North of West

Something caught my attention in the window on the wall to the book store which was a pair of dish towels that caught my attention. I walked in and found many reasonably priced hipster décor items. Customer service was awesome.

I would give North of West 10 stars if I could! My partner and I purchased 2 Pigeon Toe planters (website in case you want to see their gorgeous stuff, too:
), which were shipped to us in Los Angeles. Due to UPS being a&&@#!^* (I would give UPS –10 stars), the planters were broken – the UPS driver decided to throw the package over our fence. After arguing with UPS and trying to get a reimbursement for this local store, we were not able to get the money back to pay for new planters. What did North of West do? They remade the planters for us and shipped them again. They were kind, understanding, and communicative. I really appreciate their integrity – and, adore this store. Any one visiting Portland must visit North of West not only for their beautiful collection but also for their graciousness.

First of all let me say I came here for one of the best legging manufacturers west of the Mississippi — Make It Good. Their gorgeous glow-​in-​the-​dark galaxy print leggings made the rounds years ago on aesthetic blogs, tumblrs, and instagrams. Women of all shapes and sizes were raving about their excellent fit and stretch, and how soft the damn things were on top of how stylish the print was. Well, being one of those internet-​obsessed aesthetic millenials you so often hear of, I had to try them. I ordered a pair in XL and was practically jumping with excitement when they arrived in my mail box — this was all before they had a brick n’ mortar location. I would literally wear them everywhere. I am a short busty and butt-​heavy woman, so finding a pair of leggings that both looked cute and fit me was out of control incredible for me. I would wear them to work inside out for the black side, then reverse them and wear them out to happy hour. The galaxy print matched with an oversized purple or white sweater would give me #peaklooks to be honest. I wore those things out, like every day for months.
SO when I saw that North of West was going to carry all of Make It Good’s products, along with Nelle and Mary’s, I ran down there and low and behold the same comfy, stretchy, stylish, forgiving material that made my beloved leggings was here in all sorts of shapes and sizes and items. I found a shapely soft pencil skirt, a cozy t-​shirt, a canvas pull over, a soft knit, like everything that you could ever imagine in that «look» — modern bold prints, soft nautical colors and bruised peachy girly ones too. Modern loop de loops and dystopian lines that somehow seemed friendly. Me as hell.
I can’t say enough good things about the store, along with their owners and designers. I have a mug from here that is covered in the gentle splattered blue dots across white and I love it so much. This place just excudes cozy and comfort and it’s all local. I honestly want to vote it best local business in terms of variety. I highly recommend stopping in, especially with visitors who are downtown to check out Powell’s. What better way to take home something that was made here by some of the best and most creative local craftmakers and designers?

The collection of artists showcased here is so fresh, modern, and minimalist. I bought a Nell and Mary tote but wanted so many other things. Please, please stock more jewelry. Also, April is really nice and genuinely helpful. Super good customer service and felt fine just browsing. I will always pop in to see what’s new when I’m downtown.

Wonderful curation… beautiful objects, many of them made in Portland. Lovely, lovely, lovely.