Inc Magazine article
INC Magazine
How This Salvage Shop Became Famous for Turning Portland, Oregon's Trash Into Treasure
Seattle may have the 'Everything Store.' But Stumptown has this 'everything else store.'
BY LEIGH BUCHANAN, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, INC. MAGAZINE@LEIGHEBUCHANAN
Steven Miller, owner of Hippo Hardware. Courtesy company
Inc. is celebrating Small Business Week 2020 with a look at local merchants beloved by customers whose devotion goes beyond loyalty and well into passion.
You cannot find a chastity belt at Hippo Hardware & Trading Company. Someone once offered to sell a box of them to owner Steven Miller. But in a very rare instance, he declined. The belts, it seems, did not come with keys. "I was not going to have someone come over at 3 o'clock in the morning and kill me," says Miller.
That rejection was uncharacteristic for a man who says yes more often than an improv artist. When someone brought him a truckload of coffins found in a warehouse, for example, Miller was all over it. They sold out. Most customers used them as coffee tables, although one guy--a musician--told Miller he slept in his. Miller assumes the coffins had originally been display models. "They didn't look like they had ever been occupied," he says. "But who knows?"
If you want to replace your doorbell with a Victorian model that works with a crank, or stop your sink with a 100-year-old industrial drain basket, or light your room with iron sconces pulled from a Pullman sleeping car, Hippo Hardware in Portland, Oregon, is the home decor partner for you. The business comprises 30,000 square feet of lighting, plumbing, hardware, and architectural elements dating from 1860 to 1960. Much of the inventory was salvaged from the city's homes and its most respectable--and disreputable--public buildings. Hippo has sold pieces of Portland's Central Library, City Hall, and the Paramount and Orpheum Theaters, as well as furnishings from innumerable transient hotels. "I have a sign in the store that says, "Room for Rent. 25 Cents a Night," says Miller. "We did a lot of those."
If Hippo doesn't have what you need, it probably can make it for you. The company works with artists, metal finishers, potters, and blacksmiths to replicate a handle missing from an antique chest of drawers, for example, or to fix an old horse harness. It has transformed a blender into a lamp and doorknobs into coat hooks. Or it can design something completely new, like the spider web lighting the store created for McMenamins, a chain of historically minded brewpubs and hotels based in Portland.
Jody Stahancyk, an attorney, says she first visited Hippo Hardware in the 1970s, when she was restoring a 1917 home. She has bought everything from light fixtures to plumbing supplies to doorknobs--even a vintage toilet paper dispenser--in styles ranging from Victorian to mid-century modern. "Hippo has some of everything. It is like going into your grandfather's tool chest and seeing all the things he has saved over the years," says Stahancyk, who has installed her finds in several homes and five law offices around the state. "Shopping there is a treasure hunt."
A local business like Hippo succeeds on two fronts. First is selection. If Amazon is "the Everything Store" then Hippo is "the everything else store." Miller says a local big-box store occasionally sends employees around to check out his stock so they can refer customers seeking the nostalgic, the historically accurate, or the idiosyncratic.
Second is personality that has been earned, not manufactured. Miller's cheeky sense of humor--and that of his former business partner Stephen Oppenheim--has manifested in pranks, like manhandling a red-white-and-blue Corvair Monza into the window with a sign reading "Buy American" as a good-natured taunt at the Rolls Royce dealer across the street. Virtually all of the 3,000-plus hippos scattered around the building--made of stone, leather, clay, papier-mâché, and even neck ties--were gifts from loyal fans and customers. The hippos on the columns outside the store were painted by Andy Olive, a local artist who once lived under an on-ramp to the interstate.
That last detail comes courtesy of author Chuck Palahniuk, who patronized the store in the 1990s and wrote about it lovingly in his book Portland, Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon (Crown, 2003). With its strange inventory and stranger history, Hippo Hardware embodies the story that Portland likes to tell about itself.
COURTESY COMPANY
One man's junk
Miller couldn't find a job in 1969 when he returned from Vietnam. People called Vietnam veterans, "baby killers and butchers," he says. "No one wanted us around." For a while Miller sold scrap metal he collected on the street. Finally, the owner of a local junk business took him on. Soon Miller was running the place.
One day the owner went on vacation, leaving Miller and another employee--Oppenheim, a recent Portland State grad--in charge. "We made a bet with each other that we could sell the store down to the bones," says Miller. Over the next three weeks, they deployed charm and hustle to practically empty the place. When the owner came back, "he had no inventory and a bank account full of money," says Miller.
