Portland Hall of Shame: Imperial Office Machines on Southeast Hawthorne

[UPDATE: Imperial Office Machines: Thank you! - January 9, 2007]

I received a beautiful new digital camera for Christmas this year so I'm on a picture-taking rampage. Bad-neighbor businesses beware! I'm going to fill the Portland Hall of Shame with all kinds of long overdue entries.

Today's lucky winner: Imperial Office Machines, located just East of Southeast 39th and Hawthorne in Portland. I actually had to Google their phone number because I couldn't remember the name of the place. Looking at their building (30-year old paint job and all), you'd think their name was IBM Authorized Dealer Typewriters.

My main problem with Imperial Office Machines is that the only time they seem to paint anything at all is when someone graffitis their building and they have no choice. And they take their sweet time even then. Like Dixie Mattress Co. on Southeast Belmont, Imperial Office Machines must own their building as I'm sure the neighborhood association and surrounding businesses would have forced them to clean up their act or run them out long ago if they were leasing.

But it's not just the paint job. Their building is all windows and yet they treat it like it's a hidden and forgotten corner of the basement. There are ancient office machines, crumpled up paper, empty coffee cups and other garbage strewn all over the place. It's a nasty eyesore that needs to go away.

I have seen what appear to be employees inside, but I've never seen anyone actually enter or exit the place. I'm guessing that they have no walk-in traffic. It's probably just a service depot where technicians bring machines to be worked on. So they don't care what it looks like.

I didn't know until trying to find their business name that they have a website. Here's what it says:

Established in 1975, Imperial Office Machines has grown to become a leading office machines distributor in the greater Portland metro area. Offering Sales, Service and Supply excellence on an extensive line of Canon, OKI, Samsung and HP products.

The website won't win any design awards, but it's clean and it works. They've clearly invested time and money in it. Unlike their physical store. If Imperial Office Machines wants to do business on Hawthorne and wants to take the money of people in Portland, they need to stop being a terrible neighbor and start reinvesting some of their earnings in their storefront.

Comments

[MDizz]

Dude -- You suck. They have been in this area longer than you. They provide a service. The photo you took of their storefront looks cleaner than most businesses in SE. If the product they offer isn't needed, they will leave on their own recognizance. You are not going to make a difference so shut up.

[the guy at the next table]

I don't mind your crusade against bad taste and unpleasantness in Portland at all. I think it's very civic-minded, Blows-Against-The-Empire, and David-and-Goliath. I hope you continue.

I want to say a word about their sign, though. As the years pass, this self-important 1960's monolithic style becomes funnier and funnier. It was intended as a sonorous, heavy-handed statement, and now simply seems dated and foolishly arrogant. I would hate to see IBM suddenly wake up to the joke they've been sporting for forty years, just because you're pointing out their poor hygiene...

I'm just sayin'.

[Steve]

MDizz: Don't come to MY blog and tell me to shut up. And how pathetic is it to show up and start with a childish personal insult? Given the fact that this post has generated over 100 comments here and elsewhere, I'd say I'm already making a huge difference -- much more than I expected, frankly.

The photo you took of their storefront looks cleaner than most businesses in SE.

Did you even read my post? I'm betting you've never even seen Imperial Business Machines. Please at least read what you're commenting on before you comment.

[Eyesore]

This place is a disgrace...along with 25% of the businesses along Hawthorne. I am still blown away by the people who rant against change...as if the architecture of the 1960's and 70's left us with a tremendous legacy. But worse, are those fine neighbors who don't even bother to take care of what they have. And we have to look at it and live with it. If a new condo unit is going in the neighborhood association gets all riled up...but if a longtime business continues to look like s--- and is a bad neighbor, nothing.