Originally Posted by
gugie
I'm not sure it's a ban, but my understanding is that it's next to impossible to open a new one. If you search for Chrome Oregon you'll find several in the Portland area.
Yes & no.
Like the neighborhood dry cleaners where you drop your stuff at and they say "2 days."
But, they are actually drop places. The real action takes place miles away in some industrial area.
Local chrome places here in OR are shipping out of state. I did speak with EastSide Plating in person. Huge operation. They used to have a lil shop close in town. That area is now dot-coms and boutiques. I was shocked to see they have 5 buildings in deep industrial SE Portland. Huge tanks. Clients like Freightliner and Mercedes NA. They don't do bike forks.
I like to support local. But here in Portland it isn't possible. The Art Brass place in Seattle is total precision work with clients like BOEING, plus the high cost of living is only 2nd to San Francisco. They do stunning work and charge mucho $$ for it. Other finishes include copper and gold.
Thanks all for the leads. So far I'm impressed with the St. Louis folks. I will probably ship a fork out there and pick it up when I arrive. I'll also ask them if they can do "socks".
I'll report back my findings.
I also might check out the Modesto place, but I suspect they ship stuff south of the border.
Robert