Bombshell Vintage

Ka-​Boom! There is sexy vintage shrapnel galore.
The owner does a fine job of curating interesting, on-​of-​a-​kind dreamy prom dresses spanning many eras, glamorous gowns, Hawaiian style garb which is becoming increasingly harder to come by, and slinky pant-​suits.
You can find those precious embellished and embroidered sweaters, many of which are angora or cashmere, you know the ones with the little, pearl buttons? So cute. If you are on the prowl for a petticoat, look no further, she’s got ‘em and in all kinds of colors.
If coats and jackets are your jam, there are racks full of those as well for men and women, from authentic pea coats to fancy, women’s wool coats. You can find an array of bad ass leather jackets as well.
Accessories are everywhere: purses, shoes, sunglasses, gloves, and jewelry, oh-​my!
there’s also a rack of «ahem» ladies unmentionables.
If you’re lucky, when you visit, the cute little, and very well behaved doggy will encourage you to scratch his tummy.
2015 — Review # 97

stopped in walking by on my way to dinner. Great actual vintage pieces, not vintage– style! Picked up a cute 60’s style sweater and a few aprons from the 1950’s. Very reasonable pricing, no pushy sales staff. worth the stop! Check this place out while in Portland if you love vintage ladies fashions, they had fantastic handbags that i didn’t have time to really investigate but brought back fond memories of my grandma :)

Sweetest shop owner with the best inventory that I came across in Portland. Would definitely recommend stopping by this vintage shop. So many adorable pieces!

One of my favorite vintage shops in town. Well organized, great selection and friendly staff. I can always find something that is drool worthy and always affordable.

A beautiful selection, very well organized, reasonable prices, and best of all — the staff is extremely friendly and helpful! A decent portion of my closet was obtained at Bombshell, I always find something I can’t resist. If you are lucky, you also might get a little quality time with Frankie (the world’s best wiener dog) while at the shop.

Love this place! Found 2 great dresses that fit my 5′ 0 curvy frame. The owner, Kim, is genuinely nice and helpful. she immediately greets you when you walk through the door. So essential for a business owner (are you listening shop owners down the street?)
Great selection and quality of clothing, accessories. I will be back soon. :)

There is so much to love about Bombshell! The selection is outstanding with 1940s through the 1980s (tasteful 80s items! Who knew!?) and all items are of excellent quality. Great selection of menswear too!
The shop is open and spacious with pin-​ups adoring the walls, but a little on the dark side for my liking, however the gals who work there are an absolute delight and pleasure to chat with and every so often you’ll get little wiener dogs who are more than happy to greet you as you walk in.
Prices are moderate and fair.

I had such high hopes for Bombshell Vintage. The window display was adorable, and the saleswoman was polite and greeted me when I walked in. Unfortunately, the overpowering smell of mothballs was disgusting. I spent about 3 minutes looking around but I’d be afraid to buy anything for fear it had the dreaded mothball smell embedded forever.

Love their accessories selection. The customer service is superb!

You can tell this place chooses its pieces with care. I found a 1970’s riding jacket that fits me like a glove the very first time I went in. But that wasn’t the only gem item in the place. There was racks and racks of beautifully kept vintage clothing. I could have walked out with arm fulls if I wasn’t practicing major self control.
Beyond the clothing, the jewelry was really fantastic. Lots of funky, quirky pieces. Friendly staff, good enough space, great location. Wonderful vintage shop!

No seriously, I am in love.
Let me start by saying that I am a district manager for a well-​known fashion retailer, which makes me a pretty tough critic when it comes to customer service out there…
I’ve driven by this place a few times and we finally stopped in yesterday — I have been to just about every vintage shop in Portland at this point [new to town, must find the best ones immediately].
The girl working was nothing but super attentive and NEVER pushy; she offered to bring down whatever I was eyeing almost immediately and started a fitting room for me as soon as I had a shirt in my hands. After chatting with her, it was clear that she also has a love of vintage as much as the rest of us that take the time to Unilocal vintage around town…
it’s obvious that they really take their time selecting what’s in the store [really great quality, beautiful pieces] and the prices are completely reasonable. Nice guys’ selection as well.
I walked out with an incredible red cheongsam, christmas ideas for the boyfriend, 3 more dresses I wish I’d had time to try on [will probably be back this weekend] and a seriously great shopping experience. I can’t wait to go back!

Oh. My. Lord. How adorable! The shop is really large, and they have a great selection of shirts, dresses, skirts, coats etc and was really well laid out. Despite how much they had, it didn’t feel crowded and there was enough room to try everything on and sort through it all.
The selection of dresses and tops was really great, my gals were looking for some classic vintage pieces and they totally found a number of them here. I tried on SO MANY fur and wool coats, I was in heaven. They also have a number of really INCREDIBLE glasses and handkerchiefs.
The woman who owns the store and the woman who was working there were both really lovely. Super knowledgeable about vintage and really sweet.

