Rad Summer

I am so not going to have a rad summer if Rad Summer is gone forever. I always found so many wonderful things in this store. Once my boyfriend and I found t-​shirts on the rack, hanging next to each other from the towns we grew up in: Big Bear Lake, CA and Annapolis, Maryland. How fucking random is that?
The woman who was always working here when I came in had long, straight hair and pink lipstick, and she was always super nice and would chat up my boyfriend and I, and make us laugh.
The music was always great. The vinyl selection was as good as the music coming from the stereo. I got David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane here. Rad.
The clothing always spoke to my esthetic. The button shirts were a nice assortment between the typical Portland plaid and flannel, to the fun summer-​time 80’s and 90’s short sleeves I love to wear.
Yes the prices are higher than what you would pay at the Goodwill or Barf-​fulo Exchange, but what you get is a well curated store with a self-​realized brand and esthetic. When you go to Goodwill, you have Celine Dion playing from the speakers, and you’re lucky if you have 5 great pieces to buy after spending 2 hours sifting through the hodge podge and trying to stay away from the crack heads.
At Barf-​fulo Exchange, you get some friendly employees, but you also have to deal with trying on clothes while listening to «OH MY GOD, SO LIKE I WAS TALKING TO SEBASTIAN LAST NIGHT ABOUT HIGH WASTED JEANS AND HE WAS LIKE THEY ARE SO 3 YEARS AGO, AND I WAS LIKE YEAH BUT SO 3 YEARS AGO POST-​IRONIC, OR SO 3 YEARS AGO POST-90’S?»
Plus Buffalo’s shit isn’t merchandised, but it should be for what you’re paying for it. Plus they have 50 locations across the US.
Rad Summer has one location.
To all the bad reviews on Rad Summer, I have this to say:
As a city we take pride in paying more money for our food, beer and wine to be local and artisanal. Why wouldn’t we be proud and supportive of our unique and local, well curated vintage boutiques?
VIVA LA RAD SUMMER.

Rad Summer suddenly closed due to increased rent! Nooooo!!! I hope they re-​open somewhere, I always found good stuff there!

Basically all of the cute-​ish retro stuff you can find at Goodwill, put in one store, and then marked up to the point of being overpriced.
If you found something you loved, it might be worth it, but I didn’t see anything that caught my eye.
And, I know this is picky, but it seems weird that they put their tags right through the clothing, usually not on a seam. For some items, that actually leaves a small hole. Umm… Weird. I wasn’t impressed.

TOP NOTCH CUSTOMER SERVICE!
I got here no earlier than 1 or 2 minutes before 11:00 am, at which time this store is supposed to be open. The door was unlocked so I went in, and I was immediately told to get out by the girl behind the counter. I asked her if they were not open yet, and she told me that I couldn’t come in because the owner was just across the street grabbing coffee from Starbucks .
I was a bit taken aback, but I thought, whatever, it’s cool. So I stepped outside to wait, and a minute later the owner comes back with the coffee. I ask, «can I come in?» And she looks at me as if I had just asked a really silly question, and said, «of course! Go on in!»
So I walk in behind the owner, and the girl who had just told me to get out yells from across the room, «just to set the record straight, it WAS before 11:00 when you came in.»
I’m sorry, but I do not expect to be treated like this when I go into a store, let alone by human beings in general. Whether or not you screwed up, it was really unprofessional and lame take it out on me in front of your boss. Great way to start off a Monday morning!
I then told them I was leaving because I didn’t appreciate how they were treating me. The owner just stared at me blankly, turned to walk away, and waved me off. Wow. Just wow. Way to manage your employees!
I’m not sure if you guys shop anywhere other than at pretentious places like yours (plenty of those in Portland), so let me clue you in on a couple of fairly common retail practices:
1) Most businesses don’t actually open their doors until they are ready for customers to come in. If it’s open, then it’s assumed that customers can enter.
2) Most successful businesses do not treat their customers like crap, especially if they want them to come back, which is too bad because this was my first time here and likely my last.

