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These destinations for vintage and contemporary clothes are infusing the Northwest neighborhood with a shot in the arm of cool fashion. Now, shoppers are browsing and buying along 23rd Avenue again—and for good reason.
Superette
Tucked inside the parlor level of a historic home in Northwest, Superette is a store with a clear vision: clothes that are refined, fresh and really wearable.
Owner Leticia Barajas always dreamed of owning her own shop. She felt a push to look for a space during the pandemic, quickly signing a short-term lease on Southeast Grand Avenue. From there, the wheels were in motion. Superette began as a home goods gift shop, allowing Barajas to source on a short timeline while she thought about how to build an apparel offering, she says. “My limited resources meant I had to start slow and steady, progress over perfection.”
As her lease was winding down in Southeast, Barajas spent a day walking along 23rd and peering into shop windows. “Having grown up in Portland, Northwest 23rd was the first place I thought to look for relocation,” she says. She noticed a house at 23rd and Raleigh and instantly fell in love. The multiroom layout was quirky, but the space felt full of potential. She immediately signed a lease. A week later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. During that difficult time, Barajas saw the shop as a gift—something that was always destined to be. Now, after successful treatments, she’s thankful to be on the other side of it all. Especially when things could have turned out so differently, she says. “I always think, had those two events happened in reverse order, I might not have continued Superette. But life has a way of working out.”
These days, Barajas feels like the shop has really found its point of view. She narrowed her focus to wardrobe essentials, especially brands that put a unique spin on them. She hopes these pieces will be the ones that customers always reach for, integral to their personal style. The relationship is symbiotic, too. “There’s a lot our clients share with us—how they dress, brands they love, styling problems they are trying to solve, what their no-brainers are,” Barajas says. “We love a slam dunk.”
Barajas clearly has an eye for this, which she credits to previously working for retail giants like Nordstrom and Gap Inc. She travels to New York four times a year to meet with brands and scope future seasons in person, but says she’s always keeping a running list of styles and trends that feel like Superette. Because of this, Superette quickly became a stockist for many NYC-based brands and other cool labels—like model Gigi Hadid’s cashmere brand Guest in Residence, socks and silk company Comme Si, Emma Stone’s hairstylist’s brand Roz, and the Spanish leather goods company HEREU. She even scored the first Portland representation of cult womenswear brand Kallmeyer, which is set to launch in the shop this spring.
Barajas feels excited about the year ahead, having quit her full-time job at Nike last June to really focus on the shop. In the next few months, Superette will take over the second floor of the building to expand the store’s home collection and start a men’s section.
Adds Barasjas, “I’m feeling a lot of clarity and momentum about the future I’m building for Superette.”
1536 NW 23rd Ave., superettepdx.com. Noon–5 pm Tuesday–Thursday, 11–5 pm Friday–Sunday.
Fisherman’s Daughter
Fisherman’s Daughter opened only a month ago, but you’d never know it. The store already feels lived in, as if it’s always been there—seamlessly blending into the neighborhood.
When co-owners Felicia Barth-Aasen and Steven McBride were brainstorming where to set up shop, Northwest was their top choice. Barth-Aasen previously opened The Vintage Club on Southeast Division with friend Amie Smith. But, she always kept 23rd Avenue in the back of her mind. “We were just waiting for the right spot to open up,” she says. “We love the history and walkability of the neighborhood and thought that 23rd could use something fresh, unique and fun.”
As for the name, the building itself inspired it. “It’s an old 1910s building that felt like something you’d see in Astoria,” Barth-Aasen says. “Our name is also a character we use to guide our choices when curating.”
Barth-Aasen and McBride’s assortment is practical for the Pacific Northwest but with a touch of refinement. Racks are stocked with imported French workwear, warm wool sweaters, and perfectly broken-in Levi’s. Barth-Aasen describes the shop’s aesthetic as “your grandfather’s flannel and the perfect vintage slip to wear under it.”
Barth-Aasen and McBride source for the store every day, buying stock from their friends in the vintage business across the country and keeping a tight focus on natural fibers—silk, cotton, leather, wool. “We look for things that are well crafted, things you’d want to keep forever,” Barth-Aasen says. “We source a lot of unique, upcycled items too, like vintage pieces that have been overdyed to give a second life to an item that was stained or dingy. Or chore coats made of scrap canvas.”
The quality of Fisherman’s Daughter’s selection is immediately clear, but the secret sauce is the personal touch Barth-Aasen and McBride give to every single garment. They handwash and mend each item in their own home before it gets to the shop—a herculean labor of love. From there, every piece is merchandised by the duo with equal care and attention. “We believe these vintage pieces should be displayed with dignity,” Barth-Aasen says. “We try really hard to have quality garments at reasonable prices.”
Their prices reflect this mentality, too—everything is tagged in that sweet spot between budget and boutique. Shoppers will feel like they’re getting a gem at a steal. A true jewel box for vintage seekers who value craftsmanship.
931 NW 23rd Ave., instagram.com/fishermansdaughtervintage. Noon–6 pm Wednesday–Monday.
visii
One could easily walk off 23rd, down the steps to visii, and mistake it for a Brooklyn boutique—in a good way. The carefully curated vintage feels modern and cohesively cool with a bit of an urban edge.
Owners Veronika Ovchinnikova and Sage Brandt are contemplating a move to New York later this year, so it’s no surprise their assortment reflects that aesthetic. The duo previously worked at Northwest Union, right next door, and decided to open their own space directly underneath. At just 24 years old, Ovchinnikova never expected to own a shop. “It had to be done,” she says. “There wasn’t really anything like visii in Portland.”
Even the name is a nod to their partnership. “After a few glasses of wine in a Parisian cafe, Veronika randomly came up with visii. Veronika and Sage. Pronounced vee-see,” Brandt says.
In the early days of the shop, Ovchinnikova used to style, photograph and sell pieces online too. She jokes that the cream, tufted bench in the center of the store is famous because she used it as the backdrop for her online imagery. She noticed resellers would buy their items and use the photos she captured to resell them. “This bench is all over the internet,” she quips.
Ovchinnikova manages the women’s buying, and Brandt takes on the men’s. Brandt is a designer, too. Crafted under the brand name Serge, his expertly tailored selvage jeans and shorts sell quickly at the shop. Together, the pair are constantly sourcing both online and in person, going on buying trips and working with wholesalers overseas to keep their shelves stocked with “nice fabrics” and “out of the ordinary designs.” The store’s current assortment reflects this directly. On one rack, a shopper could find an archival Kenzo knit dress. On another, a sturdy, well-worn Calvin Klein leather jacket from the ’90s. They also have a truly impressive run of vintage tees—some more expected (band tees, Harley Davidson merch) and some uniquely nostalgic, like a tee with the Charlie’s Angels (2000) movie poster screen printed on it, notably with the tagline “Get some action, guaranteed.”
This high-low mix is also by design. “We like to have a little bit of everything, niche designers next to vintage labels,” Ovchinnikova says. “Gap basics and Versace.”
724 NW 23rd Ave., shopvisii.com. Noon–7 pm daily.
