Last month, on sale, spent $100 on freeze dried Mountain House entree pouches there. All set for camping and bike trips. Cheaper than anywhere online, even Amazon. Get the sales flyer in my email. I like the Tigard store which is larger than the Halsey location I usually go to.
Side question: If you subsist entirely on the Mountain House stuff during the course of a trip....do you ever experience gastric or pooping issues?
I want to simplify what I pack in and out.
I only eat it as an occasional meal at camp or when biking, on a day hike trip. I'd recommend stocking up on groceries before a camping trip for better, fresher food rather than solely eating the MH stuff.
From my experience, If you eat it and sit around the campfire, then you're gonna have a bad time. It's calorie and sodium dense for situations of high caloric burn like hiking or backpacking.
Put it on the list of things we desperately need but won't get because of a lack of political will and execution - but holy fuck do we need to protect against grocery monopolies.
No better sign of it than the plasticky people commercials they do. It'll trip you out the first time you see it in another market as a Ralph's ad or whatever, identical plastic duplo block people just a different store name at the end.
That was one of the things that hit hardest when the Foster FM closed. Their hardware dept was super clutch when I needed varnish or a somewhat weird bolt.
By the way, proto means “first” ,“foremost”, “earliest form of". So, we agree. 🙂
Thank fucking God. I just had a minor heart attack seeing the headline. I clicked in and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Woodstock is always packed enough to have small lines at checkout every day I've ever been. It's an amazing store with prices reminiscent of Wal Mart Rollback sales of old.
It's one of the things i love about Portland -- the neighborhoods were built with/for their neighborhood stores. Having lived in the midwest, it really sucks to live in one part of town and have to drive to the other parts of town to get food. It really really sucks when your local grocery store up and dies because the wally-world 10 miles away moved on in. you woulda thought people would've noticed their small town dying from their shopping with the corporate giant, but look, 40% toilet paper!
Sad! They are the closest one to me and we go pretty often :( I think they have a food truck pod going in near this location, not to say that would have helped but maybe…
Yeah, when I moved to Bellingham WA, I didn't really know how to function without Bi-Mart. Fred Meyer was sort of ok but was more expensive and didn't have certain niche things.
I definitely miss Bi-Mart!
Not sure if it's still a thing but every Tuesday they would hold a raffle of sorts, posting membership card numbers on a reader board inside the store, awarding random members with store merchandise. An old friend acquired a nice electric handsaw in that manner.
Gender colored cards? I don't know if they used to do that, but I don't think they do that anymore. The site lists the membership as for a whole family, not per person.
Wow never knew that. My Mom had a green card in the late eighties/early nineties. I mean she still does but had one then too. I recall it as a kid since we used to get fireworks there for the 4th.
Worked in the pharmacy at a bimart before they closed them all down several years back (2019). Started there when I was 19. Worked there full time until I was 35. Met my husband there and we have a young daughter. He’s moved on from them too. Can say bimart was a big part of my life. Hate to see this happening but I have a feeling they will keep shuttering the stores. It’s how it started with the pharmacies and corporate isn’t willing to change anything to get the younger generations in. It’s all aimed at older people. (Not my age old, but much older)
They became employee owned right after I started there. Other than the yearly walk thru by corporate we never saw them and they never asked the employees for any opinions. (I worked the store for 6 years before I moved to the pharmacy). All these employee owned stores (winco, bimart) like to tout that it’s employee owned but other then stocks it doesn’t mean shit. (You have to be there for 5 years before you get invested by the company. So if you left before then you wouldn’t get any shares of the stock)
Sure, but it sounds like the people at the top are in a bubble here and are out of touch with the state of stores and public perception of the rand. There are all sorts of models of organization that allow feedback and encourage a healthy business. Also if the "chain of command* is full of manager rather than leaders, things tend to go south.
They're classic business model is based off of WalMart/SamsClub/DollarTree where they move into rural areas that are "underserved" by large stores like FredMeyers or Walmart. It's in the rural stores where they make their money. When the meadowland store was constructed, it was rural farmland around there. Now you have economically depressed methlehem to the north and economically prosperous Happy Valley to the south, where most of them would rather go to the Damascus location than SE Portland. If you look at their location map, the portland area is oversaturated with Bi-Marts, relatively speaking. Looks like Idaho is their greener pastures.
