About Us

SHOP503 is a business search site for the Portland Metro area. It includes every known business within a 20 mile radius of downtown.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does it work?
A: Like all other search sites and engines you just put your search terms in the box and click on the search button. We are different from other search sites in that we don’t try to guess what your search term means. If you enter “paint” we don’t assume that you want a paint store. We think you might mean art supplies or even an auto body shop. We return categories that match your search and let you decide where you want to go from there.

Q: Why don’t I get results for all of my searches?
A: It is possible you misspelled a word or perhaps you were too specific. Unlike other sites, we don’t give you a result unless we can find an exact match.

Q: Why are your categories different from other search sites?
A: We manually sort each and every category. We try very hard to categorize businesses in a way that makes sense to humans.

Q: Why don’t you have customer ratings for the businesses?
A: It is our experience that most internet ratings are dominated by complaints. People are much more likely to take time and write a review if they are angry than if they are pleased. We also believe that ratings by a handful of people are not a fair representation, good or bad, of the rated business.

Q: Who is SHOP503?
A: We are a couple of small business owners, right here in Portland.