Indigo Traders, a family business owned by Karla Bean and Samir Naser, is one of my very favorite shops in Portland. The selection of soaps, textiles, and ceramics makes for a wonderful sensory experience, and on First Friday, their open house includes a veritable feast of Middle Eastern cuisine.
They recently opened an outpost across the street from the original location, Indigo Bath. We dropped by to replenish our soap stock and take some pictures a few weeks back; the new space is needed, as they outgrew Indigo Traders quite some time ago.
For what it’s worth, I would post some pictures of Indigo Traders too, but there was quite a crowd, and I am not too happy with any of the pictures I took there.
This olive lavender soap is my favorite ever; the scent is wonderful and clean, and the olive oil makes it very soothing and moisturizing without being oily.
Turkish bath towels…certainly not what you get at Macy’s. They come in a rainbow of colors, dry super fast, and as Samir told us, need less washing than their “standard” towel counterparts because they are not damp all the time.
Indigo Traders (and Indigo Bath) are both full of beautiful displays of the products for sale. There’s a lot of attention to color and texture, especially in the displays of soaps. Even when I don’t necessarily need anything, I love stopping in and gawking. Trust me, it’s fun.
Info:
7881 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland, OR 97219
503.780.2422 | website
I read these posts about cool shops and I miss my Portland. Yes yes I know, Portland isn’t mine, and I am as far away from Portland as an Englishman can be, but what i mean is that I love the place and I feel connected to it’s free spirit and all.
And now i feel like I should delete this comment because I sound more pretentious that Chris Martin of Coldplay!
Anyway, I’ll be there very soon. Lets do sushi and stuff!