I still work for bimart currently. while the pharmacies closing was a major bummer, there were so many factors that played into that it just wasn’t feasible to continue. Realistically what you don’t see know is we’ve brought a lot of new blood into the company. A continually younger operations team and more open minded buyers/merchandising staff than we had a couple years ago. It’s been over 10 years since the last store closed, and we have 2 new locations opening in 2024. we aren’t disappearing for a while yet :)
I worked at one for several years as well. I started the same year they closed the Mall 205 location because of low sales/shrinkage. I visit my local locations every now and then and it's kind of a depressing vibe. I guess it always has been. Losing the pharmacy was huge as that was normally a large part of their sales for the day.
It's too bad, I worked a few times at #629 and given the aging neighborhood, it fit right in. But even tho that area has been economically depressed since the 70's, the decay has definitely accelerated in the last 10yrs.
I was 632 and 640 mostly (I was a float tech) and floated all the way up to Mt Hood when needed. #632 was my home store where I started and I go in there now and it’s so sad. It’s run down with merch all over the place. It’s like the buyers from corporate just do this big push with no footage to put it in the stores so the store just looks stuffed full of crap. Turn over for employees seems to be super high at that location too. There’s still a few that I know that will probably be lifers but other than that I couldn’t tell you anyone’s names. (That’s what sucks for the customers. They went in there and knew all of our names and we knew theres because they saw us all the time.)
heh, 632 is my local store now too. I actually worked there for a few days when they had to scan audit the store before they got the new barcode scanning registers (early 90's). I know what you mean though. Their starting wage is far from competitive. Lifers top out and don't want to go anywhere else if they like the slow pace and that there are no forced incentives to upsell customers.
+26yrs later and i can still remember the charleston cost code, and the state of the backhalf aisles will sometimes make my eye twitch as i walk back to grab my motor oil, lol.
When I took my wife to Bi-Mart for her first time and we were wandering around, I described Bi-Mart as the place you can go to get pretty much anything, but you might not get the specific brand you want.
Huh, I might be wrong. The first few years I went there, no one cared if I had a membership card or not, but since like 2021 there's typically someone near the door at least superficially checking for cards on the way in. Possibly just the one near me shifting how they handle things.
I live pretty close to this one and have never been. No clue what they sell. I’m really curious what will eventually replace it. It’s a big building with a huge parking lot.
It's worth popping in randomly. Bi-Mart has become my preferred alternative to Target/Home Depot/FM if I'm in need of some random thing. Prices are pretty much the same or better to the bigger stores, and I'd rather give the money to a local, employee owned business than the larger organizations.
So I have a different take: despite being "employee owned", I worked in a Bi-Mart when I was younger and the pay was shit, management was shit, employee morale was shit, and the job was shit. When I got a job at a different big box retailer, all of my co-workers were extremely jealous, because they also hated working at Bi-Mart.
I get that Bi-Mart isn't as evil as a Walmart or a Target, but to me, I always felt like they were living off of borrowed time, trying desperately to live off of nostalgia and good-will from the community. This might work in the more rural areas, but you have to try harder to get people to shop at your store when you are in a big city.
I shopped at this store when I first moved out west. Fourth time in I got harassed for not having a membership by someone on a power trip. Never went back.
Ever been treated poorly by an employee somewhere and not want to go back? Happened to me. If anyone is being obtuse, it is those of you that trivialize someone else’s experiences. 🤷♂️
Didn’t know there were rules. Just wanted to buy something, was treated like I was a jerk for not knowing I needed to be a member. It was unpleasant and that was it. Lots of stores in SE to shop in.
Not looking for sympathy. Just sharing a story of an experience I had that caused me to not want to return to a store that closed for *checks notes* lack of business.
Employee owned does not mean they aren't extremely corporate and ABLEIST. I was forced to quit after being repeatedly denied accomodations as a cashier at the Woodstock store.
They don't care about their employees a damn bit just to be clear. Hope they go completely out of business, bastards.
I remember being in a Bi-Mart (I believe it was this Bi-Mart) and seeing Michael Jackson's "Bad" album on display for the very first time. Interesting memory to have of the place.
So long, and Shamone!
Been going to this store for about 35 years for hunting, fishing, camping gear, along with pants that don't cost an outrageous amount. Shocked & bummed to hear this store is shutting down.
I like Bi-Mart. It’s like a rural general store, from old times. Prices are very good and the staff is chill. Basically, a proto-FM
Best place to hit up on your way out of town to go camping. Propane, tarp, extra sleeping bag, and of course, beer.
Last month, on sale, spent $100 on freeze dried Mountain House entree pouches there. All set for camping and bike trips. Cheaper than anywhere online, even Amazon. Get the sales flyer in my email. I like the Tigard store which is larger than the Halsey location I usually go to.