Confident in their salesmanship, the pair decided in 1976 to launch their own junk shop, which they would call the Myopic to reflect their "out of focus" approach to business. They found an empty store. But when Miller called the landlord, he rejected them, because junk shops bring down property values. "I waited a week and called him back," says Miller, who pretended he was calling for the first time. "He said, 'What are you going to put in there?' I said, 'A hardware store.'" The space was theirs.
Figuring the landlord would remember the name Myopic, Miller and Oppenheim called the business Hippo Hardware for the alliteration. Also, someone had given Miller a large metal sculpture of a hippo, which they moved into the store.
Hippo Hardware's earliest products fell somewhere between junk and hardware. At first the founders bought old shovels, rakes, and axes at garage sales. At night they replaced the handles--the worn-looking parts--with new ones. They invested $1,000 of their $5,000 of saved startup capital in nuts, bolts, and screws. "I swear to god, if you go back into the corners of Hippo today, you will still find some of those nuts, bolts, and screws we were never able to sell," says Miller.
Three nights a week they attended auctions in Dundee, Oregon, an hour away, to bid on old furniture and boxes full of dishes, pots, and pans. "We would stack it all up in our pickup like the Beverly Hillbillies," says Miller. "The cops stopped us regularly. They would shake the truck to make sure nothing was going to fall off."
Antique stores were also good hunting grounds. Not the fronts--the back rooms. Customers looking for a caster or drawer pull to match some piece of old furniture had started coming around. Miller and Oppenheim would visit antique stores and buy all their miscellaneous hardware and supplies.
For a while, they sold women's clothing. "It was a great way to meet women," says Miller.
Send in the clowns
Hippo operated on the edge of Buckman, a neighborhood with many early-20th-century homes. People fixing up those homes were the store's chief customers. People tearing them down became its chief suppliers. Miller and Oppenheim started doing salvage work, stripping homes slated for demolition of their windows, doors, stairways, moldings, trim, and light and plumbing fixtures. "We would haul off anything we could get our hands on, like a troop of ants," says Miller.
The partners recruited the homeless and veterans to do the work. They dressed them in clown suits. "We wanted people to notice us," says Miller. "You remember it if you look out a window and see your neighbor's house being torn apart by 10 people in clown suits."
COURTESY COMPANY
From those salvaged parts, Hippo built its inventory of distinctive architectural offerings. One summer alone, the company dismantled 72 houses. As the city's affluent section expanded, transient hotels came down. Hippo bought their entire contents and stripped them room by room. One such hotel produced 50 bathroom commodes, which didn't fit in the store. "We stacked them up on the sidewalk alongside of the building," says Miller. "They sat there all summer."
In 1990, city officials told Miller and Oppenheim that their building was not zoned for a business like Hippo. The partners found another location four blocks away and hired street people to transport Hippo's contents in shopping carts. "It was the only Gallo [wine]-powered parade in Portland's history," says Miller. It took a year and a half to transport everything to the new store.
In fact, Hippo has supported the homeless throughout its history. Like many Vietnam veterans, Miller felt discarded by society. His empathy for Portland's rejected and ignored rises from that affinity. So does his gravitation toward the junk business. "When you sell something used or dilapidated, it gives it credibility," he says.
Hippo Hardware provides food for the homeless, who are also welcome to use its bathrooms. Ten to 15 people sleep each night on a covered area of sidewalk outside the store. Miller has installed a camera. "They know if anyone tries to bother or hurt them, I will prosecute," he says.
The street people, in turn, support Hippo. When the business did more salvage, "they would come and tell us when a building was coming down and when the crew would get there," says Miller. He remembers a call he received from the police five or six years ago: Some street people had reported that the store's door was unlocked. "I found three guys sitting there, not letting anybody pass through," he says.
COURTESY COMPANY
Props for that
Although Hippo retained its anarchic sense of humor, over the years it became more respectable. In the early 1990s, Miller had been elected mayor of River Grove, a small town 15 miles outside of Portland. "They told me I had to grow up," he says.
The store became a source for props: first for schools and for Portland's (now closed) Civic Theatre, later for TV shows and films shooting in the area. For seven years, the NBC series Grimm was a regular customer. "They would say, 'We are looking for a door that looks like it has been kicked in,'" says Miller. "We would replace the panels with cardboard so when they did the shoot, they could re-break the door."
Miller, who bought out Oppenheim seven years ago, has been playing it safe during Covid-19. The store is open just five hours a day, by appointment. Smoke from the wildfires has occasionally reduced that a bit more. Sales are down slightly, although not as much as Miller had expected. "In some cases, we are doing as much business dollar-wise in four hours as we were doing in seven or eight," he says. With web sales up around 25 percent, Hippo this year will have sales slightly under $1 million, compared with slightly above before the pandemic.
