On the first day of the Main Street Mavericks road trip, we talked to nine small businesses about triumphs, challenges, and advice for new entrepreneurs.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Managing Editor
UPDATED
Main Street Mavericks started as a pipe dream. What if we could take our love of small businesses on the road to meet and hear from REAL small business owners? Would they want to meet with us? What advice would they have for us? Could we be of any help to them?
We are excited to introduce our pipe dream as a reality. In September, the Main Street Mavericks hit the road to talk to as many real small business owners as we could. Come join our journey!
Table of Contents
Helping business owners is our goal here at Merchant Maverick, and we know that building a community of small business support is crucial to small business success.
The Main Street Mavericks team for this leg comprises me (Shelbi — Managing Editor) and Kendall Liner, our Digital Content Producer. We were on a road trip to meet with and talk to as many Oregon merchants as possible in one week. We took shopping small to heart: We ate only at small businesses, stayed only at small businesses, and even filled up our gas tank from independently owned gas stations.
We had some noticeable cheating in two instances: McDonald’s Diet Cokes, and our rental car was from Avis. (Sad trombone noise.) But we still count that as a success!
For the first day of our Main Street Mavericks adventure, we started in Portland, Oregon, driving all over the city to meet with remarkable small business owners to talk to them about everything from running a small business to their goals and ambitions for the future.
Their collective key takeaway? We heard it repeatedly from all types of businesses over the next week: Find other small business owners to talk to — communicate regularly and support each other.
Find other small business owners to talk to — communicate regularly and support each other.
Each small business we met on this journey showed us exactly why small business owners are the resourceful, resilient, vastly innovative, and creative people they are. Each one saw a need, had a dream, and set out to put all of themselves into that dream.
The Main Street Mavericks team is excited to share our day around Portland.
Interested in following along? Head on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe! We’ll be releasing the rest of our road trip highlights and spotlights over the next two weeks. And while you’re over there, don’t forget to comment and let us know where we should go next, or shout out your favorite small business.
And please visit and support each one of the businesses we feature here — think of them for your Small Business Saturday shopping needs, give them a like on your socials, and share their spotlights. A little bit of love can go a long way.
The day started with breakfast at SE Portland’s Harney Street Cafe, where we chatted briefly with the owner, Alex, about his delicious farm-fresh menu and about working closely with his family.
Then we went to NE Fremont to meet with Edith Johnson, owner of Sunrise Books. It was her first day back from maternity leave after welcoming a baby girl into her family.
Check out the full Sunrise Books Business Spotlight.
Made a pretty short jaunt over to Portland’s first size-inclusive gym, All Bodies Strong, to meet with owners Will Lay and Christina Malone and practice our deadlifts.
Check out the full All Bodies Strong Business Spotlight.
Then we went to outer SE to meet at the art studio of local artist and small business owner Amanda Siska, who runs Bread & Badger. We got a tour, watched the artist at work, and met some kittens.
Read and watch the full Bread & Badger Business Spotlight.
Sunflower Sake is a taste of Japan hidden down near the waterfront in inner industrial SE. Run by Nina Murphy, the small tasting room and sake education center is quickly becoming a premiere location for all things sake.
Check out the full Sunflower Sake Business Spotlight.
We had another interview scheduled at this time, but that business had to cancel at the last minute for very legitimate reasons, so we took that time to eat! Which was much needed. At lunch, we spoke with Leo, a server at Oaks Bottom Public House, where he talked about the perks of working for a small business.
Our favorite hot sauce. What can we say? We’re biased. We first met Jake Newcomb of Newks when he was just starting out in the early months of the Covid pandemic. When we checked in four and a half years later, we found Newks thriving. During our interview, Jake was working OMSI After Dark — a 21+ event at Portland’s top-notch science museum.
Check out our Newks Business Spotlight.
Also working at OMSI After Dark, we met with Dappled Tonic, a start-up tonic water company run by a powerhouse group of female distillers. Check out our Instagram for their feature.
Day Two: Oregon’s North Coast — Warrenton and Cannon Beach! Check it out now.
Get in touch with a real human being on the Merchant Maverick team! Send us your questions, comments, reviews, or other feedback. We read every message and will respond if you'd like us to.
Reach OutGet in touch with a real human being on the Merchant Maverick team! Send us your questions, comments, reviews, or other feedback. We read every message and will respond if you'd like us to.
Reach Out
Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses.
Give Feedback
Want to help shape the future of the Merchant Maverick website? Join our testing and survey community!
By providing feedback on how we can improve, you can earn gift cards and get early access to new features.
Help us to improve by providing some feedback on your experience today.
The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
"*" indicates required fields