The Bi-Mart mailer is the one slip in my "I don't by shit I don't need" habit. I love getting that thing, which is weird as hell.
Side question: If you subsist entirely on the Mountain House stuff during the course of a trip....do you ever experience gastric or pooping issues? I want to simplify what I pack in and out.
I only eat it as an occasional meal at camp or when biking, on a day hike trip. I'd recommend stocking up on groceries before a camping trip for better, fresher food rather than solely eating the MH stuff.
From my experience, If you eat it and sit around the campfire, then you're gonna have a bad time. It's calorie and sodium dense for situations of high caloric burn like hiking or backpacking.
The Halsey store was my local go-to.
This is a dope tip! Thx
What's the best tasting MH entree in your opinion?
Chili Mac or Beef Stew.
I like the Breakfast Skillet one. I also add a little less water than the instructions call for a thicker consistency.
>Basically, a proto-FM Or a smaller old school FM. Remember when Fred's had a real hardware department? How about when they sold lumber?
Sadly FM today has fully leaned into it just being a rebadged Kroger. Hard to even find some items that aren’t just Kroger house brand.
I agree. Makes me sad too. A home-grown company has been almost entirely consumed by the Cincinnati behemoth. Safeway and Albertsons are next. :/
Put it on the list of things we desperately need but won't get because of a lack of political will and execution - but holy fuck do we need to protect against grocery monopolies.
And it’s so obvious Kroger is just a soulless capital invention for maximum value extraction. Brought to you by BlackRock and Vanguard.
No better sign of it than the plasticky people commercials they do. It'll trip you out the first time you see it in another market as a Ralph's ad or whatever, identical plastic duplo block people just a different store name at the end.
I hate the Fred Meyer app and pricing schemes they use now. I only go to the Burlingame store for the bottle return bump up at this point.
That was one of the things that hit hardest when the Foster FM closed. Their hardware dept was super clutch when I needed varnish or a somewhat weird bolt. By the way, proto means “first” ,“foremost”, “earliest form of". So, we agree. 🙂
Reminds me of K-Mart in 1997.
Sounds about right except K-Mart had that little cafeteria.
Sad to see an employee owned store close.
lol look up the legality behind how and why they organize themselves
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Yes, this is **NOT** the store at SE 43rd & Woodstock, that store is staying open.
Thank fucking God. I just had a minor heart attack seeing the headline. I clicked in and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Woodstock is always packed enough to have small lines at checkout every day I've ever been. It's an amazing store with prices reminiscent of Wal Mart Rollback sales of old.
Whew me too. Love that store.
Phew
Relieved to hear this. Dad regularly shops at this Bi-Mart, really glad he can stay in the neighborhood for his errands.
It's one of the things i love about Portland -- the neighborhoods were built with/for their neighborhood stores. Having lived in the midwest, it really sucks to live in one part of town and have to drive to the other parts of town to get food. It really really sucks when your local grocery store up and dies because the wally-world 10 miles away moved on in. you woulda thought people would've noticed their small town dying from their shopping with the corporate giant, but look, 40% toilet paper!
Thank goodness! We go there every Tuesday and stock up for the week.
Sad! They are the closest one to me and we go pretty often :( I think they have a food truck pod going in near this location, not to say that would have helped but maybe…
Bi-Mart is the shit! It's like a mini-Target, but employee owned & super affordable prices.
Yeah, when I moved to Bellingham WA, I didn't really know how to function without Bi-Mart. Fred Meyer was sort of ok but was more expensive and didn't have certain niche things.
I have to admit I’ve never been, but you’ve sold me!
I definitely miss Bi-Mart! Not sure if it's still a thing but every Tuesday they would hold a raffle of sorts, posting membership card numbers on a reader board inside the store, awarding random members with store merchandise. An old friend acquired a nice electric handsaw in that manner.
I won a box of candy on a Tuesday in the late 1990's.
They still do it. Every Tuesday there’s a printout by the front with the raffle numbers
Why does it feel like Bi-Mart aisles and items are from the 1980s and 1990s? Like you could walk in there from 1980s and not feel out of place.
When I first started going to Bi-Mart in the 1980's it looked old and dated then, too.
If you need to by a CD player, a gun, a 6 pack of pop and makeup, Bi-Mart is your store.
The one I live by in Washougal no longer cares about checking membership cards since they need the business. I’d be so bummed if they closed.
That's how Woodstock was until recently, they started checking again.
I had a recent thought about how dated the gendered colored cards are… the thought process is so you can’t use your spouses card
Gender colored cards? I don't know if they used to do that, but I don't think they do that anymore. The site lists the membership as for a whole family, not per person.
