An iconic Portland business that began nearly 30 years ago on a whim, a dream, and a family home put up for collateral will close sometime in September.
The Whole 9 Yards, 1820 E. Burnside St., wasn’t done in by a faltering economy, or a lack of customers, the fallout from social distancing rules required because of COVID-19.
The death of a family member convinced Amy Estrin and her husband, Jamie Eoff, that time is precious, and they needed to do something different with their lives.
“My mom passed away last year,” said Estrin. “Jamie and I had a good run, a great run, but we have a long list of things we want to do.”
The circle closes in the most appropriate of ways.
The store was born because of a list.
It dies because of a list.
***
Estrin, born and raised in Chicago, moved to Oregon in her 20s after her parents packed up and decided to open a retail fabric store in Salem. Her mother was a nurse, her father a wholesale fabric distributor.
“They gave it all up and came to Salem of all places to open a retail fabric store,” she said. “Who does something that drastic in their 50s?”
Estrin, a fine arts painter, moved to Salem to help her parents and then to Portland, where she met and married Eoff, a musician who played drums. She showed her work in local galleries and he played in bands. They also both had side gigs at Storefront Theater, a ground-breaking company. Estrin worked on designing sets, her husband with music for the shows.
During a road trip to Los Angeles the couple talked about working together. To pass the time, they made a list of possible ventures, including a coffee shop, a bookstore and a record store. Also on the list was a fabric store.
“On the way home we crossed off the things we didn’t want to do,” said Estrin. “The fabric store made the cut.”
Estrin decided she wanted to do something different than her parents, something that incorporated her love of art, by creating a retail store featuring unusual fabrics from around the world.
But the couple had no money.
What they did have was their house, once owned by Eoff’s parents. His father joined the Oregon Symphony when he was 19, playing the viola there for decades, and also working closely with the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
“My parents were frugal,” he said. “My mother was a seamstress and stayed at home. But she managed their money well and they were able to buy the house that I inherited when they died.”
Estrin and Eoff who said they were making a living the best they could, decided to use their house as collateral to get a loan for a business they named The Whole 9 Yards. They both knew it was a huge risk.
“It still amazes me that Jamie trusted me,” she said. “He was going to do all the bookkeeping and all the behind scenes work at the store. I was going to be the primary person out front, the face of the store.”
They rented space in Northwest Portland and opened for business.
“I spent more money buying fabric than I’d spent in my accumulated adult life,” said Estrin. “I couldn’t sleep I was so worried.”
The business grew slowly, the husband and wife doing everything until they made enough to start hiring employees. One woman they wanted to hire had to turn down the job because her husband didn’t think the neighborhood was safe.
“It was considered scary,” said Estrin. “This is before the Pearl District blew up and became what it is today.”
The business took off when customers and interior designers from the metropolitan area discovered the store’s selection of fabric. Estrin studied fabric from the perspective of a painter, traveling the United States and Europe, looking for good deals and fabrics not found in chain stores.
“We did better every single year,” she said. “We hung in there during the recession.”
In 2000, the couple had the chance to buy a building on East Burnside.
“We did it,” said Estrin. “Thank you to the powers that be in life.
Eoff said his parents would have been “astonished” to see what their home helped build.
After Estrin’s mother died, the couple took stock of their lives. She is 63 and he is 69.
“We have this list of things we want to do,” said Eoff. “So, we’re going to do them. We are going to go enjoy life.”
The couple sold the building, which allows them to retire. They’re willing to sell the store, but know finding a buyer in such uncertain times could be difficult.
“But if someone is young and creative, they should come talk,” said Estrin. “It would be great to keep the spirit of the store alive.”
The remaining stock of fabric will be on sale until the doors close in September.
“It’s bittersweet,” said Estrin. “In many ways it’s a lot harder to close the store than it was to open it.”
As the weeks wind down, the couple is proud of what they managed to build.
“We did all of this on our own,” said Estrin. “All we had was that house, the one we still live in, to fund everything.”
-- Tom Hallman Jr; thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224; @thallmanjr
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