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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1999)
rrrm news -julyXl F rench C ollection How much is that duvet in the window? Tim O'Hearn offers much in the w ay of refined taste and elegance by Suzanne Sigmund A waist-high stone replica of Michelangelos David greets you nonchalantly at the door of the French Quarter at 1444 N.E. Broadway in Portland— the young Adonis, old-world Italian machismo smoldering from antiquity into the present tense. You can’t help but give him the once over, admiring those solid, perfectly-propor tioned calf and thigh muscles. Hey, David, nice pecs. So, full frontal nudity anyone? You enter the shop and, if you harbor a yen for a luscious sensual experience, this is bound to be a satisfying shopping experience. French Quarter. Just saying the name puts you into that romantic mood. Luxurious linens to caress, maybe buy a set to bring home for that let’s-stay-in-bed-till-noon tête-à-tête with your main squeeze. The kinesthetic extravagance of soft and oh-so-thick towels from Germany, France, England and Italy beckons you to...what the hell, go ahead, pull one of the sheets to your skin and cop a feel. Saunter back to the European-style bar in the rear, curved in a half-circle of sleek shiny black, where you can imbibe a sparkling miner al water or a savory cup of the Italian coffee. Now that you’ve got a sense of the place in all its splendor, what about the shop owner? At 35, French Quarter entrepreneur Tim O ’Heam has three similarly-themed shops (two in Port land and one in Eugene). Combining the muse um curator’s eye for intriguing juxtaposition of objects with a razor-sharp sense of marketing, O ’Heam’s skills are evident upon first glance. His sexy French shop with towels, bathrobes and linens to drool for has become as popular as, well, french fries at the Rose Festival. O ’Heam says he has in the past been an active member of the Portland Area Business Association, a membership group that promotes lesbian- and gay-owned businesses. “I think that really helped when I was start ing the stores,” he tells Just Out. “But I haven’t had the time to be an active member recently.” In order to keep his shop stocked, O ’Heam plays the voyager often, traveling to find fresh ideas and creative inspiration. Recently he went on a jaunt to San Francis co. “It was a couple of days of hard business in terms of actually shopping for the store,” he says. “And a few days of what I call ‘research and development’— that is, looking at a store, look ing at the way people do things. And that helps inspire me to look at things differently, to ‘get out of my square box,’ which is important to do. So, the things that sound like fun, and which are fun— like dining in restaurants—do a lot to refuel my creativity and do a lot to recharge my batteries.” O ’Heam adds: “I have to he inspired by what other people have done— that’s critical. If I had my nose up here in this office every single day 12 months a year, it would show in the shops.” All this French savvy and marketing know how didn’t just fall miraculously like manna from heaven into O ’Heam’s willing brain. He graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 1984 with dual degrees: one in business and the other in foreign languages. Though O ’Heam at first envisioned having a job in international affairs, trade or import-export, retail is where the young entrepreneur learned to take a licking and keep on ticking. First a rookie manager with Meier &. Frank, he was quickly promoted to a high-profile buying position. “It was a perfect job to have in my 20s,” he says. “I was in New York 12 weeks a year, every month. I got to keep all my miles so I could take great vacations in Europe and I got to know New York really well.” These days, when the cat’s away in Tokyo, Paris or New York, what about French Quarter? Mayhem and commotion? Not on your life. Fortu nately, O ’Heam’s got himself a store manager who keeps the place running like a well-oiled Citroën. Meet Jared Austin, 22, O ’Heam’s right-hand man. Originally from Roseburg, Ore., Austin owned a vintage clothing shop there for two years, moved to Eugene, then heard about an opening at the French Quarter. Bingo. (Oh yeah, first there was that soul-quenching three- month journey to Europe, where Austin checked out the gay clubs in Frankfurt and Paris, then made his way through Munich, Vienna and Florence.) Back on home turf, Austin heard about the opening at French Quarter and, voilà, he’s been a very important cog in the sleek French Quar ter machine since the summer of 1997. Back to the boss. Since O ’Heam is into the business of critiquing other merchandisers, who gets his seal of approval? Rather than specific individuals, O ’Heam says, he admires different things about different businesses. He gives an A- plus to Camera World for looking into the future to generate sales volume via the Internet. He puts both Powell’s City of Books and Restoration Hardware into the doing-some thing-right category, and when he’s satisfying the sartorial whims of No. 1, O ’Heam simply loves shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue. What about Abercrombie and Fitch? He assesses: “It’s a bit too early to tell if they’ll be successful with the new Gap-type approach, but from an advertising standpoint, their ads are great. Their ads are certainly, from a gay stand point, very homoerotic.” SUMMER SALE Up to $100 Off! WINDOW COVERINGS *50 off any purchase over $600 *100 off any purchase over $900 Now. you can afford some real window coverings. Budget 8lmds makes if easy to dress up your home and get dressed in your home with a $100 discount on any purchase of $900 or more. This offer is good on every style of window covering and every brand we carry. W e specialize in HunterDouglas Offer good at time of purchase only. Not valid with any other coupons 7n a * idgetË Free Estimates • Free Installation • 90 days same as cash Serving Oregon & SW Washington C a ll N o w ! pn ‘ p p ,o M £ £ u x iiz // £ u e /ih e c /: S A T E E N W e a v in g is su ch an ancient process that no one knows e x a ctly w h ere it o rigin ated , th o u g h some v en tu re a g u e ss that the sp id e r s web or the b ir d s nest p r o v id e d the f i r s t in sp iratio n . E v e n as the evolvin g tech n o lo gy o f the loom con tin u es to b rin g u s new fabrics, there are some sim ple w eaving concepts that w ill alw ay s endure, su ch as sateen. T h i s cotton fabric is created on the loom by ru n n in g the top threa d (the w eft ) over three bottom th rea d s (the w arp ) in stead o f ju s t one. B e c a u s e th is weaving process exposes m ore y a rn to the touch, sateen has a b u tte r y so ft te x tu re and a gentle sheen. W h e n m ade fro m top g ra d e cotton in high th rea d counts, sateen sheets, sh am s and p illo w case s epitom ize l u x u r y b ed d in g. FRENCH QUARTER /tix tiu //o r /A e A ed , A a/A a n d A o tfy N O H T H I i A H T I’O K T I . A M ) P R A Rii D I S T R I C T RITCÏKNK 1444 NK B R O A D W A Y 33« NW 1 4 T H A T H O Y T FIFTH STRKKT P m i i l C c ,e m East Pori. ‘ West Port. Salem 503-590-4333 503-968-7575 503-362-1643 MARKBT 2 M 2 -N 2 «« 2 2 :i- .* IN 7 !l ÎI4 1 *3 4 3 - N » 0 4 { p l e a s e e x p l o r e o u r c a t a l o g at w w w . e u r o l i n e n s . c o m }