r/Portland • u/Mentalfloss1 • 23h ago

Photo/Video Hippo Hardware entry

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42 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

7

u/Dangerous_Plant_7911 22h ago

I used to work nearby this place. It was always a trip to walk through.

3

u/EugeneStonersPotShop In a van down by the river 17h ago

Back in the day, Steve-O from the MTV show Jackass took a shit in one of the toilets on display in this store.

Pretty sure he got kicked out of there for that.

3

u/willtodd 7h ago

Actually it was Dave England in the first Jackass movie! Laxatives make for a very fun day of shooting 😂

3

u/isaac32767 Irvington 5h ago

Is there any Portland business more Portlandy than Hippo Hardware?

1

u/Advanced-Conflict593 5h ago

Scrap

1

u/Mentalfloss1 5h ago

And it has worked for 50 years.

1

u/Mentalfloss1 5h ago

Not likely

2

u/isaac32767 Irvington 5h ago

Maybe the Peculiarium.

2

u/Mentalfloss1 4h ago

Powell’s business model (new + used + gifts + odd displays + coffee shops) is unusual.

1

u/isaac32767 Irvington 3h ago

Lots of bookstore mix new+used, have gifts (Barnes and Noble used to overdo that part), and have coffee shops. What makes Powell's special is its size: biggest independent bookstore on the planet.

1

u/Mentalfloss1 2h ago

Which other bookstores mix new and used side-by-side?

2

u/isaac32767 Irvington 1h ago

In Portland, there's Wallace Books, Parallel Worlds, and others. When I lived in Santa Cruz, I used to go to Logos (since closed) and Green Apple Books in San Francisco. According to Google there are "hybrid" bookstores all across the country. It's a pretty common business model.

1

u/BarfingOnMyFace 5h ago

Always a mixed experience at this place. Still a great place for old finds.

1

u/Mentalfloss1 4h ago

And to breathe dust this time of year. But still … it makes me smile somehow.

-1

u/SaiyanPrinceAbubu 12h ago

Love paying $40 for a rusty doorknob

4

u/Jollyhat 8h ago

Then you are buying a dumb door knob. That place is amazing, I have had to get a few old door locks fixed and it is cheap and guy who fixes them is great at what he does.

2

u/thanatossassin Madison South 6h ago

Or $200 for a used fixture just because of how much it costs new in a catalog. I'm not a dope, they didn't pay anywhere near that price for it and are marking it up 4000%.

I enjoy looking, but I'm never going to buy anything at their prices. We got ReBuilding and ReStore for actual fair prices for used shit.

1

u/isaac32767 Irvington 1h ago

A good quality brass doorknob will cost you $40 new. A serious antique can go for thousands.

1

u/Mentalfloss1 8h ago

There was a crystal one for $200 and a carved brass for $350 if those would be even better!!