Q Is For Choir

Tiny, unique and the perfect place to shop when you’re just not interested in the latest Killers record and want to try something new. Or old, and less common. A great place to pick up not only CDs but vinyl and zines, too.

Oh my. This store is what I love about Portland. Unfortunately, I don’t think they sell a single thing that I want, but hey, I am so happy they exist.
BTW, isn’t the name a reference to the Quireboys (
)?

Q takes care of me. So I go back. Dude carries just want I need for northern soul records.

Q is for Choir is a loveable record store in the Clinton Pocket. Loveable because of its diminutive and cute size, because of the selection of records, CDS, and TAPES. Also a good stop for local zines, information about biking in Portland and handmade pins.
Support your local record store – you can pick up a map of all of them here, too!

Gotta love Q is for choir, it’s worker owned (gooOOO Portland!) they sell records, zines, and even old record players they’ve fixed up to sell. In addition you can also find all the usual cute buttons and patches and things you’d expect at a small, indie, worker-​owned co-​op.
Oh, right small is the keyword there. Joint is tiny. Closet sized. But this only ads to it’s cuteness and I’m sure you’ll be charmed.

I is for Indie. This is the little shop that could – worker owned and operated, it looks like a highly personal selection of everything they wanted to carry and nothing else, popularity be damned. Which makes it the perfect place to shop for zines. There’s an entire selection of bike zines, Portland zines, and vegan zines, plus a wall or two of records.
But MOST IMPORTANTLY, there is a zine/​book there called How to Build a Pirate Ship. Inside are several pages of cut outs with assembly instructions. There’s no way they make money on this or really any of the zines in there, but it warms my little heart.
All of these things, plus the location on Clinton street across from Dots, makes me love Q is for Choir’s vision of the world – within the confines of that teensy space, you can imagine a land of DIY pirate ships, happy people on bikes, and self-​printed masterpieces, all set to a 70’s soundtrack. And that’s a world I can live in.

I love Q is for Choir and have always wondered about their name. It must be an interesting story there…
Great record selection, nice employees (some who knit), and a very good selection of local zines. Plus they have cute buttons to buy. Can it get any better.
Downside: the space is so tiny, three people seems like a crowd.