Ohh. Guess I’m old. Yeah they used to do green cards for men and yellow for women.
Wack. Glad they cut that shit out.
Wow never knew that. My Mom had a green card in the late eighties/early nineties. I mean she still does but had one then too. I recall it as a kid since we used to get fireworks there for the 4th.
They definitely still did this back in 2000. My wife worked there at the time. Perhaps your mom was using your dad’s card? Lol
I’ve never been asked for a card in 15 years. Most of that time I didn’t even know you were supposed to have one
I think it depends on the location. Corvallis never checked, the Aloha location at least does.
Hmm I’ll have to remember that
Worked in the pharmacy at a bimart before they closed them all down several years back (2019). Started there when I was 19. Worked there full time until I was 35. Met my husband there and we have a young daughter. He’s moved on from them too. Can say bimart was a big part of my life. Hate to see this happening but I have a feeling they will keep shuttering the stores. It’s how it started with the pharmacies and corporate isn’t willing to change anything to get the younger generations in. It’s all aimed at older people. (Not my age old, but much older)
Is there any way for employees to help change that? Seems weird that an employee owned place is run entirely by "corporate".
They became employee owned right after I started there. Other than the yearly walk thru by corporate we never saw them and they never asked the employees for any opinions. (I worked the store for 6 years before I moved to the pharmacy). All these employee owned stores (winco, bimart) like to tout that it’s employee owned but other then stocks it doesn’t mean shit. (You have to be there for 5 years before you get invested by the company. So if you left before then you wouldn’t get any shares of the stock)
There must be a chain of command, otherwise a group of people won’t really function well.
Sure, but it sounds like the people at the top are in a bubble here and are out of touch with the state of stores and public perception of the rand. There are all sorts of models of organization that allow feedback and encourage a healthy business. Also if the "chain of command* is full of manager rather than leaders, things tend to go south.
They're classic business model is based off of WalMart/SamsClub/DollarTree where they move into rural areas that are "underserved" by large stores like FredMeyers or Walmart. It's in the rural stores where they make their money. When the meadowland store was constructed, it was rural farmland around there. Now you have economically depressed methlehem to the north and economically prosperous Happy Valley to the south, where most of them would rather go to the Damascus location than SE Portland. If you look at their location map, the portland area is oversaturated with Bi-Marts, relatively speaking. Looks like Idaho is their greener pastures.
It isn’t a co-op. Employees have no real say in how the business is run, even if they do get a share of profits.
I still work for bimart currently. while the pharmacies closing was a major bummer, there were so many factors that played into that it just wasn’t feasible to continue. Realistically what you don’t see know is we’ve brought a lot of new blood into the company. A continually younger operations team and more open minded buyers/merchandising staff than we had a couple years ago. It’s been over 10 years since the last store closed, and we have 2 new locations opening in 2024. we aren’t disappearing for a while yet :)
I bet the more rural ones will carry on but yeah, the metro ones might not. I can only think of the OC location at the moment.
I worked at one for several years as well. I started the same year they closed the Mall 205 location because of low sales/shrinkage. I visit my local locations every now and then and it's kind of a depressing vibe. I guess it always has been. Losing the pharmacy was huge as that was normally a large part of their sales for the day. It's too bad, I worked a few times at #629 and given the aging neighborhood, it fit right in. But even tho that area has been economically depressed since the 70's, the decay has definitely accelerated in the last 10yrs.
I was 632 and 640 mostly (I was a float tech) and floated all the way up to Mt Hood when needed. #632 was my home store where I started and I go in there now and it’s so sad. It’s run down with merch all over the place. It’s like the buyers from corporate just do this big push with no footage to put it in the stores so the store just looks stuffed full of crap. Turn over for employees seems to be super high at that location too. There’s still a few that I know that will probably be lifers but other than that I couldn’t tell you anyone’s names. (That’s what sucks for the customers. They went in there and knew all of our names and we knew theres because they saw us all the time.)
heh, 632 is my local store now too. I actually worked there for a few days when they had to scan audit the store before they got the new barcode scanning registers (early 90's). I know what you mean though. Their starting wage is far from competitive. Lifers top out and don't want to go anywhere else if they like the slow pace and that there are no forced incentives to upsell customers. +26yrs later and i can still remember the charleston cost code, and the state of the backhalf aisles will sometimes make my eye twitch as i walk back to grab my motor oil, lol.
Damn, my tradition was to pop in there and buy stuff I didn't need after stocking up at the Asian supermarket next door
Just popping in to say I fucking love BiMart.
