The world is divided up into lots of different types of people. This isn’t the biggest or most important distinction between people by a long shot – but there are definitely those of us that really, really like to shop and those of us that shop only for the “necessities.”
Audrey, the dental hygienist at Belmont Family Dentistry, I’m going to guess, loves to shop. I got my first teeth cleaning with her this week (nice and painless) and it came with unsolicited gushing praise for her long time favorite store on Belmont: – conveniently just as I was getting ready to write Noun up as our latest Roost local business sponsor.
Having two kids and being a big kid at heart, I’ve bought my share of St. Cupcakes but, not being the biggest of shoppers, up until now, I’ve only just glanced at everything Stephanie Shelton, owner of Noun has gathered together in the well decorated space she shares with all those frosted cupcakes across from Zupans at 33rd and Belmont. Ever wondered why the combination of cupcakes with another store? Jami, the founder of St Cupcakes, and Stephanie, the creator of Noun, are best friends from Ohio that moved out to Portland together right out of college.
Since not every one of us was born to shop, I feel obligated to share about Noun in such a way that speaks to all of us even though decorative items for purchase make some of us dream in Technicolor and others of us can easily walk by unaffected by the lure of beautiful things.
The best thing I knew to do for a fair review is to stroll into one afternoon (right past the display of St. Cupcakes) with an open mind, a big heart and the kind of bubbling-from-your-belly curiosity that could just choke nine lives out of a cat.
And before you know it, not being the decorating or shop-for-pleasure type myself, I’d fallen in love. Not only with the store (although if you read about it on , there’s a great big love fest going on in cyber space about this place), not just with the idea of how cool it could be to be Stephanie Sheldon (Noun’s creator and owner who is really talented at picking out great looking things). It’s bigger than that. I’ve fallen in love with Portland all over again, just like the first time I came to visit from the heart of corporate Silicon Valley and discovered that Portland is a place where you can chat with the restaurant owner who really cares about his food, his friends and his customers.
Living in Portland is about food and friends and, in small or large ways, being customers of what we believe in so our money makes some change in the world.
Call it a need, a desire or anything else you want to call it, but I’m a believer now that Noun holds an important place in our corner of the universe. Get to know Stephanie just a bit and you’ll understand how some vintage furniture, sweet, locally made jewelry, stacks of cards doubling as art and funky old purple refrigerators can put smiles on people’s faces while waging a stealth campaign for sustainability.
First there’s the reuse and recycle aspect of what Stephanie is doing. Her time is split between being behind the counter in her store (which she loves) and going out, mostly to estate sales, to pick up local, long held treasures – old sets of glasses, surprisingly popular manual typewriters and odd collections of this and that.
Then there’s the direct support of our local economy. All the jewelry for sale at Noun comes from local artisans. Much of the art for her cards is locally made and produced too.
What I really love about Stephanie’s way of life is that she’s taken the time to ask herself, not just once but a bunch of times until she has worked out the answer . . . how much is enough?
How much is enough to charge for an old fashioned calligraphy pen? Stephanie smiles when ever someone points out that she’d be “better off” running her shop on the west side where her $18 item would easily sell for $50. She smiles a little more when someone tells her she’d get more traffic if her store was over on Hawthorne. She smiles the most when she goes home at the end of the day, having greeted every customer, chatted with her favorite regular shoppers and really gotten to know someone new to town instead of running around trying to get bigger and bigger and sell more and more.
She’s not stressed. She’s not frazzled. She’s not making a fortune but she’s also not needing to spend a fortune or a good chunk of her life energy chasing the next elusive level of success.
Happily, inner southeast Portland is a place where Stephanie and all the rest of us have a really fair chance of leveling out – living comfortably somewhere between underdone and over-the-top. It feels good (even to an only moderate shopper like me) to look around in Noun surrounded by an eclectic gathering of things that, thanks to Stephanie’s fun eye for objects, all look like they belong in our neighborhood: new things, old things, and odd things, all reasonably priced for what they are – considering the work that went into getting them there for all of us to share.
There are baskets of things for just a dollar scattered around so you can bring your kids to shop with you (if you can get past the cupcakes in the front lobby.) While there are a few pieces of jewelry and pieces of furniture that sell for hundreds of dollars, the majority of what you will walk around and see won’t break the bank and will bring some whimsy and spunk to your home or to the ones you love.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: in my perfect, more sustainable world, there will still be a place for the Fred Meyers and Targets and IKEAs of the world (we can’t recycle and reuse what we already have forever) but that space will be much smaller and we’ll be way more connected to people like Stephanie at Noun on 33rd and Belmont and Lisa, the new owner at the kids and maternity consignment/resale shop: Small Wonders on 80th and Foster.
Looking first to the objects and items we already have in our co-op and in local resale stores is a great way to support each other, support local businesses and support a simpler, more social way of life.
Cupcake or no cupcake, stop in and say hi to Stephanie when you are walking along Belmont and do take a trip out Foster Road to Small Wonders to see how Lisa is doing. Real sustainability is about figuring out what sustains us without over taxing our planetary resources, our bank account or our day-to-day.
Lucky for us that people like Stephanie and Lisa like southeast Portland so much. We’re glad to have you in the neighborhood, or in Lisa’s case, nearby the neighborhood.
You can check out all our local business Roost sponsors on our , add your favorite business recommendations to the growing data base on our Yahoo list and away about all sorts of places including our co-op thanks to a new posting by co-op member Carissa Martos.
Thanks Carissa for reaching out and thank you to everyone who networks through our co-op for better connections and resources. I know I feel richer for it and I hope you do too.
Stephanie Sheldon
Noun: A Person’s Place for Things
3300 SE Belmont
Tues – Sat 10-7, Sunday 10 – 5, closed Mondays
(503) 235-0078
Corner of 33rd and Belmont across from Zupans
Lisa Knudson
Small Wonders
7979 SE Foster Road
Tue-Fri 10am-6pm; Sat and Sun 10am-4pm, closed Mondays.
(503) 772-1920
On your left as you are driving up Foster just before the Fred Meyer parking lot
Or, on your right just past the Fred Meyer parking lot if you coming down from 82nd
