Columbia Art & Drafting Supply

Art Mecca. I wish I had an unlimited budget for this place!

I know a lot of People of Color who will Not shop here because they’re made super uncomfortable and are followed around the entire store. This business racially profiles and it’s a huge disappointment.

Good selection of fine art and crafting supplies. They have really good sales sometimes!

Awful costumer service, I guess asking a costumer «How can I help you» is out of style and «What are you doing» is more acceptable.

Great sales, chill staff, mazing selection and even framing supplies. Kid and adult friendly. I love it.

Yes: excellent selection for a neighborhood art store without the giantness of the national chain; reasonable prices; nice range of quality from hobby to professional in pretty much every section.
No: customer service at Columbia is the dog’s balls. If I can get in and out without having to converse with anyone, I love Columbia. If I have to ask for help or am approached by an employee asking if I have any questions (which happens every time I’m trying to make a personal decision about how much I should actually spend vs. what I would like to have on hand for a piece), I HATE Columbia. This place is staffed by the snottiest, snobbiest, most humorless bunch of humans in the city. They seem to revel in treating their customers like a bunch of hacks and dilettantes, which I have observed from afar and experienced first hand. I told a gent this evening that no, I didn’t need help because I was just trying to decide if I needed more of a particular shade of watercolor or ought to try something new. His response was that if I knew myself as an artist, I wouldn’t need to experiment; I would already know what I wanted. So I bought zero watercolor. I have only been painting for 25 years, so I went home to think about who I truly am artistically. Hopefully a day will arrive when I can go back confident in my decision to go with the bright rose instead of the magenta.

I am a student at PSU, and was recommended thru friends to come here for their great selection. They did not disappoint, i found everything i needed (and a little extra) and good prices. The staff was very friendly, and helped me find the products i needed and was knowledgeable with their products.
They even gave me a 20% discount for being a student. All in all, great place to shop for art supplies, great variety, and great staff!

Columbia Art has the best selection of Art Supplies that I have found. This place is right across the street from Little Baja Pottery.

The selection is reasonable and the prices, if not great, are not excessive but the staff is generally unhelpful or unknowledgeable and they engage in some questionable financial policies.

Love checking in here with my toddler — plenty of mini art books, interesting posters (snagged the one he wanted for 5 bucks!), rubber stamps and assorted crafty items at reasonable prices to keep him occupied in the store + when we get home!

I took my list in from my art class and they walked with me and helped me find each item. They even gave me a 20% discount for being a student. I needed a sketch pad and the manager gave me a note that said that I could return it if the teacher said it was the wrong one. I was absolutely floored by their customer service. AWESOME!

Good selection and very helpful staff when you explain what you want. Thank you!

I wanted to like this place because its very close to my house and I always need art supplies. However I had a bad customer service experience my first time in there and encountered conflicting thoughts on how to solve a minor problem. I had purchased two journals that were priced at $ 9.99 and apparently they mispriced the items. They charged me $ 13.99 for them, so I went back in thinking I was overcharged. The one clerk was wanting to give me the difference of what I had been overcharged and was apologetic about the situation and sorry for the trouble, but another employee was insistent that the price was $ 13.99 and I can’t have it for the price it was marked as I found which was $ 9.99. In the end, she told me it was their fault that they mispriced that, however they will not refund me the difference which I had preferred. I was inconvenienced and left unsatisfied with the customer service I received about the situation. I don’t think I would like to shop here in the near future as Columbia art & drafting supply wasn’t taking responsibility for their mistakes. Apparently they misprice items here and I don’t want to approach the cashier thinking something’s one price when its more money. That’s not right.

Any place which is within walking distance of where I live is always an advantage for me. Columbia Art & Drafting Supply is about a mile away, so I can enjoy a nice walk as shopping is not one of my favorite things.
There are only a few things which I use in my drawings, and I was happy to see that they offer everything I needed, even pens that were not available at Blick across the river. I don’t buy many art supplies, but it is nice to know that this store is here in the neighborhood.

Great selection of art supplies. They carry Golden brand paints (my favorite) as well as a multitude of other brands. I like the broad selection of pens and paints. Nice place to shop for any type of art supplies.
Most of their sales people are helpful, some are rather indifferent. If you ask for something they don’t carry, be prepared for a dismissive response.