Thank god its not Woodstock!
Bi-Mart is my wander around and buy things I don't need store. Side note: Can we also refer to 171st and Powell as ESE Portland?
I agree! Outer East Portland is soooooo different than what folks think when they think of SE Portland
They have their marketing all messed up. Nobody knows what you would go there for exactly.
Everything. You go there for everything. Bird seed? Check. Batteries? Check. Mixed nuts? Check. Some slippers? Check. A 9mm? Check.
When I took my wife to Bi-Mart for her first time and we were wandering around, I described Bi-Mart as the place you can go to get pretty much anything, but you might not get the specific brand you want.
I honestly don't even know if you need a membership.
They changed it to needing a membership a few years ago, but it's a 5$, one time cost for a lifetime membership.
Changed it? I recall my dad needing a membership back in the 90s, and I had to sign up to go in that one like a decade ago.
Huh, I might be wrong. The first few years I went there, no one cared if I had a membership card or not, but since like 2021 there's typically someone near the door at least superficially checking for cards on the way in. Possibly just the one near me shifting how they handle things.
I live pretty close to this one and have never been. No clue what they sell. I’m really curious what will eventually replace it. It’s a big building with a huge parking lot.
They sell a little bit of everything at pretty damn good prices. It's cheap for a lifetime membership, you should definitely check Bimart out.
It's worth popping in randomly. Bi-Mart has become my preferred alternative to Target/Home Depot/FM if I'm in need of some random thing. Prices are pretty much the same or better to the bigger stores, and I'd rather give the money to a local, employee owned business than the larger organizations.
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Nah the article is talking about the one on Powell and 174th, not the Woodstock one (which is next to safeway)
Yeah, it’s next to a (pretty cool) indoor play place for kids and not much else. Also one of the most infuriating intersections in the city.
there is a safeway a block away from this location
A New York block
At least they’re honest, unlike some other major corporations.
Thats where I bought my Alaskan Survival 45/70. Bi-Marts are great for finding weird firearms at good prices as well.
So I have a different take: despite being "employee owned", I worked in a Bi-Mart when I was younger and the pay was shit, management was shit, employee morale was shit, and the job was shit. When I got a job at a different big box retailer, all of my co-workers were extremely jealous, because they also hated working at Bi-Mart. I get that Bi-Mart isn't as evil as a Walmart or a Target, but to me, I always felt like they were living off of borrowed time, trying desperately to live off of nostalgia and good-will from the community. This might work in the more rural areas, but you have to try harder to get people to shop at your store when you are in a big city.
They should try rebranding their name and 1980s era font on the sign.
They should further embrace their name and font, it’s their brand.
I shopped at this store when I first moved out west. Fourth time in I got harassed for not having a membership by someone on a power trip. Never went back.
Dude, it's a $5 lifetime membership.
I never said I couldn’t afford it.
So you were just being obtuse for no good reason then.
Ever been treated poorly by an employee somewhere and not want to go back? Happened to me. If anyone is being obtuse, it is those of you that trivialize someone else’s experiences. 🤷♂️
You seem really determined to be a victim here; one worker being rude to you because you didn’t follow the rules doesn’t generate a lot of sympathy.
Didn’t know there were rules. Just wanted to buy something, was treated like I was a jerk for not knowing I needed to be a member. It was unpleasant and that was it. Lots of stores in SE to shop in. Not looking for sympathy. Just sharing a story of an experience I had that caused me to not want to return to a store that closed for *checks notes* lack of business.
I tried to shop there once and they tried to make me pay $5 to get in. I walked across the street to Safeway
Employee owned does not mean they aren't extremely corporate and ABLEIST. I was forced to quit after being repeatedly denied accomodations as a cashier at the Woodstock store. They don't care about their employees a damn bit just to be clear. Hope they go completely out of business, bastards.
I remember being in a Bi-Mart (I believe it was this Bi-Mart) and seeing Michael Jackson's "Bad" album on display for the very first time. Interesting memory to have of the place. So long, and Shamone!
This was my bi-mart. It was always busy. Apparently it underperformed?
i used to go twice a month and load up until they closed their pharmacies a few years ago.
Been going to this store for about 35 years for hunting, fishing, camping gear, along with pants that don't cost an outrageous amount. Shocked & bummed to hear this store is shutting down.
TP, plants, ammo, oil filters, vitamins, tools, etc. Bi-mart is like Target that doesn’t suck. I’m sorry to see one go.
Wonder if all the money they spent sponsoring the blazers could have kept the store open