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Friday, January 18, 2008
Portland Awesomest Office Supply Store in Portland
Posted by on Fri, Jan 18 at 4:30 PM
Per my request, my parents recently dropped off their Smith Corona CX 4000 electric typewriter at my apartment. I remember my parents purchasing it for my sister when she was in high school, in the mid-to-late eighties, at either J.C. Penny or Montgomery Ward.
Anyway, I was all excited to use it the other day, but when I plugged it in, I was sad to find the ink ribbon cartridge had dried up. Or, maybe I had used it all up back in 1992, when my childhood best friend and I decided it would be fun to play office and type up important fart joke memos all summer long… but that’s neither here nor there.
The point is, I needed to find a typewriter cartridge, and I wasn’t willing to drive to St. Johns, the ‘Couv, the Tron, Gresham, or anywhere else a quick search on Dex online pointed me to. I found one place on 35th and Division, but upon calling and asking if they sold typewriter supplies, the man on the line said, “Sorry, we went out of business a year and a half ago.” Drats.
My boyfriend suggested I try “that old-school office supply store behind Maiden in the Mist.” So, today on my lunch break I hauled my typewriter towards that general direction, and found exactly the place he was talking about: Office Supply Co. on SE 6th and Alder.
Hot damn! I will never purchase my office supplies anywhere but there ever again. As I walked through the front door, it felt like I had stepped into the year 1978. The old dude working there was super helpful, and led me to the end cap of typewriter cartridges (complete with old displays that I’m sure had been there for over 20 years). He even had me bring in my typewriter from the back of my car, so he could make sure the cartridges were going to fit.
So if you’re looking for vintage office supplies, or ever need typewriter ribbons, or would rather support small, independent businesses than give your money to corporate vampires when you purchase your Sharpie pens, definitely check this place out.
Comments
Jerry-
Thanks for the tip! Where exactly would I spray the WD-40? My cartridge looks like this:
Check out the items they have displayed in their windows next time you go by there. The window on Alder that's closest to the PPAA club still has 80's era 5 1/4" floppy disk storage containers for sale, new in their unopened boxes! I've been going by there for years (most recently last week) and am always amzaed those things are still there. Neat place, indeed.
Sometimes you can get the cover off of the cartridge so that you can spray it on the ribbon packed inside. Be careful to keep the ribbon in place in the cartridge. The ribbon inside the cartridge may be on a spool but more likely it's just bunched up inside. If you can't get inside the cartridge easily then you have to spray some on the exposed ribbon in a few places and real it through, then let the cartridge sit for a few days so that the fluid will distribute.
And why are we using such antiquated technology?
...uh, because its fucking awesome?
blah--
Well, I personally am using a typewriter to write greetings on some miniature Valentine's Day cards I made. Since they have vintage pinup girls pasted to the fronts of them, the typewritten messages are a nice touch.
Do they sell ladders?
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Useless tip from the 70's: A few spritz of WD-40 on a typewriter ribbon re-wets and redistributes the ink. If your "new" cartridge is actually an unused but old cartridge you may need to resort to the WD-40 trick at some point.