I am not a pro artist. I am a creative woman who has been taking a mixed media class and so I wanted to get a few nicer supplies than what my go-​to-​much-​loved Michael’s store carries. So glad I chose Columbia Art! Friendly staff who wander the aisles ready and willing to assist. The paints I wanted were 20% off and the canvas boards I picked up were BOGO free. Parking is easy and free and best of all is the selection of poster size gorgeous paper that a collage artist like me drools over. Brought home a vibrant paper with birds for under $ 5 and I can’t wait to tear it up and art with it. I’m an instant fan and will definitely be back.
Added bonus: the owners are Vietnamese. I taught English to Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong a lifetime ago. I talked with the owner who was in a HK camp. Pretty epic to meet someone who came through one of those camps. We weren’t there in HK at the same time but no matter — I’ve been to the camp where he lived and this small world story element just added to my sense of satisfaction in my first visit. I will be back !

It’s nice to have an art store within walking distance from where I am living. Years and I mean years ago, I worked in an art store in Woodbridge, NJ. A huge two story place that graced Route 1 for a long time. On my last visit to New Jersey I saw that it was gone. I never thought that could happen.
Well, now on to the present. Columbia is a nice and small art store with basically everything one could need for most all mediums. I will say things are a bit pricey and well, I could take a short hike over to the Pearl and visit Blick but if it is convenience I can just as easily get some quick items here. The place does remind me quite a bit of that old art store in New Jersey. Sort of an organized chaos but it all works. Framing to the right, canvases in the back along with the paper. Easels and brushes up front and the various paints in the middle of the store. It works and being that I have a photo/​painting project that I am about to undertake, I will most likely be visiting shortly for purchases.
Enjoy.

The first time I visited this place was around five years ago. I’d purchased some oil paintings during a trip to Bolivia, and in order to pack them in my luggage I had the paintings removed from their stretcher frames and placed in mailing tubes. When I got to Portland I had to hunt around for a place willing to remount them on stretchers, and someone recommended Columbia. They ended up doing a great job. I also had them frame the paintings (Columbia Art & Drafting has a large in house frame shop). I couldn’t be happier with the results. They did a great job. The framing was expensive (it cost me more than the paintings!), but then again, framing is expensive everywhere.
Last week I finally returned to buy some actual art supplies (drawing materials), and again I was pleased with the selection and the pricing.
This isn’t an ‘arts and craft’ sort of store like the Michael’s Art store chain inasmuch as it lacks the «and crafts» part of the selection. That means you won’t find yarn and knitting supplies or glitter and découpage, or scrap booking materials, or any of that middle brow hausfrau bullshit. It’s an art supply shop, carrying paint and brushes and paper and pens and easels, and drafting supplies and whatnot. And in that domain the selection is big. It’s a fairly large store.

I have yet to find the art supply store that is a cross between Trader Joe’s private source goods and the tenth the price discounters specializing in expired goods. Hey, if that Rembrandt is good, then some tubes of oil paint a hundredth of his age should be OK — right?
A favorite is Daniel Smith, but Columbia has all those things going for it that we love in Portland.
First, the price is right. I found an item here cheaper than Amazon. And I bought it. The price of framing everywhere is a crime, so I can’t comment if his place is any different.
Second, they are a local business not a national chain, as is their closest competitor.
Third, free parking! Portlanders love free parking.
Fourth, great customer service. No more mopey sales people in art stores!
Fifth, quirky!
Yes, Columbia joins Portland’s small museums! They have a collection, well 3, of hand made wood scale warplane models. That’s weird!

I am pretty sure this is the worst customer service I have encountered in my many years in Portland. I’m a pretty easy-​to-​please customer, so that’s saying a lot.
I took two large prints in to get framed. The guy at the framing counter was very nice and helped me find the pre-​made frames I needed and told me they could have the prints dropped into the frames in «a week, maybe less.» I assumed that meant no more than 7 days. I paid the pretty steep bill and headed out. Ten days later I come in to see if they are done, as I hadn’t gotten a call yet. One is done, one is still sitting where I left it. Okay, well, I’ll take the one that’s done, right? NO. I can’t have it because they have no proof I paid for it, as the counter girl forgot to stamp the paper that I had to relay across the store for them. I don’t have the receipt on me, of course… why would I think I’d need to bring that? Magically, my other pictured was framed and ready the next day and with receipt in hand I went to pick them both up.
Okay, that’s all pretty annoying. but it’s the way it was handled that really grinds my gears. I brought up my disappointment in a very diplomatically Oregonian way and was told basically it was my fault for not telling them I needed it sooner and as for having to come back and prove I paid for it? Well, that sucks, bummer. No apology, just, «bummer».
As a business owner myself, I would *never* let someone leave the store so dissatisfied and not at least *try* to make reparations, say I’m sorry or offer a discount on a future purchase because their patronage is important to me.
On top of that I literally let the door hit me on the way out as I tried to maneuver the door with my large frames in hand. Some nice customers did come to my aid, and that was the most pleasant experience I had there. Blargh.