"I have never been interested in making millions of dollars," says Miller. "My goal is to meet my maker without being terrified."
Related:
SEP 24, 2020
Life in COVID - New Hours for Hippo
Hippo is back open to the public! We are open limited days and hours and only by appointment. Monday 10am - 4pm Tuesday 10am - 4pm Wednesday 10am - 4pm Thursday 10am - 4pmCOVID-19 and Hippo Hardware
Please forgive our delay in reaching out. It’s been a very hectic time for everyone, including our staff and ownership. For the safety of our community, our last day open to the public was Thursday March 19th. We are unsure of the future at this point as it’s unknown how long this all will last. Our plan is to shift our business online as much as possible and continuing working safely from our store.Speak Easy Or Forever Hold Your Peace
Speakeasy meant just what it sounded like, Speak. Easy. As in, "Go easy on speaking about this totally illegal bar, there's a Prohibition on alcohol sales out there!" Between 1920 and 1933 proprietors of speakeasys usually placed a couple of hired goons behind a heavy, solid door but needed to be able to see who to let in. Enter the speakeasy. (With a password, of course.)
Prohibition ended 86 years ago but the tiny window lives on. This security feature is alive and well in many older homes. A house or piece of furniture are only as good as their hardware. The charm of this antique is met literally at the front door or wooden gate. It is the first impression and with a speakeasy you can bet there will be an inherent air of mystery.
To add to the clandestine nostalgia, there are plenty of styles. From portholes, Victorian designs, Art Deco, to twisted wrought iron grilles; there’s a style for just about anyone. Some feature a door knocker, glass for insulation or even double sided mirror. It’s a tiny window into a time gone by, the Emerald City or just your entryway. Hippo has many great speakeasys in our hardware department (hired goons not included).
DIY Bottle Opener with Bottle-Top Catcher!
Looking for a fun DIY project that you can custom design for your friends and fellow beer/soda/kombucha drinkers? One that won’t cost a fortune? One that is easy and you could make several in one hour? We’ve got the perfect project for you that is also perfect for your friends: a bottle opener with cap catcher!
Here’s the materials you will need (you can find them all at Hippo or you may even have some of them lying around your home.)
-a piece of board
-bottle opener (wall mounted)
-vintage tin can/small tin pail/mason jar/etc to catch the bottle tops in
-screws or nails
-screw driver/hammer
-any extra embellishments (ie: the lid to the tin can, letters, etc)
Step one:
Lay everything out on your piece of wood—make sure you’ve got the lengths right and are able to fit a bottle underneath the opener.
Step two:
Start screwing! Assemble everything—we suggest starting at the top and working your way down.
Look what you made!
For the friend who likes a pop of color:
For the practical friend who enjoy ease of usage:
For the rustic enthusiast:
Step three:
Wrap that awesome gift up and be prepared for your friends and fellow beer drinkers to be delighted when they see their custom-made bottle openers!
PS: want to go for a modern look? Try these with mason jars! A little less personal but no less useful plus we have brackets to secure them!
Hippo's Top 10 Easy Fixes for Your Home This Holiday Season
Fall is only a month away and that means the holidays can’t be too far off. And we all know holidays mean family and visitors that most likely will want to bunk at your place. But what if your home isn’t ready for visitors? Don’t fret, Hippo friends—we are here for you with our top 10 easy fixes to get your home ready for those holiday-time home crashers!
1) Make sure you have plenty of hooks! Though this one seems simple think of that huge coat pile that will undoubtedly end up on your bed if you don’t have enough hooks for coats, purses, hats, etc.
2) Check those door handles and make sure they are set correctly on the spindles lest they break at an inopportune moment. No Aunt Phyllis stuck in the bathroom this year!
3) Speaking of doors. It’s time to check on/replace those springs in your mortise locks. Heaven forbid it breaks and now your door won’t lock. Your guests and family will thank you.
4) Do you live in an old home with NO lock on your bathroom door? It might be a great time to add a simple slide bolt to keep those knock-while-entering visitors at bay.
6) You’ve got a gorgeous light fixture but it’s broken, and sure, you will get it rewired someday. . . but man that would suck if you wait too long and it burned the whole place down. There’s no time like the present to drop a little money and get that puppy UL certified! Safety first, friends.
7) Are your guest rooms dark and gloomy? Add a beautiful vintage lamp and give your guests some reading light so they aren’t keeping you up all night instead.
