Tigard’s Main Street just got a little more international.
Rubicon Rugs opened two days before Thanksgiving at the south end of the city’s historic downtown and is filled with beautiful and unique rugs of all shapes and sizes from both the U.S. and around the world.
Owner David D’Agostino’s decades of experience in the rug market led him to finally open his own store, which features rugs in natural fibers and lighter color palettes for contemporary décor in the front half of the store and colorful rugs from Persia, India, Turkey, Kurdistan and China in the back half of the store. “Along with machine-made and GoodWeave-certified hand-made rugs, we have a number of Persian village rugs,” he said.
Opening his own store at this point in his career was a matter of timing. “I went through some life changes and decided that it was now or never for me to open my own store,” D’Agostino said. “It was a long time coming. I was looking for space at the other end of Main Street and then found this space. It was perfect.”
D’Agostino has been in retail since the 1980s, starting at Nordstrom, until fate played a hand in leading him to the rug business. “A friend’s dad opened a rug store and hired me,” he said. “He took me under his wing. Since then, I worked for other people and was in and out of the rug business. The last rug store where I worked was in downtown Portland.”
With his longevity in the business, D’Agostino has seen its ups and downs, recalling in 2008 when the rug market contracted because no one was buying houses. D’Agostino took advantage of that downtime to earn his degree in international studies at Portland State University.
How does one acquire a store full of rugs from around the world? Rubicon Rugs carries contemporary rugs produced by Couristan, Surya, Dynamic, Oriental Weavers, Magnolia Home and Loloi, and customers can take home samples of many of them.
D’Agostino worked his sources to acquire the ethnic village and antique rugs that fill the back of the store to overflowing, with similar-sized ones stacked together and others hanging on the walls. “Trust is most important,” D’Agostino said. “It is the key element in developing relationships in the business.
“I find I’m shocked all the time with the different colors and designs. And it’s incredible what they can do with machines now. If customers want a (machine-made) rug in a different size than the one in the store, I can usually get it in seven to 10 days. I check the stock before the sale. The big carpet warehouses are in Georgia, Houston and New York.”
D’Agostino has many rugs that are at least 70 years old, but they are as vibrant and rich as the day they were made. “I pride myself on quality,” he said. “That’s why I went nuts over rugs. This is a culture I fell in love with.”
And for antique rugs that need a little TLC, D’Agostino offers repair services
One of the unique aspects of D’Agostino’s business is that 10 percent of every sale goes to GoodWeave International, the world leader in the fight to eliminate child labor in rug production. “From the very beginning, I was alerted to the issue of child labor,” he said. “Child labor is one of the most disturbing aspects of many businesses. I had always been an advocate of fighting it, and the challenge was finding someone to work with.”
GoodWeave sends every customer who purchases a handmade rug a verification of their contribution and a thank you note. “This gives customers a direct connection to the cause, and they know they are acknowledged,” D’Agostino said. “The issue is the perception that you are paying more, but we’re the same prices as the big-box stores. And we will do periodic events with discounts around the annual holidays.”
D’Agostino thinks his customers will appreciate that part of their purchase price is going to make the world a better place. The nonprofit GoodWeave, which now partners with about 450 companies in more than 20 countries, was started in 1994 by 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Kailash Satyarthi.
Jon Jacoby, CEO of GoodWeave International, noted, “Dave is a local business leader with a great big heart making a great big impact by selling GoodWeave-certified products at Rubicon Rugs. His amazing commitment to GoodWeave helps us educate more girls and boys, empower more workers and weavers, and end more child and forced labor in at-risk communities in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.”
Jacoby, whose wife grew up near Tigard, added that “every purchase helps (vulnerable children half a world away) achieve a decent life with access to quality education…”