I consider myself rather well traveled when it comes to shopping and know a good vintage shop when I wander into one. This one by no means rates five stars nor is it deserving of the nasty one star reviews.
The men’s and women’s clothing, accessories and shoes were, for the most part rather uninteresting. I did however find a RAD and authentic Hawaiian tunic priced reasonably enough. Thus, my visit was a success. Furthermore, the gal working there was very friendly and helpful so I did not experience any of the pretentiousness the other reviewers warn about.
I doubt I will be a regular as this shop is not in my neighborhood and it’s not interesting enough for me to make a special trip. But if I do find myself on the east side of the river, I just may venture on over to see what’s in store.

I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d stop in to check this place out.
I spent maybe about 3 minutes total. 3 minutes I’ll never get back.
When we walked in we were greeted with an icy, dismissive glance from the counter girl. I don’t require a greeting, but don’t particularly like being scowled at.
Don’t get me wrong, I like a tight 70s v neck with questionable stains as much as the next Portlander, but from a 25 cent bin at a yard sale, not for upwards of 30 dollars (no, I’m not kidding, they really are that overpriced).
If you’re a moneyed hipster or pseudo bohemian, you’ll feel right at home I’m sure. I’m not, so I’ll be at the reasonably priced second hand stores with friendly staff and patrons with more brains than pairs of cowboy boots.

Price is higher than other vintage shops in Portland (I’m not talking about Goodwill). There are plenty of vintage shops in this city and I have to say the selection at Rad Summer is pretty pretty… pretty good. However, I don’t want to spend $ 26 for a flowery 90’s dress that I can get somewhere else for at least 25% off that.
Friendly storekeepers and I like their hats selection. Then again, I don’t want to spend $ 18 for red beret that’s even not vintage. I think Rad Summer is not for me, but I’m sure it will fit needs of other peeps in this city.

This place is nothing more than an overpriced thrift store.
If you’re hipster tendencies draw you in to faux «vintage» stores that sell used clothing (which tends to not be real vintage), then I guess this place is for you.
Places like these are, unfortunately, not uncommon. The idea seems to be to collect used clothing, much of it from the 80s, and put it in a cool, hipster atmosphere so you can jack up the price. Most of these items, if they were put in a REAL thrift store, would sell for about $ 2. However, a used «vintage» dress at Rad Summer, which is really just an ugly, shapeless dress with shoulder pads from the 80s, will sell here for about $ 18 – 25. To most people, that would seem ridiculous, but I guess enough people are falling for it because the place is still getting business.
Also, the clothing selection is rather boring anyway.

This store is certainly not for everyone! They’ve got a unique niche their filling with their thrift finds.
Fortunately, they’re filling mine and even more-​so, my wife’s. Some of our favorite clothing purchases in the past two years come from this store. Sure you’ve gotta wade through a lot of weird stuff to find that perfect weird thing that fits you just so. Sure the prices are higher than the Goodwill.
If they didn’t fill it with weird stuff, it’d be boring. If they priced their items at Goodwill prices, they wouldn’t be there.
If you like vintage and weird, you’ll love Rad Summer. Their records selection is great too!

HOLY SHIT.
It’s the holy grail of thrift store finds… a ‘DARE TO KEEP KIDS OFF DRUGS’ t-​shirt. What are the chances of finding such a precious gem of an item? Weren’t they a limited edition series of five or ten shirts back in the early 90’s? IT’S LIKE FINDING A BLOOD DIAMOND.
Wait. After a little research, it turns out they are an incredibly common thrift store item that is about as difficult to locate as a TV special on Michael Jackson. I think they actually export these things to underdeveloped nations to be used as diapers and head wraps.
So the only possible explanation for the $ 15 dollar price tag on a D.A.R.E shirt is that it was either once worn by Jesus Christ or has been signed in blood by every member of the Beatles. Perhaps the shirt fornicated with Gene Simmons at some point. We may never know.
And after a quick walk-​through of ‘Rad Summer,’ it appears that every item of clothing has been cast-​off from some massive and stunningly extravagant celebrity auction. From the super-​ironic Bart Simpson shirts down to the shitty weathered cowboy boots, everything has either been touched by the hand of God, or at least come close by absorbing the sweat of Elton John.
And all, I might add, priced accordingly.

