The Vision
Top-drawer luxury linens shown and sold in a comfortable, low-key environment, by an unpretentious staff.


The Time
September, 1995


The Place
A groovy, up and coming urban neighborhood in Portland, Oregon called Irvington; a busy intersection known as NE 15th and Broadway.


The Space
700 square feet tucked around the corner from a noisy (and smelly!) restaurant. (Ron Paul Charcuterie, for those of you Portlanders that have been around for a long time.)


The Goods
We're proud to say that vendors and resources rarely change at French Quarter; we started with the best and the best keep getting better and better.

Peacock Alley, The Purists, SDH, Leiter and Habidecor were on the beds and on the shelves of our first store when it opened, and they're part of the French Quarter Family today.

Along the way we've added greats like Sferra, Nancy Koltes, NC Souther, Signoria Firenze, Anichini, Scandia Down and Matouk, and they, too, keep getting better and better.

As a result of partnerships with the finest textile producers in the world, French Quarter Linens has become the Pacific Northwest's premier retailer of luxury linens.


The Guests
After 13 years, we truly have customers from around the world. We once scurried around for days preparing for a container bound for a customer in Japan!

As Portland has flourished and become an important tourist destination, we find ourselves working with folks from all over the country. We have quite a relationship with UPS!

Most of our customers, of course, live near our store and their lives tend to embody the ideals that French Quarter Linens stands for.

We believe in the European notion of consuming that more is not better; the best is better.

We also believe that shopping should be an interactive experience with the merchandise and with our staff; this means laziness, pretention and snootiness are not allowed!

Finally, our customers tend to have more urban, edgy and eclectic tastes, which our store and website reflect.


The Growth
Let's just say we've been around and have finally settled down!

We're no longer in our original NE Portland neighborhood, but we're just across the river in the sensational and renowned Pearl District, where we've had a store for almost 12 years.

Our store in Eugene, which we closed in January, 2009, was around for 11 years, and many years ago we bought one of our Portland competitors, Virginia Jacobs which we converted to a French Quarter store. When we opened our store at Bridgeport Village in 2005, we closed the former Virginia Jacobs location.

After nearly four years at Bridgeport Village, the poor economy led us to closing our doors there (!), also in January, 2009.

Oh, and while we were expanding, we did a little four-year stint in Seattle which ended in February, 2008. Alas, we are store-less in Seattle, but working hard to reach our 6,000 Washington customers through our website.

Today we have one robust and vibrant flagship store, a seasoned and dedicated staff, and a growing web business.

We're never sure about the future, but we are certain of one thing: bigger isn't better; better is better!


The Guy
It's me, Tim O'Hearn. I do all the content and writing for the site. I use "we" a lot in my writing, because it really takes a committed team to accomplish everything we do with three stores, a gaggle of quirky vendors, loads of inventory and thousands of customers.

Yes, I started the stores, I run the stores and I own the stores. Through boom times and tough times, we're still here, and I'm still proud and honored to be able to sell such beautiful and high quality products.

My background is almost pure retail. During my college days at Lewis & Clark College here in Portland, I worked nights and weekends at the now-defunct downtown Portland Frederick & Nelson department store.

With a couple of undergraduate degrees under my belt in 1984, I entered the management training program at Meier & Frank, a division of May Company (which was sold to Federated and is now Macy's). After six years as department manger, assistant buyer, and buyer, it became clear to me that I wasn't cut out for corporate culture and homogeneity.

After another retail gig and some time spent with my father in his real estate business, I determined that I just needed to do what I love and what I know—retail.

I'm often asked why I chose luxury linens as a business and, frankly, I can't remember. I think it's just some primal attraction to the art of textiles that I'm fortunate to experience every day of my life!

Oh, and the name French Quarter? Well, it has to do with France (I speak French having lived there for a year in high school as an exchange student, and my son carries on the tradition by attending a full-immersion French school); it has to do with the time-worn beauty of New Orleans' French Quarter: old, weathered, used and tradition-bound melded with fine luxury goods; and it has to do with hot, steamy, sexy and sultry— hallmarks of New Orleans. All in all, it's a concept (or in today's parlance, "brand") that speaks to me.


The Here & Now
We have one spacious and beautiful flagship store in Portland's Pearl District. At almost 5,000 square feet, we've got the space to show the goods!

2008 was a tough year for retailers. In order to remain profitable, competitive and nimble, we closed our two underperforming stores (Eugene & Bridgeport Village) in January, 2009.


The Future
We've never been able to accurately predict the future and these days, it's really a fool's game.

We do know, though, that a venerable flagship headquarters is in our future.

Imagine with us, please, a grand historic Portland home outfitted from top to bottom in our amazing textiles. Then imagine on-site parking (!), comfortable sofas, soft lighting, appointments, paté and Champagne.

If you hear of something, let us know. We'll keep you posted on our progress!