Skip to main contentBoy, aren't you glad the recession is over and we can spend as much as we want again?
Yeah, we know—for all the lunatic optimism we've been hearing from Wall Street, we're still facing 11.3 percent unemployment, declining personal income and all that noise. Hey, we know how it is. We're journalists—we were paid in TriMet passes before the crash.
So, just to stick it to corporate America, this year's Gift Guide is all local. Everything you'll find in these pages can be purchased from a locally owned retailer, and much of the 50 items in this first half of the guide (arranged by the type of recipient) were designed or manufactured right here in Oregon. Shopping locally keeps the money flowing around town instead of flying off to a comically large piggy bank somewhere, and the cash you spend shopping with your neighbors will likely come back to you someday.
We can't depend on New York financiers to kick-start Oregon's economy, so let's do it ourselves. Buy some presents—cool, affordable stuff, like you'll find in these pages—give a little money to charity (maybe through our Give!Guide), and let's get this recovery started. With any luck, next December we can go back to good ol' crass consumerism. —Ben Waterhouse
Editor: Ben Waterhouse
Publisher: Shawna McKeown
Copy Editors: Kat Merck, Matt Buckingham, Peggy Perdue
Contributors: India Nicholas, Ben Waterhouse, Kate Williams.
Art Director: Christie Wright
Photography: Cover photo by Tom Martinez. Studio photos by Matt Wong.
Ad Designers: Adam Krueger, Soma Honkanen.
WWeek 2015