Hippo Hardware

Sometimes it can be hard to find a glass doorknob missing from a historic home, browse around and your bound to find something. The materials found at Hippo are always different depending on what comes in so it is hard to say what they might have. You might find that ornate piece of wood trim been trying to match up. They have sinks and light fixtures, you name it. Some items seem expensive but if it is a one of a kind item and it matches your home it may seem like a bargain. more

When my husband and I bought a house that was nearly a hundred years old, we discovered the joys of vintage hardware. While many things (doors, windows, toilets, etc.) could easily be updated to more modern styles, some things (bannisters, stained glass, drawer pulls, claw foot tubs) just beg to retain their old classic style. For any and all of those things, welcome to Hippo Hardware. Hippo Hardware has all the vintage parts you could possibly need, from plumbing to lighting, from switchplates to doorknobs. The quality and price are amazing--but you have to be willing to search. Hippo Hardware is more about serendipity than about purchase; you will wander through the incredibly crowded store, climb the somewhat treacherous stairs, and eventually find exactly the thing you need, probably in a dusty box behind something else you picked up to look at. Don't ask me to explain it; it's one of those magical places. I am constantly amazed at the variety of their stock. They haven't disappointed me yet with anything I needed. And their prices are very reasonable considering how well-informed the vintage market is in Portland. As their neighborhood continues to gentrify (it is now the home of the trendy Doug Fir lounge and the uber-hip Jupiter Hotel), maybe their prices will go up a bit. But I kind of doubt it. Hippo Hardware is one of a kind. more

OK, so don't go here if you are looking for the types of basic hardware supplies that you would find at ACE or Home Depot. Hippo is about the type of hardware that you add to your older house to give it a vintage/retro or classy look. This place is full of bins, buckets and stacks of antique fixtures, knobs, lights and other types of vintage hardware. It is a really fun place to spend a weekend day if you have a fixer-uppper - we used to spend hours here when we lived in a 1927 house in SE Portland. Now that we are in the suburbs, we haven't visited here as much, but we still recommend it to those we know that live in older homes. more

I went to Hippo Hardware looking for, y'know, PVC pipe and wire and plywood and tools -- the kind of things you buy at a hardware store. I discovered that what they actually sell is mostly antique fixtures, lighting and plumbing. This is a very interesting store, and I would happily go here if I wanted to redesign the fixtures of a house. But it doesn't sell the kinds of things I go to hardware stores for. more