I have to start off by saying I don’t come to Portland, OR. as much as I like. My band was on tour and we stayed at a cool hotel across the street. So I saw this place and my interest was peaked. So I decided to go in and check things out. I already had it in my mind that I was just looking.
I walked in the shop and everything is pretty well merched. I was greeted by a woman working there named Cintamani. (Very polite and friendly) I told her that this was my first time in here, and I just wanted to check the place out. She showed me around, and told me where everything was sectioned off. I asked her if by any chance they carried any chelsea boots. She replied, «yes», and took me straight to them. I saw them, tried them on, and I was hooked. She told me that chelsea boots don’t last there very long. Oddly enough, I find out one of my friends was the last guy to buy a set of chelsea boots from them. I called my girlfriend and couldn’t wait to let her know that. Seriously, what are the odds?
I told my gf about the shop and wondered if she was wanting me to look out for something. She told me to just get her a dress, and gave me her sizes, but I already needed help. Cintamani offered to talk to her over the phone, and after 8 – 10 minutes, she had a selection of dresses to choose from. So I took video of all the dresses and sent it to my gf, after which I narrowed it down to two. I picked the one I thought would work best for her, and bought it, along with the Chelsea boots. Spent a little under 100.00 and it was SO worth it. I wore those boots to the last two shows on the tour and I’m so glad I found them.
One of the things I love about a good store (Apart from friendly and knowledgable salespeople) is knowing what they have in stock and where it is.
Cintamani is definitely one of the big reasons to come back to Bombshell Vintage. (Which I am hoping to be VERY soon.)

There was a really helpful front desk person. My wife tried on a skirt but it was a little too tight. She really enjoyed it though. I would say this place is much better suited towards women than men. it was really clean and also they had a very organized selection of things. Mostly men’s sport coats and plaid pants which is great if that’s your thing. I was looking for t-​shirts and old non pearl snap plaids.

Love playing dress-​up at places like this. So many fun clothes from many different time periods.
The organization of the clothing and how it’s displayed is refreshing as well. They don’t have all the time periods just all mixed up but are sorted more for easy pickings. They also use round racks and have lots of room so you can move around easily searching for your treasures.

Vintage heaven!
They have a gorgeous selection of clothes, accessories, and shoes. I could have spent all day in there… but I ended up buying this beautiful black dress that I have deemed my «Blair Waldorf» dress, to go with my Audrey Hepburn and Betty Draper dresses.
There are a few other vintage boutiques nearby but none of them hold a candle to Bombshell Vintage!

A window display full of 50s dresses. Poufs of pastel tulle with fitted corset. How can anyone resist!
Not me. There are tons of cute vintage clothes in this place. I just can’t ever find anything that fits me! There are a few racks with shoes, purses, and jackets hanging all about. In the Fall they had a rack full of adorable handmade gloves with lace, frills, leather, and the like. Prices are reasonable compared to other vintage stores.

No bargains, but what a fun place to browse!
On a recent stay in Portland, we were at the Jupiter right across the street and decided to wander over to check out this store (there’s a cute art gallery next door that’s also worth looking at).
The store is spacious, with a nice open layout — not cluttered and jammed, as many vintage stores can be. Everything is sorted nicely, more or less by size, and there’s plenty from every decade to choose from. There are lots of funky dresses and cute skirts, a pretty good selection of shoes (though nothing in my huge size, sigh), and a decent assortment of gloves, hats, and costume jewelry. Sometimes guys get short shrift in the vintage stores, but there were some really nice suits, dressy jackets, and formal shirts for the mens when we were there. Ooh, and LOTS AND LOTS of glittery granny sequined tops and gem sweaters.
Prices were at the high end of reasonable — I found a cute A-​line skirt for $ 15, and there is a small sale rack. Dresses seem to be $ 25 and up, likewise with embellished sweaters and skirts. Everything is in good condition and I saw several designer labels, so it’s probably a decent value for what it is, just higher than I personally want to pay for dress-​up costumes.
The girl who was working there was pleasant and helpful, and when another customer came in needing an emergency accessory for a wedding that day, she sprang into action to help her find the perfect tie-​it-​together item. The inventory seems very carefully and thoughtfully selected, which saves you some legwork if you’re not a fan of digging for treasure. If you’re looking for something a cut above and don’t mind paying a bit of a premium for a nice atmosphere, Bombshell is a great place to check out!

Ring ring…
-«Hello” —
-“oh…Ashley…it’s your vanity calling.» —
I love me some vintage dresses… I actually have a little problem with them. However, when I feel the itch to buy a fancy dress cut to fit a secretary on Mad Men, I come here.
The prices are fair, the clothing in good condition, and the taste level high. If you are in the market for something for a special occasion or something to just make you feel classy and special, then look no further than Bombshell, where every piece of clothing makes you feel like the stellar woman you are!

Bombshell Vintage is a super special darling shop that I love.
The owner clearly knows what she’s doing… she also owns ‘Lived-​In Lover’ down on Division, and while that store also has housewares and such, Bombshell just focuses on men’s and women’s clothes and accessories.
And oooh, the gems to be found! There are some killer finds here and they are, in fact, priced accordingly (if you want the bins, girl, you better just take it to bins). There are LOTS of dresses and LOTS of great accessories in shoes, hats, purses, scarves, gloves. Seriously, name it.
And crinolines… I find that crucial. At least bi-​annually someone I know needs a crinoline. I don’t know why, they just do. So get it here!