Pairings Portland Origin Story: Part One
It was the summer of 2012. I hadn’t met Jeff yet, although I had seen him pass by on 3rd St in McMinnville. He loved to eat around the corner from me at Thistle.
Jeff & Megan had just moved to Portland from the Willamette Valley. It was a tough time. His dream project, ConsciousWine (a sustainability website about US wineries focusing on organic and holistic farming, plus natural winemaking) was hemorrhaging. What’s popular now was ahead of its time in 2008-2012. It was a great idea that never figured out how to make money. He struggled for 6 months about letting that business go.
That, paired with a major family loss and a move to Portland was next. Unfortunately, employment for both Jeff and Megan was nonexistent. The angst bubbled, but those thought and emotion dances that humans do really took control of both of them and there wasn’t much movement in their lives outside of the actual move. And there needed to be, especially for Jeff at that time.
Jeff’s a hiker, dancer, and he just moves a lot. When he doesn’t, it’s trouble! It’s not pretty. Luckily for most of us, he’s usually doing one of them. Notice the disco ball in the shop. PS: his first major shop investment wasn’t wine, it was custom made speakers!
Back to November 2012. Jeff goes to Woodlawn Coffee & Pastry (great home made pastry, and amongst the best quiche in town). He brings a really large pad. Like 30” x 20”. He’s got boxes full of journals, and was going to try to write himself awake. With pen # 1, he grabbed it with pent up anger and as it went back and forth on the page leaving ink lines penetrating the pad, the point was broken in probably thirty seconds. Luckily, he’s one of those people you can also ask for a pen. There’s usually half a dozen in one pocket and a few more in the other.
On to pen # 2 which lasted not much longer. With pen #3 more movement was happening (a good thing), and the page was quickly filling with black ink. The dark page was satisfying to Jeff and his breathing and movement were picking up. You can always tell something big is coming with Jeff when his breathing opens up and gets big.
The next thing you know, he’s writing words! F_ck and Sh_t. Over, and over, and over. Incessantly. UNTIL, in a moment of aha, a sentence comes out. A full sentence:
“I’m completely broke, and I’m not getting out of this alive. What the f_ck, I’m opening up a wine shop”!
Jeff found the space that became Pairings two days later!!
He travelled around town, and went to two areas he thought would be a little less expensive but commercially viable. He saw a big window sign on an unfinished space in the corner of a new apartment building, across the street from four colorful mini-restaurants called “The Ocean”.
After leaving a message on a voicemail, he wandered up the street to Bakery Bar (an amazing establishment that unfortunately closed in 2014). Sitting at the bar, Jeff met Terri C. They talked for four hours—about his idea, dream, passion for wine and community, what the name of the business might be, travels, and then the phone rang.
Jeff went to see the space, and 380 square feet 🦶at 455 NE 24th was destined to become Pairings Portland Wine Shop.
Stop by Sid’s blog next week for Part II of the Pairings Portland Origin Story and we’ll tell you about the build out, where the money came from, IGGY The Inventory Annihilator, the opening events, and how Jeff landed on the name.
