the sign as we were leaving our last stop so we followed it. This store had really cool stuff! I am a total bargain shopper so I didn't find much, the prices were a bit high for me. Amanda got a couple of cute items.


Of course wooden boxes! Totally cute though! As we were chatting with the sales lady...lone and behold she gave us a Shop Vintage Portland brochure! Really! Could have saved me some time that am!

Stop 6- Village Merchants



I was so amazed as we arrived at these little stores on how busy they were!

Stop 7 House of Vintage



Well this store was interesting, and it had my people watching on overdrive! The street had a totally fun vibe, I would want to stroll up and down and shop for sure! The actual store was a little much for me, each little vendor booth was so jammed and most time sometimes not organized or displayed well. I think it really has its crowd and I can see that it appeals to many, but had my goosebumps acting up! I did get these fun Bingo cards.



It was dark at this point so we tried to go over to Vancouver and hit some stores on Main Street. We really wanted to go to Not Too Shabby, but sadly it was closed as were many of the locations. We did stumble upon our next stop completely by accident.

Stop 8 Antique Mall

So I feel really bad but I cannot remember what the name of this place was! I didn't even get a picture, but I am pretty sure it was on Main Street. Anyhow, it had some fun trinkets but we didn't find anything that we loved. We were a little stumped on what to do next, had to get a bit of energy...coffee for me, smoothie for Amanda, then it dawned on us; Goodwill Outlet in Vancouver.

Stop 9 Goodwill Outlet

If you haven't experienced a Goodwill Outlet....lets just say go and experience. It took me awhile to get into this kind of gross

shopping. It has these big bins and you have to dig through them to find goodies then you purchase by the pound. So crazy! People really get into this. You can find some great deals..we did..if you can handle it! I got a wicker love seat and chair for my porch (sorry no picture, still crammed in the back of the car!) Guess how much? $25.00 for them both!! SCORE! The funniest part was Amanda and I trying to get them in the car! We had to take everything out, lay all the seats down etc., etc.

Sadly, this is where our adventure ends...all in all I think we had a great day! We will probably do this again, now that we have these stinking brochures! There are many more treasures to find!

Until next time!

Adriane