The Portland Design Collective is gearing up to fête its odd new roommates, Zebra Club and ROAD this weekend, with a grand opening bash scheduled for this Saturday, Dec 10 (kickoff’s at 7, w/DJ Plucky).
Admittedly, I have not been in since they were still unpacking boxes, but I’m having trouble visualizing the trio as a shopping experience that makes sense. The PDC’s educated-vintage-with-lighthearted-local-design vibe is at odds with Zebra’s mid-range contemporary and ROAD’s un-ironic yuppie. PDC owner Tacee Webb assured me that they were going to integrate the shop’s look, so I’m curious to check on that progress, and how they’ve parsed through maintaining the distinct branding of each. It seems odd that Zebra and ROAD—both owned by the same international parent company, Sha Safari—wouldn’t have held out for their own location(s). I wouldn’t be surprised if, once they’ve tested the market and felt it secure enough, they split off to do just that. In the meantime, I’ll raise a glass to their evolution.
- The beautiful but too-huge PDC pre-diversification.
Well, there are too many pairs of jeans and leather jackets, not to mention a lack of scholastic vibe, for it to really qualify as preppy, and it has the air of upward mobility associated with the yuppie mentality. And while I didn’t say one way or the other whether it’s even remotely fashionable, jake, I suppose that’s all to do with how you wear it.