After about ten years at 26th and Main Street, Louisville Thrift owner Remy Jackson has found a home at 19th and Griffiths Avenue. A veteran of the thrift business, Remy spent years working in Lexington for Goodwill as a floating manager overseeing five different locations, before coming back to Louisville. Before that, he was working as a bartender at the Spaghetti Factory downtown when he was shot near his Old Louisville home. He had graduated from the University of Kentucky, and as he recovered, his relationships in Lexington led him to the Goodwill job. As a native of the south end of Louisville, near Taylor Boulevard and Churchill Downs, Remy had never been to Portland, but like many, fell victim to its charms.
“I fell in love with the neighborhood,” he said, adding that it wasn’t initially his plan. “Portland is a whole other world. At first, I was like, ‘what am I walking into?’ It’s kind of nuts but the people are very interesting. That’s why I ended up staying here.”
Every time I’ve visited the shop, it’s impossible to ignore the easygoing relationship Remy has with his many steady customers, serving the role of not only traditional neighborhood shopkeeper, but empathetic counselor as well.
“I have to cuss ‘em out sometimes, but I do enjoy the customers,” he said with a laugh. He said he’s at the shop so often that he’s not sure which is his first or second home. “I don’t feel like I’m at work, but I’m here more.”
His building is a great example of irresistible Portland history. His immediate neighbors have lived in the same houses for 60 or 70 years, and often share stories of the building’s colorful past. Not only was it a combination tanning bed and video store in a previous life, but also an appliance store and short-lived consignment shop called Tressa’s Treasures. And astute Portland Anchor readers and longtime residents may have noticed Shamrock Liquors in our recent montage of bygone drinking establishments, which resided at this very location, 331 North 19th Street, serving up libations “by drink and package.” Remy said the basement had shackles installed, and has heard stories that decades ago, women couldn’t even enter the store; they had to order at a window.
Louisville Thrift is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 4pm, and every Saturday, Remy does a drawing from a black hat to win store credit.
