Plaid Pantry Markets

Not that it’s a national historic site, but I think this might be one of the oldest Plaid Pantry Stores in Portland. I remember that it’s been a part of this neighborhood for as long as I can remember. The atmosphere and people who frequent the store are not unlike the old Safeway store (which was a trip) before 2003. It’s an equal-​opportunity smokes-​snacks-​cold drinks store, so you will find everybody from the Absher construction workers from across the street to a lot of homeless folks and lots of others in between. The cashiers have always been nice and polite to me when I stop by for a cold drink, but they are a little more brusque with the homeless folks, which I suspect is due probably more to «give them an inch and they’ll take a mile» situations than anything else. Things occasionally get a little weird in interactions between the store staff and some of the customers, but overall I think things stay in pretty good shape because of the cashier staff and probably also because the Portland Police do drive by often. The store is clean enough to a point, but I wouldn’t plan to eat anything off the floor, even if the five-​second rule applies. Anyhow, like I said it’s a perfectly OK place for drinks, smokes, and snacks. If you need more, head another couple of blocks down to Safeway.

I tend to stop in here for cigarettes and drinks, but that’s about it. There have definitely been some horrible cashiers, including one who told me they don’t accept credit cards (they do) and generally acted like a jerk, but I think the current staff is okay.