Discover North Portland

You’ve officially decided to follow your dream. Whether you’re ready to reveal the product you’ve been meticulously developing in your workshop or studio to the world, or you’re ambitiously opening your own restaurant, bar, bakery or boutique, you should step back a moment and consider the name of your product, business or service from a legal perspective—you’ll thank yourself more...

If March was a good month for new business owners—they opened 16 spots, 10 of them restaurants and cafés—it was an even better one for consumers. St. Johns got a bike shop, northwest got a couple of neighborhood pubs, and a new Little Big Burger set up shop in southwest. March also brought with it the opening of several specialty shops, including a wedding boutique where brides-to-be can get fitted more...

In all likelihood, financial and accounting services are usually best left to the professionals—those that do it for a living. And since finding reliable help in the accounting and financial services sector is crucial to the success of your small business, Neighborhood Notes has scoured the field for a selection of professional, qualified and local bookkeepers, CPAs and financial planners who are eager to work with you. more...

More than 200 independent and locally operated businesses opened in the last year—at least by our count—peaking with 23 new openings a year ago, last January. Among the entrepreneurs were apparel designers, jewelers, mustache waxers, and ninja trainers. It was also a big year for brewers, urban wineries, bottle shops, coffee shops, and candy shops. And, of course, we swam in an endless stream of more...

In the business world, November may best best known for the busiest shopping day of the year, but it’s also National Entrepreneurship Month. The entrepreneurial spirit extends internationally with a Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), from Nov. 12-18 this year, and President Obama declared Nov. 16, 2012, National Entrepreneurs' Day in the U.S., saying, “let us renew the spirit of innovation that has more...

Budding restaurateurs once again led the way in October, opening more businesses in Portland than entrepreneurs in any other service sector. The doors swung open on French, Italian, Thai, pie, and burger joints, as well as locales serving up Tex-Mex cuisine and Greek-style pizza as several restaurateurs-entrepreneurs looked to expand their brand and businesses' offerings with new storefronts and locations. Still, more...

To call the myriad offerings on the Internet extensive may be a slight understatement. And while it’s tempting to generalize the growth of the Internet as exponential, the reality is the Internet’s growth is actually sigmoidal (apparently), or S-shaped. In this choice-filled online world, small business owners know best that the vast number of options available, in everything, online are overwhelming. more...

Visual content is on the rise in social media and popular as ever in other mediums. According to Portland SEO consultant Michael Cottam, last night's presenter at the October Search Engine Marketing Association of Portland (SEMpdx) event, original images even keep Google's Panda happy. In a nutshell: Image is everything. But before you shell out a lot of dough on a camera setup for your business, consider more...

By writing quality consumer reviews, you have the opportunity to contribute to the success of locally owned businesses, not just by influencing others' buying decisions but also by providing critical feedback to business owners. Your input will enable businesses to provide better services or products, which will in turn help them stay open and thrive. The reviews that you write also help local businesses gain more...

It's never unusual for new eateries to dominate our monthly list of new businesses—of the 16 that opened in August, 15 of them were bars and restaurants. And while we all love to eat (and drink), it's a pleasant surprise to see retailers gathering some of that entrepreneurial steam. So while September brought us plenty of new culinary treats (tacos, sushi, Korean-style fried chicken wings), it also more...