Black Wagon

Very friendly and helpful staff. They carry the type of toys we want our kids to engage with. The coolest shoes for a four year old boy that is highly interested in fashion.

Black Wagon is a fantastic shop. I come here for all of my gifts for nieces and nephews because the staff is friendly, knowledgeable and interested in helping you find the perfect items. The curation of this store is also why I return: the toys, gifts, books and clothing are thoughtful and cohesive. I would also like to mention how beautiful the gift wrapping is and I have never felt like asking for gift wrapping is bothersome. I highly recommend supporting this shop and the wonderful staff!

This place is awesome! One of the best kids stores in town! We bought a sweet jean jacket and will be back!

Black Wagon is simply amazing. The clothing and toys at this shop are top notch and you’re not going to find them elsewhere in Portland. You’re paying for quality here and that’s a great thing. Hats off to the owner and staff who always make our visits playful and who are extremely knowledgeable about their products.

This place is the quintessential Portland baby hipster store. And they do it right. Stunning $ 65 organic baby t-​shirts printed with mermen that I will never buy, but certainly lovingly coveted. Great options for kids shoes — sure, a lot of Vans, but eye catching designs I haven’t seen anywhere else. If you want to give the coolest gift to a wee one, stop here and be done. Purchased a reasonably priced fold-​out book that my kid fell in love with.

Love this place!
If you don’t have kids, but need to score something unique for the kids in your life this is the perfect place to go. You’ll find good quality toys and books, and killer t-​shirts for the tiny human set.
It can be difficult to find something special for older kids too but they have you covered — they have science kits, irreverant books, books that can teach stuff without you really realizing it. It’s also cool to find gifts that don’t involve a glowing screen.
And sometimes stuff that I *mean* to give as gifts that somehow never leaves my house. ooops!
The store on Mississippi is petit but well organized. And if you just can’t figure it out, the staff is super friendly and not pushy at all. Thank goodness they are around for us perplexed auties and uncles!

Such an eclectic selection of toys, clothes, shoes, and gifts. I can’t visit without buying a few things, much to my husband’s horror. The items are pricier than other online options, but I love supporting local businesses, especially those that have such similar taste to me. If you’re looking for a unique baby shower or toddler birthday gift, you can’t go wrong here.

Awesome shop! So much fun to poke around in.

Fantastic selection of children’s toys and clothes! The staff is incredibly helpful and friendly! Wish we had a children’s store like this where we live! Very unique items. Hand knitted hats, unique onesies, great selection of wooden toys, a large shoe selection for such a small shop. This little kids boutique has it all! If you are in the Portland area definitely stop in!

Customer service is superb! The Native shoes that I got for my son as a gift, shrunk because we were in heat wave weather back in the midwest. I went to Black Wagon in hopes that I’d be able to get a new pair, since they no longer fit on his little feet. The store clerk was beyond understanding, friendly, and allowed me to exchange them for a new pair. Definitely will return here for cute clothes and gifts some time.

Friendly staff… unique, great children’s gifts, clothing, toys, and interactive games. I love this store!

Before I got down to my blurry tour of Portland last night, I had some time to trip around Mississippi Avenue, a hubbub of activity buzzing with character. If you have little ones or ever find yourself shopping for any, Black Wagon — which began first as an online entity and has since graduated to a full blown brick and mortar room — is a grand place to track down that diversion most kids never knew that they always wanted. They were celebrating their sixth anniversary when I happened in, so I’d rather expect that a photo booth, commissioned art of children, and some adult libations aren’t always part of the equation.
That said, my favorite section was actually the book selection, featuring the Go The **** To Sleep tome and it’s follow up, Seriously, Go To Sleep. I buried myself in that one for awhile and jibed with every exasperated parent: it’s the kind of night time reading that makes sense of what Louis CK notes about his kids: they’re lovable, but exhausting. It’s not a very big shop so chances are it won’t take you long to nose around, but the staff seemed on point and eager to help without waxing omnipresent. In all, it’s always nice to find a spot that does what they intend to do well, and with a little levity besides.

Really enjoyed my first visit to Black Wagon. Took my kiddo and his cousin, both 3 year olds which you think might be risky when browsing a kids boutique. Thankfully they had a kitchen and train set put together in the back of the shop for the tykes to keep busy, awesome. Loved that they carried appaman, and a good selection of most things.
Wish they had more dinosaur and space toys in shop, but was told I could find them easily through their online store. One of the ladies even found a spaceship toy in their catalogue and wrote it down for me in case I wanted to look it up later.
Was also hoping for some Levi and Luca boys shoes (they have girls) but didn’t see any.
Still, very cool little spot. The kicker was finding the Go The F To Sleep Book, which is hilarious and speeks to how laid back the store vibe was.
This is my fav speciality kids spot in Portland so far!

Black wagon, I love your selection but your prices are foie gras and I have a hamburger (maybe foster burger even) budget. Maybe I’m just not a boutique shopper but holy jeez, the price tags about blew my mind. Especially when my kid’s gonna be spilling ketchup all over that $ 50 shirt.

