Is Portland still a "blue collar" city at heart? (Beaverton: live, prices)

[belmont22]

Originally Posted by Minervah

Just on the news the other day they were saying that Portland has 98% small business employers. That seems like a lot. I used to work for one of the larger employers, Standard Insurance, which had 2,000 employees at one time. Now it's under 1,000 due to outsourcing and consolidating and contracting. They have closed many branch offices all over the US as well.

People decry the coming of big box stores and I can certainly understand that. I have heard some bemoan the opening of the new downtown Target simply because it is "big box." But I think this particular big box store serves a need both for jobs and consumers. It replaces a more local variety store of its type that has been needed I think for a long time as well. Sometimes you have to look beyond the big box and realize that you need a combination of both small and big business if a city is going to survive.

BTW, I doubt Portland is trying to cover up that it ever was blue collar. Who would be covering that up and why would they care? Like someone said, the bikini lady was probably from a Janzen swimsuit ad and the rest represented other industries here. I never heard anyone say otherwise.

I'm curious what do you think of all the Walmarts that are planned to be built here in the Portland area in the near future? Good idea or a nightmare?

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by belmont22

I'm curious what do you think of all the Walmarts that are planned to be built here in the Portland area in the near future? Good idea or a nightmare?

I know you were directing your question to Minervah, but I just wanted to chime in here. I'm decidedly not a Wal-Mart fan (for all the usual reasons), so I will choose to not shop at any of those new stores. But I certainly wouldn't work to dissuade others from shopping there--it's their choice.

There is one exception to my ambivalence though, and that's the new Wal-Mart Supercenter that they are planning on putting in at the Tigard Triangle (the area that's bounded by 99W on the west, I-5 on the east, and OR-217 on the south). There is already a Costco, Winco, Lowe's, and several other stores in this area, and the congestion can get pretty bad any time of the day on the mostly 2-lane streets going in and out of that area. The 99W-Dartmouth intersection is terrible--sometimes you wait through 2 or 3 green lights to get back to 99W. So I hope that Wal-Mart either bails on the project or the City of Tigard requires that Wal-Mart do some serious upgrades to the streets. If not, I will avoid that area completely and the Aloha Costco will be getting my business.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by belmont22

I'm curious what do you think of all the Walmarts that are planned to be built here in the Portland area in the near future? Good idea or a nightmare?

Where are they building new Walmarts? Actually in Portland or in other suburbs of Portland?

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by belmont22

I'm curious what do you think of all the Walmarts that are planned to be built here in the Portland area in the near future? Good idea or a nightmare?

I don't really care for them but don't have a strong opinion one way or the other except for the locations they choose. The one out near 82nd and Holgate replaced more stores in a place that was already a large strip mall so it didn't take the place of a residential area. I would rather have seen the larger stores local to the PNW like Newberry's remain but they apparently couldn't maintain their business so I guess they had to go. That I am sad to have seen happen.

I don't know where all the WalMarts are proposed to be, but if they are in residential areas as I have seen them go in some cities, that would be a nightmare. I sure wouldn't want to live right next to that.

Who is to say either good idea or nightmare? For people who don't make very good wages and who find items unaffordable at other stores, maybe Walmart is a dream. For those who have better jobs and can afford better maybe Walmart is a nightmare.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by Deezus

Where are they building new Walmarts? Actually in Portland or in other suburbs of Portland?

They're mostly in the burbs. And they're mostly these "neighborhood grocery"-type stores. There's one in Beaverton on B-H Hwy, another in Hillsboro (or near Hillsboro, at least) that you can see from Highway 26. I saw a commercial this morning about a new one that just opened in Lake Oswego.

[doity]

Originally Posted by Minervah

BTW, I doubt Portland is trying to cover up that it ever was blue collar. Who would be covering that up and why would they care? Like someone said, the bikini lady was probably from a Janzen swimsuit ad and the rest represented other industries here. I never heard anyone say otherwise.

What I mean in that Portland is trying to "cover up" it's blue collar past is that now with the streetcars, Pearl District, SOWA, beervana, etc. the image of Portland now is of a city for creatives and small business types who want to sell organic, free range, green, local, sustainable, etc. products. Nothing wrong with that but that will not replace companies like Standard Insurance, US Bancorp, Georgia Pacific, etc.

I should have known that the bikini lady likely represented Jantzen. Believe me, I remember walking by Jantzen and seeing the rows of women sitting at their machines sewing away. It is too bad that those kinds of jobs went overseas.

[belmont22]

Originally Posted by doity

What I mean in that Portland is trying to "cover up" it's blue collar past is that now with the streetcars, Pearl District, SOWA, beervana, etc. the image of Portland now is of a city for creatives and small business types who want to sell organic, free range, green, local, sustainable, etc. products. Nothing wrong with that but that will not replace companies like Standard Insurance, US Bancorp, Georgia Pacific, etc.

I should have known that the bikini lady likely represented Jantzen. Believe me, I remember walking by Jantzen and seeing the rows of women sitting at their machines sewing away. It is too bad that those kinds of jobs went overseas.

It's really only relatively small areas of Portland that are yuppified like that. I find that if I venture north of Lloyd Center (sans Alberta, and Mississippi to an extent) or south of Powell I feel like I have suddenly entered Wisconsin or something, lol.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by jjpop

They're mostly in the burbs. And they're mostly these "neighborhood grocery"-type stores. There's one in Beaverton on B-H Hwy, another in Hillsboro (or near Hillsboro, at least) that you can see from Highway 26. I saw a commercial this morning about a new one that just opened in Lake Oswego.

The one in Beaverton is always empty, there are rarely more then a dozen cars in the parking lot. They bought out Haggen's on Murray a few years ago, but the building remains empty to this day even though it was supposed to be opened quite some time ago.

I went in once after it soon opened, and while the workers were friendly, the prices were higher then Fred Meyers for my preferred brands and specific items. That is, if they even carried my preferred brands. I still ended up going to New Seasons and Fred Meyers to round out my grocery trip. Over all it was a very small store, seemed very cramped and despite it's newness still felt old, dingy and dirty.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by hamellr

The one in Beaverton is always empty, there are rarely more then a dozen cars in the parking lot. They bought out Haggen's on Murray a few years ago, but the building remains empty to this day even though it was supposed to be opened quite some time ago.

I went in once after it soon opened, and while the workers were friendly, the prices were higher then Fred Meyers for my preferred brands and specific items. That is, if they even carried my preferred brands. I still ended up going to New Seasons and Fred Meyers to round out my grocery trip. Over all it was a very small store, seemed very cramped and despite it's newness still felt old, dingy and dirty.

It is basically Walmart's desperate attempt to open up in a region that doesn't want them.

[Homelessadvocate]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

It is basically Walmart's desperate attempt to open up in a region that doesn't want them.

I LOVE walmarts! They usually have some really cheap generic groceries for poor people... Also, a lot of times they seem to build them close to small patches of woods.. I camped out back of walmart for 2 weeks in my home city of buffalo once, never got bothered.. Walmarts are good for homeless people..