favorite shops: The Needle April 9, 2009

I thought I’d write up some of my favorite places to find vintage and new buttons… and the first shop I want to spotlight is The Needle, right here in Portland.

The Needle on SE 37th

It’s a tiny shop full of fascinating books, antiques, and ephemera, including bowls full of vintage buttons to sift through and choose your favorites!

The Needle on SE 37th

I met Myrna Goldware through my neighbor Randy — she is a button collector extraordinaire and generously shared her magnificent photographs with me to bring the Vintage Button Primer section of Button It Up to life.

And she curates some of the incredible finds at The Needle, including a fantastic rotating exhibit of buttons, photographs, cards,

the button display at The Needle

and even a charm string from her own collection of treasures.

the button display at The Needle

The shop offers two bowls of vintage buttons to sift through… one near the register has a mix of buttons for 25¢ apiece,

Magnificent bowl of buttons at The Needle

and the other is a “clearance” bowl priced at 10¢ each,

10¢ button bowl

also with plenty of treasures.

10¢ button bowl

Here’s what I found one afternoon — maybe 2/3 of these are from the 25¢ bowl and the rest from the 10¢. I could have happily spent another hour looking!

my finds from The Needle

If you go, The Needle is open most afternoons from about 1-5. You can call ahead to find out the hours and plan a visit, and be sure to say hello to Myrna when you are there!

The Needle Thrift Shop
1420 SE 37th Ave (a half-block north of Hawthorne)
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 234-7662

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