8) Guests and visitors mean time to stock up on bathroom accessories like towel bars and soap holders! God forbid your cousin and her kids pile all their wet towels on top of yours. Gross.
9) Make sure those hinge pins (especially on your bathroom doors!) are tapped down as you wouldn’t want your doors falling off. . . at the inopportune moment. And while you’re at it, replace your ugly boring hinges with beautiful vintage ones.
10) Who needs more mirrors? You do! So do your guests! As Mary Poppins says, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” She’s probably quoting someone else, but the point remains: a beautiful vintage mirror adds that practically perfect touch and every room needs at least one.
Want to know the best thing about this list? You can find everything (and so much more) at Hippo Hardware! Plus our experts are here to give you advice whether you want it or not, helpful hints and tips and general emotional support as family-time draws near.
Spindle Kits Redux
Since the spindle kit is one our best selling items, we felt it merited a blog post to explain the increase in our price from $10 to $20. Our wholesale costs rose dramatically these past few months due to (we've been told) the price of steel. We'd like to offer a few options:
1) Our original threaded/tapped spindle kit which is great for saving lovely old doorknobs on a threaded spindle. See our blog post all about how to fix antique doorknobs here. These are still our favorite option, but the cost is higher.
2) We have started carrying a less expensive reproduction straight tapped spindle kit. These will function the exact same as our threaded/tapped spindles once your knobs are mounted. Getting them on, however, might be more difficult depending on your set. These spindles do not have any threads so if you're using them with a threaded doorknob where the threads are damaged, you may have to file out the remaining threads to get this spindle to work.
3) Threaded spindles (thread 16, thread 18, and thread 20) which work if your threads are still in good shape however you will need to know the thread size in your knob. Our wholesale on these spindles has not gone up so the prices remain much lower.
Thanks for your patience while we've gotten this sorted out. Please keep us posted on how best to help you our with your projects.
Subscribe
Recent Articles
- Inc Magazine article
- Life in COVID - New Hours for Hippo
- COVID-19 and Hippo Hardware
- Speak Easy Or Forever Hold Your Peace
- DIY Bottle Opener with Bottle-Top Catcher!
About Us
Hippo Hardware is an eclectic building salvage store specializing in hardware, lighting, architecture and plumbing from 1860-1960. We also offer assorted collectibles, trinkets, whatnots, and whoziwhatsits depending on what we get in. The spirit of Hippo Hardware is to rejoice in the individual, the unique, and the original.
Hippo Hardware was officially established in 1976 after the founders Steven Miller and Stephen Oppenheim decided to turn a life of swashbuckling adventures into a second life of swashbuckling adventures. We live in the local, even for our customers far away. That means you will probably hear a story about burying a Porsche in a state park while you are asking about a faucet or see photos of our cashier's Saint Bernards while you're paying for a light fixture. We strongly support community projects, teachers, artists, adventurers, dreamers, and one-man-bands.
If you're looking for a hard to find hardware pattern or can't find the match to your lamp shade, we'd be happy to tell you if we have it, seen it, or know where you could get it.
To make sure you get what you need, we offer the following services:- Customizing - We do our best to make sure it looks just right. Our lighting shop can customize length, finishes, plating, and configuration. Our plumbing department will coordinate refinishing with local companies. The hardware department is able to darken, refinish, clean, and rebuild. Our services can vary depending on staff so please contact us with your project details.
- Returns - Accepted for any reason. That means if it doesn't fit, if your sweetheart doesn't like it, if it doesn't match your paint scheme. Receipt required. Returned to you the way you paid. Shipping refunded only in the case of defective items.
- Trade in - Bring in what you have and we will offer you in store credit or cash. Email pictures first if you'd like to talk about it before you get here.
Hippo Hardware has three glorious floors and 30,000 sq feet of building salvage to explore. Our inventory, and staff, is divided into four departments: Hardware, Lighting, Plumbing, and Architecture. We do our best to highlight our inventory full of unique items and reproductions on our website, but most of our stock is not online yet. Please contact us if you're looking for something you don't see here.
We donate to: NARAL, Planned Parenthood, Portland Women's Crisis Line, Benson High School, Sunnyside Environmental School, Junk to Funk Recycled Fashion Show, SE Works, Vision Northwest, Multnomah Playschool, Union Gospel Mission, Community House, The Friendly House, Marylhurst Childhood Center, Portland Lions Club, Sabin Elementary School, Oya No Kai supporting the Japanese Magnet Program, Lee Owen Stone Preschool, Public Interest Law Project, Jefferson High School for the Performing Arts Theater Department, imago Theater, Reynolds High School, David Douglass High School, and Milagro Theater.