Great store and extremely kid friendly. We’ll keep coming back.

This place is so appropriately trendy and cute for the area. Some local made toys, some higher end stuff, and a super sweet helpful sales girl who did not mind our browsing around and taking our time looking at everything. A lot of things in here will cost you a pretty penny, but it’s a specialty shop so don’t come in here thinking you will save a buck or two! It dosn’t have a ton of stuff but what they do have is high quality, and probably something your kid will want very badly. No junk in here!

I went to Black Wagon around the holidays (just started Unilocaling) to look for gifts for my neices and nephews. I was so impressed with Black Wagon!
The woman there asked me the ages of the kids and pulled out a ton of stuff for me to look at. It made the shopping so easy. Everything she showed me was so sweet and really seemed to promote imagination and learning.
I will definitely be back, and I have recommended Black Wagon to many people.

Winning my award for the best check-​in offer ever! Walking down the street with Unilocal app in hand, I discovered a check in offer worth checking out. $ 10 off any purchase. Say what?!
Activity books, cute hair clips and a whole slew of toys, Black Wagon was blowing my mind. Secretly I wished for more of my friends to have babies so I could buy the tikes some more toys.
It’s a small, quaint store that feels like someone has really taken the time to hand select toys and clothes that mom’s (and aunts) would approve of. If I lived here, I’d probably do most of my little one shopping here. They do have an online shopping and they ship to Canada… so perhaps I will be doing some virtual spending before the day is done!
Raddest part? The baby announcement posters behind the cash desk. Now that’s how I’d start a baby’s claim to fame!

Somewhere along the way the superstore was born.
Like every other corporate giant big box store selling mostly cheap crap, these stores cannot provide you with much of anything worth your dollar (they lack customer service, safe toys, toys that stimulate cognitive development in children, quality clothes, etc.).
Thankfully, Black Wagon is here to help save the day!
While it is small in size, they make up for it with the most amazing staff, excellent advice, and totally cool stuff.
On our most recent trip to Black Wagon I was so pleased by the staff’s reaction to my boy (a 5 year old not very verbal kiddo with Autism) whose excitement is displayed with clapping, hopping, and some vocalization that sounds like hooting/​singing.
They treated both my son and my 8 year old with kindness and respect.
I’ve been to another local store over on Alberta where the staff seems inconvenienced by our presence (seems odd for a toy store right?).
We all had fun exploring the fantastic hand crafted wood toys, checking out the awesome selection of shoes (all which were too small for our kids — but that wasn’t what we were looking for) and of course we feasted our eyes on the fantastic quality clothes that would make any kid look uniquely cool.
We tried out the awesome wood toys (including a rubber band powered race car & a bungee powered catapult that hurls a small bean bag) and fell in love with these simple yet imaginative toys.
Prices for quality kid stuff may shock you.
If you are on a big mac budget then you’ll be shocked by the price tag but then you often get what you pay for right?
We’ll be back again and again! Thanks Black Wagon!

Cute little store, but don’t be surprised to be price gouged. I am a sleep deprived mamma who wanted to buy a gift for a special little boy. They recommended the Beleduc Your Body Puzzle — Boy. I am the sucker who had no idea the value the puzzle. Now, doing my homework, I find the puzzle RETAILS for $ 19.99, and sold to me for $ 28.00. I like to support local business, but to pay ~30% above retail it too rich for my blood.
The employee was right, in that my friend’s son loved the puzzle she recommended. But I don’t need to pay extra for a recommendation.

A very cool kid spot!
I don’t have ‘em, but it’s in the plan. If you have ‘em, you have a finely tuned sense of mystery of what they are interested in. If you don’t, you are dependent upon fine shopkeepers, like these, to narrow that mysterious infinity to the perfect gift.
By the way, test children’s books by reading them aloud yourself in any store. If words pop up that would be embarrassing to explain, the age is wrong. I bought a book at another store on the universe, based on the age suggested on the cover, only to have to edit on the fly, reading aloud, a description of the big bang as an «orgy of particles» for 5 year old twins.
It’s not Toy’s R Us. It’s a selected collection of cool toys, books, clothes, even art, for kids and their adult companion guides.
Individualistic, Portland design community-​friendly, unique.
Brilliant staff advice to figure things out.
If you are interested in art suggestions for the kid room or kid-​friendly art around home, this is the best single spot in town.

Stores like this make me reconsider my decision never to have children. Then I hear one screaming, and I snap out of it.
ANYWAY, this store is pretty freaking adorable. They have a huge selection of the cutest onesies, t-​shirts, and other baby «apparel» that’s totally hip and trendy. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s also high quality, so you get what you pay for.
My favorite thing about the store was their book collection. OMG. Adorable! My favorite were books by Amy Wilson Sanger, all about international foods, but picture, cardboardy books for kids. My favorites– «Yum Yum Dim Sum», «Chaat and Sweets», and «First Book of Sushi».