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Shop Small PDX: The Website Helping Support Small Oregon Businesses In Big Ways

One website helps you support your favorite local Oregon businesses

By Derek EversPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Shop Small PDX: The Website Helping Support Small Oregon Businesses In Big Ways
Photo by Mike Petrucci on Unsplash

I’m not a huge fan of shopping in the city (social anxiety, am I right?), so I’ve been pretty okay with staying home and shopping online… Until recently.

I’ve really been missing seeing all the little Portland shops and exploring their unique collections of clothes, décor, and food! So, earlier this week, I decided I would investigate and find some small, local businesses that allowed for orders to be placed online. And I was surprised to find out that there was an entire website dedicated to searching, shopping, and supporting small Oregon businesses!

The website is Shop Small PDX and looks like this:

Shop Small PDX

I love that immediately you can see from their front page that they care about small BIPOC owned businesses.

I started scrolling through and exploring the webpage to see exactly what they had to offer. I was expecting to find a few pages with several businesses listed but was once again surprised to see that they had seemingly hundreds of small businesses listed!

I’m telling you; it has everything! There are at least a million businesses I’ve never heard of and probably would’ve never found if not for Shop Small PDX.

This probably sounds overwhelming (welcome to center stage, anxiety!), but the website actually makes it really easy to find the businesses you’re looking for even if you only have a general idea (like décor or electronics). They provide the ability to filter your search results according to certain “tags” like clothing or gifts. Just one click and boom, you’ve got a whole laundry list of options to explore and choose from.

Shop Small PDX Tags

And if you know exactly what business you’re looking for then you can use the simple search bar to find it.

They also have a “Show a map” feature so you can see where a business is in relation to your current location. Give it a click and you’ll see that they feature businesses stretching all the way from Albany to St. Helens. Amazing!

Under each business that is listed, you’ll find shopping options and categories such as “online ordering”, “delivery” or “Mercatus”. Mercatus is a particularly good category to look out for; it’s a collective of POC-owned local businesses in the Portland Metro Area. Check out businesses under that category if you’re looking for a new BIPOC-owned business to shop from!

Another great thing about this website is how easy they make it for business owners to apply to be added. Simply click “Add your business” and you’ll be taken to an online questionnaire and after that you’ll be reviewed and added to the growing list of small businesses!

I can’t believe I had never heard of this website before this week, but I’m really happy I stumbled across it! I’ve been exploring it for the past few days but managed to pull myself away long enough to write this post. (However, you’ll likely catch me looking at more unfamiliar businesses immediately once I’m done).

Here are just a few of my favorite finds:

Attic Journals – they use discarded schoolbooks to create unique journals and jewelry.

Good Intent – a low waste shop that provide sustainable alternatives to everyday necessities.

Unsolicited Press – a small press that publishes fiction, creative non-fiction, and poetry.

Ethical Living Collective – this business sells one item and it is a gift box with curated items from local Black women-owned businesses.

Slipstream Clay – an independent ceramics studio that provides take home clay kits, tutorials, and custom firing.

Ethical Living Collective

And there are many more, but I don’t want to take up too much more of your time, so I’ll just leave it at that.

I’m incredibly inspired by the community surrounding me and their efforts to help support one another! If you’re a small business owner in Oregon, I highly suggest checking out the website and applying to be added – you never know how much it might help!

I hope that other states have a program or website like Shop Small PDX that helps small businesses and if not then hopefully this post inspires someone outside of Oregon to create something similar to keep small businesses running during these crazy times.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed, then please share, leave a like or a tip, or check out some of my other writing by clicking on my profile icon. Thank you for your support, I truly appreciate it!

Let me know your thoughts on Instagram (deverswriting) or Twitter (doitlikederk)

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About the Creator

Derek Evers

Hello! I'm Derek, a writer based in Portland, OR. Author of short stories, poetry, and blog posts about the things that interest me. Be kind to yourself and others, always.

IG: deverswriting

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