Plantains Cash & Carry

This is the Lower East Side’s answer to Costco. You can get a case of paper towels, toilet paper, giant jars of pickles, beer, water, soda, all your Halloween candy, almost any canned food or pet food… in bulk and real cheap.
It’s great for parties. For eveyday too, provided you don’t have a storage problem. If you can convince neighbors to split cases with you then you’re set.
If fork lifts aren’t running around they’ll let you look at the stock. They have flyer at the front but that doesn’t list everything they have. When you decide, they print you a bill, you take it to the window, pay cash and bring the stamped bill to the front. They bring you the goods and you wheel them home.
Very nice people. If Roger has time to talk about the neighorhood, he’s been here maybe 30 years. He’s been here since Gypsies used to run the auto body repair places. He’s got good stories.

I’d been hunting a place to get a case or two of decent beer and heard about Plantains through the grapevine. This store is fantastic, cheapest place downtown with a wide range of brew (in case form) to choose from.
The entrance, which amounts to little more then draped plastic across a garage door, is a bit confusing, as is the ‘how does this work’ — so here ya go:
— Just walk on in, they’re very friendly and helpful
— Choose your cases and come prepared to bring them home
— Cash only, it says it in the name
— You pay tax unless you’re a reseller (bar, bodega, etc.)
— Go home and get sauced
The selection is solid, cheap beer to solid foreign and micro-​brew offerings. They also stock a wide variety of sodas, drinks, chips … worth a look.