Plaid Pantry Markets

A good day of studying almost necessitates some artificial conveniences. This Plaid Pantry located in Portland State University is right near the Farmer’s Market, ripe for poor students to get cheap junk food. It has a fairly small space, which can be crowded, however the selection can be reasonable as with the other Plaid Pantries. The location is what sets it apart, as can the deals when special attention is paid to them as opposed to some of their more expensive products.
I walked in waiting for a shuttle. After finding the prospect of buying a sausage sandwich to be rather unrefined, I decided to get some chips & RC cola. To my surprise, the TGI Bacon & Cheddar were 2 medium sized bags for $ 1 and the RC was a $ 1, all for a grand total of $ 2. The Plaid Pantry is probably more befitting as a place for obtaining a snack than lunch, but that’s fine.
Plaid Pantry is good backup for binge studying.

Wanted to write up a review after seeing all the haters out there. The main complain seems to be that the staff aren’t super efficient and are «more concerned with talking to customers and striking up friendships than doing their jobs.»
While both those observations may be true, I fail to really see the problem. It’s open good hours, conveniently located for those in the area, and, at worst, the above complaints about inefficiencies have maybe added 30 seconds on average to my trips to the plaid pantry. This is a convenience store in a college area with people working the graveyard shift; cut ‘em a break, man. Everyone is friendly enough and it does what it’s designed to do: provide convenience.

I write this only because another reviewer complained of their lack of lotto tickets. People… I once saw a police officer chide a woman in line in front him for participating in ‘an idiot tax’. For the rest of us this location does fine, the selection of alcohol makes Portland proud for a convenience store.

I don’t know if anyone writes reviews of convenience stores, but they should! Especially when you come across one as awesome as this Plaid Pantry.
I live right across the street from this establishment and frequent it almost every day. While cramped and seemingly a little sketchy from the outside, it’s filled with magic on the inside.
This Plaid Pantry holds into sales and discounts far longer than any other I’ve ever been to (you can still by any size fountain soda for $ 1). They, surprisingly, have a great beer and wine section, and their ice cream selection is superb (this coming from an ice cream-​a-​holic).
But nothing compares to their amazingly hilarious staff! Ian is the best! Recognizable by his fiery red hair (formerly a mullet), he will engage anyone in conversation. I once talked with him for a good 15 minutes about the History Channel’s «Ancient Aliens.» It was the best experience.
If you find yourself on the PSU campus, you should definitely make a stop.

This store is pathetic. No one does anything but talk to the customers all the time. It takes a good five minutes to get sent out because of all the clerks are more interested in securing friendships than they are in doing their jobs. There’s one guy, who works at night, a black guy who is always working hard and friendly as he can be, but he is barely there anymore. This is a good place to go for conversation, not business, and quite frankly I am surprised anyone would defend the behavior of the clerks here, because they don’t to enough work to be considered victimized, and for people with jobs they sure take liberties in their demeanor most of us couldn’t dream of using in our day to day dealings, with the public. I’d say all employees here need to grow some balls, get some friends elsewhere, and work like their paid to do.

This is your standard Plaid, but it is a bit on the small side. It’s in a sixty-​year old building, though, and they probably weren’t thinking about what would go into the space decades down the road. It has the same booze and snacks you’d find at other stores. What sets it apart is the staff. The guys I see the most are Ian, Greg, and Travis, who work in the evenings. They’re friendly and personable, so cut them some slack. You’d probably be in a foul mood at work, too, if you had to deal with a bunch of puerile PSU students everyday.

ive been to this store a lot and i think the staff here are a bunch of awesome guys and the manager Chris is always courteous and friendly. i like this store.

Point A: Customer service is not good here. I am not saying that they are total dicks but they don’t take their job very seriously at all, and it would be easy for people to get offended by some of the stuff I have seen.
Examples include turning one of the beers in a six pack upside down (thanks?) taking your sweet fucking time outside when talking to people and smoking (I won’t demand you put it out, though I would walk in if I am in a hurry, deal with it, this is your job, when I smoked I had to put up with much worse than that working at Plaid) and also acting offended when I did walk in and not wait another time during your smoke break (that was in the middle of the evening, don’t expect uninterrupted smokes unless you like being disappointed.) and last of all: Why are you even talking to me when I obviously have earbuds in and all I am doing is waiting for you to finish smoking and chatting so I can buy a damn Xenergy damn it.
Point B: There is no point B, those things I mentioned just really irritated the shit out of me. Nice enough to talk with, but work on the customer service, it is so fucking easy.
If I have anything interesting to add at a later date, I will. If the dudes that work there read this review, that would be hilarious, especially if they recognized me later.
Fortunately you can’t spit in sealed packages, so whatevah.

Why do I have the worst experiences at Plaid Pantries? This one is located across from PSU and is exceptionally small. They don’t have much selection and it gets crowded if more than two people are in line.
They do not sell lottery tickets at this location. I learned this when I tried to buy a couple quick picks for Powerball and was told by the cashier, «I don’t play those Yahtzee games.» Huh?! I didn’t see any dice. I thought it was a joke (was once told that they didn’t take credit cards at the other Plaid Pantry nearby, so I thought maybe this guy had a similar gag going), so I asked again and received the same response — «I don’t play those Yahtzee games.» When I failed to get any information from him aside from that one phrase my friend and I walked out, disgusted.
We went to the other store a few blocks away and explained what happened. The clerk told me since that location wasn’t wheelchair accessible, they weren’t allowed to sell lottery tickets. I don’t know if that’s the real reason, but at least it was an explanation. I haven’t been back to the Mill Street store since then.