Tag: 7115 NE Glisan

Business Relocating, Entertainment, New Business

Devout Rcrds Reopens on NE Glisan

On April 26th, Devout Rcrds held its grand reopening in its new location at 7115 NE Glisan Street after a long hiatus. This highly specialized store focuses on metal music in all its varieties. Redevelopment pressures forced the shop to move several times within Portland’s Inner Eastside, and the pandemic caused the owner to close the shop for years. However, better leasing opportunities in Montavilla are giving this store a new life in an area that has regularly welcomed this genre of music store.

Exterior view of Devout Rcrds record store featuring an open door, large front windows with the store name displayed, and plants visible inside.

Store owner Stevie Floyd keeps a lowkey shop and depends on a particular type of customer seeking her extensive collection of underground metal, death metal, black metal, and doom metal. “It’s not for everyone. I don’t wanna waste people’s time or mine. It’s a very niche thing,” said Floyd. She designed the store with minimal window dressing. Even the lettering of the shop’s name is hard to read at a glance. Floyd does not want to confuse anyone who may think this is a general-purpose record store.

View of Devout Rcrds interior featuring an assortment of vinyl records displayed on shelves in the foreground, with black band t-shirts hanging above. Two people are seen at the counter in the background.

Although curbside promotion is not part of the plan for this storefront, foot traffic will factor into reaching Devout Rcrds customers. Through a coincidence, this store will open a block away from City Noise Records, which specializes in punk and metal music. “It was so weird,” recalled Floyd. She was looking at a potential retail space adjacent to her friend’s store, Black Water Records. “I met the owner of City Noise there and said, ‘Oh, I was just looking at this spot, but it’s a little too small. Whatever, I already signed a lease somewhere else, but I just wanted to see if this could be a backup.’ He said, ‘We’re signing a lease. Where’s your new store?’ and I said, ’71st and Glisan.’ and he said, ‘Really, I just signed a lease a couple of months ago at 70th and Glisan.'” Floyd is not concerned with the unintentional proximity of the two stores. “Record collectors go to every record store. So it’s totally fine. It was just really random and funny.”

Interior of Devout Rcrds, showcasing shelves filled with metal music albums, t-shirts, and a display case with various merchandise.
Listening station

Previous versions of Devout Rcrds included a cafe, but Floyd recognizes that NE Glisan already has a good coffee selection and does not want to cut into that market. However, as with the last locations, the shop will carry more than metal music and band t-shirts. “I sell herbs and tinctures and plants. I have a little plant store in the front with plants I grow,” explained Floyd. The Glisan shop is the fourth and final iteration of Devout Rcrds. Floyd took some time after the last closure and previously interrupted reopening before she felt it was a good time to try again. “I had finally had it with Morrison Street and then kind of gave up for a little bit on reopening my record store.” Now, with some time to regroup, Floyd wants to give one last effort at building the store she envisioned and is putting all her efforts into making it the best version of Devout Rcrds she could make.

Interior of Devout Rcrds showcasing various plants, decorative skulls, and band merchandise, with two people visible in the background.

For Floyd, a strong reopening started with finding the right location with a local landlord who cared about their property. “I had a lot of requirements in mind, but the number one thing was a private landlord, a real person I can talk to. So I found this really cool couple that built this building in the 80s with his dad. It’s a solid building, very affordable, and I can call them whenever I want. They’re real, genuine people,” said Floyd. She explained that maintenance issues ignored by the out-of-town property owner halted past attempts to reopen in a new location. This Montavilla location is the former Spencer’s Appliances storefront, and that company’s founding family still owns the property. They have a strong connection to the Montavilla neighborhood and favor independent businesses.

Devout Rcrds is open three days a week, Friday through Sunday, from 2 to 8 p.m. People can follow the store’s activities on the company’s Instagram page.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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Business Closing, History

Spencers Appliances Closing after 4 Decades

Spencer’s Appliances at 7115 NE Glisan Street will permanently close its doors on February 1st after forty years of serving the community. The new and used appliance store’s owner plans to retire, renting out the three commercial buildings on NE Glisan Street to the next generation of businesses. Several employees have formed a new company and will open their appliance repair store later in the year.

Eugene Spencer started Spencer’s Appliances with his son in the early1980s after retiring from the military as a refrigeration specialist. “I started with my father, Eugene, in 82. He was doing stuff out of his house because he retired from the Navy, and he just started tinkering around keeping himself busy,” remembered John Spencer. “I was working at a seed mill in Tangent, OR. I went to college for a couple of years, and college wasn’t for me. Then my dad called me and said you want a job? Come up here and work for me.”

Ben Schafer, the owner of Cash and Carry Appliances on NE Glisan, wanted to relocate his 30-year-old business to SE Hawthorne, allowing the Spencers to set up shop in an established location. “There was a pre-existing appliance business here, and the guy wanted to move to a bigger building. So we bought this building,” explained John Spencer. “This was a good location, and we had people walk in the first day and buy an appliance from us because it was an appliance business before.”

That early success gave the Spencers confidence, particularly John, who at 21 was new to the business. “I still remember going, ‘Holy crap,’ there’s people in here buying stuff. I didn’t know anything, and then we started fixing appliances and selling them. We eventually got a GE dealership. It just took off from there.” Said John Spencer. After growing the business together, the father and son team added an employee. “It just slowly but surely got busier and busier, and then we hired Wes.” Wes Swisher had also retired from the Navy and knew Eugene Spencer. According to John Spencer, Wes was instrumental in the growth of Spencer’s Appliances. The business continued to expand year after year, eventually employing 20 people.

By 1984, the appliance shop outgrew the original storefront at 7123 NE Glisan, so they constructed the current showroom next door. In 2000, the company completed a new warehouse building at the corner of NE 71st Avenue and Glisan Street. Both newer buildings support apartments on a second floor above the commercial space, creating six units. The Spencers eventually bought the land one block east, building the Glisan Plaza at 7201 NE Glisan Street.

Twenty years ago, Eugene Spencer stepped away from the appliance business, leaving John in charge. “He was a great boss. We worked six days a week for 20 years, and then he retired,” recalls John Spencer. In 2012, Wes Swisher also retired. Both are healthy and enjoying their time away from work. Around the time Swisher left, John Spencer became concerned about Glisan Street. Car thieves have repeatedly stolen his service vehicles, and miscreants often vandalized the buildings. In 2019, a driver collided with his store and fled the scene. John Spencer enjoys the new families that have moved to the neighborhood and the business taking root around his shop but seeing the negative shift along his street is disappointing. “I think it is the worst I’ve seen it, the crime that you see walking up and down the street.” Said, Spencer. The shift in public safety and labor issue stemming from the pandemic have encouraged John Spencer to retire from the business. After searching for a buyer interested in running the store for seven months, he and his family decided it was better to shut down the company.

John Spencer will miss the daily interactions that have made his career enjoyable. “It’s all about the people. I just like meeting neighbors and talking to people. It was my social time. You go into people’s homes and learn things from their experiences in life. 90% of the people you deal with are just beautiful, down-to-earth people.” Spencer will also miss solving problems for customers. He takes pride in fixing someones vexing appliance problem and seeing the relief it gives people.

John Spencer is happy with the company his family built in Montavilla and the impact they have made on the lives of those who worked there. “It kept my family fed, and I think I’ve created a lot of jobs. I’ve got ex-employees that still do appliance stuff. There’s people that have found a career because they walked in the door one day looking for a job,” explained Spencer. “It’s been a wild ride.”

By

Jacob Loeb

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