Oh you know, it’s just a pretty awesome vintage store right on the corner of 28^th and Burnside (where Lady Luck used to be).
Lots (lots) of clothes, pretty killer accessories, a good selection of records, and a killer-​dill mural behind the register.
Also of note is a pretty good dress collection which clearly sets my heart ablaze! So if you like to party like I do, you’ll probably want to check it out.
Now, while I was there, the gal who was working was on the phone a good ²⁄₃ of the time I was shopping, talking to someone about tumors or cancer or some heinous disease and I was like «Rats, what a buzzkill!» because it was and because it kinda drives me nuts when salespeople/​owners are on the phone the whole time I’m in the store, even if it IS just a hipster vintage store. But I guess if someone calls you to talk about their tumors/​cancer/​heinous disease, you can’t really be like «yeah, I’m kinda working right now, can I call you back?» but whoa still.
It’s definitely worth a look, especially if you’re interested in sporting a pretty brazen vintage look. I encourage thee!

Rad Summer??? More like Terrible Winter. by cham mi p.
This was my first trip to Portland and I had done a ton of research of places to shop. I am a vintage fiend. I live in one of the most expensive, over picked cities when it comes to vintage: San Francisco. With my non-​profit job salary I saved up every little penny I had to spend on my trip to Portland. My dear friends in Portland gave me advice on really great places to shop. I took their advice with much enthusiasm and was very excited to shop in Portland because I’ve heard nothing but great things.
As I spent my first day in Portland shopping around Hawthorne some really nice people at Buffalo Exchange told me to go check out Rad Summer. So with this new found info I eagerly went with boyfriend in tow.
I entered the store and was not greeted or acknowledged at all like I had been at other great vintage shops like House of Vintage (which is a HUGE vintage store and everyone who works there are incredibly helpful and patient), Animal Traffic, Lady Bird, etc. So I thought, «ok. maybe they are just busy with something else.». The owner (Honey Owens) was busy talking to someone else who seemed like a friend. I thought, «Alright. she’s just busy with another customer.» As I continued to look around for about 30 – 45 minutes people came in and went and no one else was acknowledged by the owner and I was STILL not acknowledged either. She was continuing with her private conversation with her friend.
Just like the previous Unilocaler reported the owner was really entrenched in her personal conversation with a friend and not tending to anyone or anything in the store. I usually have a lot of patience with situations like this because I run a staff of 40 people in a large, modern art museum where working with the public is a substantial part of my job. Patience is everything. So I just continued to look around.
As I was looking at some items on a rack two sweaters fell off the hangers. When I realized that they slipped off the hangers I was about to pick them up and put them back on the hangers when the owner came up to me and said in a very stern and condescending voice, «Can I just grab those sweaters you are knocking off onto the floor?!» I was totally shocked. She not only embarrassed me in front of everyone in the store but she was incredibly rude and snide. I just answered, «I’m sorry. I was going to put them back on the rack.» She just mumbled, «Whatever» and walked back to her friend to continue her personal conversation.
I was so confused and upset as to what had happened. I was standing there in the middle of the store, arm full of clothes ready to try on and in shock at how unprofessional and rude the OWNER was to me. So I went into the dressing room to try on some items anyway. I wanted to purchase about 5 of the 10 items I chose but after having that interaction with the owner I had lost my interest.
I came back out with my items and went up to the owner and asked her where I should put the clothes I didn’t want. I wasn’t sure if I should leave them in the dressing room or put them back myself or give them to her. She rolled her eyes and said, «What? Well… just. GIVE THEM TO ME.» She acted like I was interferring in some manner when all I wanted to know was what I should do with the clothes. Heaven FORBID that she would actually have to do any work. She grabbed the clothes out of my hand and seemed really angry that she had to help me out. My boyfriend was very angry with her attitude and behavior towards me and took me out of that wretched store immediately.
In summary, I’d have to say that I would NEVER recommend Rad Summer. It comes off as a overtly hipster, water cooler, wannabe intellectual, lame duck location masked as a vintage store where bad service and attitudes are thought to be «rad».
Go to any other of the amazing vintage and used stores like Animal Traffic, Lady Bird’s General Store, House of Vintage, Buffalo Exchange, etc. where they will treat you well and give you a very positive shopping experience.
I gotta say. I LOVE Portland! Just don’t waste your time or money at Rad Summer.