Exploring the Tiny House Hotel. Photo by Elizabeth Miller Tilis.

Restaurant owner Philip Stanton jokes that running his Mississippi Pizza Pub in Northeast Portland is more stressful than his former job as a nurse practitioner in an emergency room.

And yet it is Stanton’s clear passion for his neighborhood and a desire to learn from his community that keeps him going. “You may have an idea of what you want to do as a local entrepreneur, but actually it’s not really your choice,” Stanton explains. “The street and the community will tell you what it wants; it’s simply your job to listen.”

That message was echoed by nearly a dozen small businesses owners, restaurant entrepreneurs and economic developers who addressed participants on the first day of a Knight Foundation-funded Portland study tour.

Designed to give some 30 city and economic development leaders and entrepreneurs an inside look at the city, participants, who included members of Knight’s Community and National Initiatives Program, came eager to learn lessons that help “Keep Portland Weird,” the unofficial motto that appears throughout neighborhoods, on buildings and bumper stickers.

Stanton’s business started out as a simple pizza parlor that bought its pizza from another company. Over time, it evolved because Stanton listened to what the neighborhood residents really wanted.

“We quickly learned they didn’t want someone else making their pizza, so I went to every pizza parlor in town and learned how to make the best sauce I could.” Through conversations with customers, he also learned the community wanted a live music venue. The night he delivered on that desire was the first night the restaurant didn’t lose money, he recalls.

According to Joe Cortright, an economist and director at City Observatory, a virtual urban think tank, Portland ranks fourth in small businesses per capita among the nation’s 51 largest metro areas. It also ranks fourth in self-employment and seventh in patents per capita.

There are nearly 5,000 small-scale retail and independent businesses scattered throughout various neighborhoods. It’s immediately evident to anyone exploring the city on foot or on a bicycle.

It’s those local businesses that tap into and augment the character of place for residents. And for the more than 600,000 residents who steadfastly “consume local,” it becomes an important aspect of their commitment to their neighborhoods.

A key factor in the explosion of small and independent businesses is the lack of sales tax in Oregon. “What it lacks in sales tax, it makes up for in high income tax, but it’s an important factor. Local governments have zero incentive to zone for big-box operations or retail like Costco or Walmart. This enables smaller-scale retail to thrive,” says Cortright.

And thrive they do.

On a corner near Stanton’s Mississippi Pizza Pub is Sunlan Lighting, with enough lighting treasures to confound the average homeowner. On another, Bridge City Comics offers “comics for the people.” Another store primarily sells gourmet salt and artisan chocolates.

Every few blocks or so food trucks self organize into so-called pods. Offering cuisines from all over the world, they often share parking lots with establishments like bars that don’t have kitchens to serve hungry patrons.

Further down Mississippi Avenue, the ReBuilding Center houses the region’s largest volume of used building and remodeling materials. Its inventory includes everything from the literal kitchen sink to windows and tile and more. The goal is to promote sustainable building practices and make home and business repairs affordable and doable.

There’s no denying that environmental sustainability is at the forefront for many Portland business owners and their customers. The interest in and expansion of alternative dwelling units are part of a growing trend by Portlanders to live more sustainably, explains Kol Peterson, who, along with his life partner Deb Delman, founded and runs the Tiny House Hotel.

Open for tours, while functioning as a full-service hotel for guests, the caravans offer 100- to 200-square-foot trailers with wheels that mimic some of the city’s alternative dwelling units.

According to Cortright, Portlanders actually drive 20 percent less than the U.S. average, commuting by transit is twice the national average and the percentage of commuters who bike to work is six times the national average. Living in small alternative residences is another way to reduce one’s carbon footprint, says Peterson.

There’s also a sense of community among business owners.  Rather than look at other businesses as competitors, entrepreneurs knowingly embrace each other, believing that their businesses thrive when customers are within walking and biking reach of other retail services and more.

Shane Endicott, the executive director of Our United Villages, the nonprofit that runs the ReBuilding Center, agrees: “If someone wanted to open a rebuilding center across the street from ours, we’d gladly help them out.”

That spirit of collaboration and passion lies at the heart of what’s happening in neighborhoods all over Portland. It’s what drives entrepreneur Roslyn Hill, one of the original developers on Alberta Street. Less than two miles north east of the thriving Mississippi district, it’s the heart of a 26-block arts and business district that celebrates diversity. Born and raised in Portland, Hill owns and leases up to a dozen buildings to additional businesses, including a popular restaurant, The Tin Shed.

Her reason for investing in properties is simple: “If it’s ugly and I don’t like it, I buy it. I have no other rhyme or reason. I’ve never written a financial statement or developed an official portfolio. It’s either a good investment or it’s not a good investment. I want to make this neighborhood better.”

As participants explored neighborhoods, met with entrepreneurs and sampled local cuisine, the words of Carol Coletta, Knight’s vice president for community and national initiatives echoed in their minds. “The goal isn’t to recreate Portland in your own communities. It’s about understanding how the nature of city planning and the design of sidewalks and streets enable small businesses to thrive. We’re here to learn how we can make a robust public life that makes other good things – like civic engagement – happen.”

Elizabeth Miller Tilis is a digital communications consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. Email her at [email protected].