Baker’s General Store

Perhaps I’ve become numb to the abundant sameness and uniformity of convenience store chains like 7 – 11, Quick Trip, Race Trac and so on, so much so that the quaint, rustic log cabin appeal of this place was a delightful surprise. This is a like an old time dry goods store except with a bakery (the sticky buns looked wonderful), fresh fruit and vegetables and an abundant variety of soft drinks along with beer and Oregon Wines. It has all the stuff that appeals to yuppies and hipsters with the possible exception of Kombucha tea. Prices were what you would expect from a convenience store and the service was small town friendly.
Obviously this is a pit stop between Portland and Cannon Beach, and you may be in a tremendous hurry, but may I recommend you make time to sit for a spell at the outside covered tables and enjoy your beverage, be present in your moment and take in the piney smells of the area surrounding this mountain top general store.
This store also carries random stuff like pool/​lake/​beach toys (inner tubes, etc) and basic hardware store stuff. Basically it is what it is… A general store for a small town with just enough items to tide you over before you «go to town» to do your big shopping.
This place was great. I would definitely make this a regular stop on my trips to/​from the coast.

Absolutely disgusting. My boyfriend and I stopped in on our trip to Seaside. We were really craving some homemade pie and stopped off when we saw their signs advertising exactly that. What we found was unsanitary. The bakery area was crawling with flies. There were flies flying around in the cabinet with donuts and I quickly noticed two smaller fruit flies sitting on a donut. The door was open, so it wasn’t terribly surprising. They had a pie out on the counter and a big fly was just resting on it. Obviously, that’s bound to happen with the door propped wide open. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and was looking at the cookies in the other cabinet that was sealed. There were flies in there too. The people were very nice, but the health department needs to check this place out.

Growing up in Tillamook and Forest Grove, I have fond memories of this place about as far back as I can remember. On a recent trip through my old digs we stopped by and saw the place has been remodeled and expanded. They have gas pumps now and a bakery, in additional to general store type of stuff. The friendly service was appreciated. If you’re driving through, it’s a great place to stop. Five stars based on all of the above plus the location in the middle of nowhere.

So I was standing by the bakery area where I saw the lady took a finger swipe on the cinnamon rolls (on the Bakery display shelves) and then sucked her finger. Grossssssssssss!!! Then she washed her hands in the soaking towels’ water (NOT, a proper way to wash your hands), she then dried her hands off with the towel without washing the soapy water off. She saw me and asked if I wanted anything, I said that did you just touch the Cinnamon rolls? She paused then she said «yes, I washed my hands but I can wash it again» (well, she went over to the sink and washed the towel again!!!, and dried her hand the same way —- without really washing her hands with clean water.
I didn’t really want to buy anything at this point but my hypoglycemic just kicked in and I need to be fed. I thought, ok, the corn dog (99 cents) got a stick so she can’t touch the food part.
I walked over to the refrigerate and got 2 bottles of the grape gatorade (2 for $ 2). The cashier was giving a little attitude to the customer in front of me. I told myself to just ignore it (I will be on my way soon enough). I didn’t pay much attention to the cashier dude with attitude coz’ I don’t like bullies & I was looking forward to feed my tummy. So I swipe my card and pushed «debit» but once everything went thru, the dude said, «did you push debit?» I said, «Yes, I did». He pocked at the little credit card thingy real hard and said $ 3!!! Now I saw a little sticker saying something about $ 3 (seriously, I didn’t see it coz’ I just wanted to get out of there). I already knew that my gatorades & corn dog came out to $ 2.99!!! I offered to buy more stuff but he put he right hand up, rolled his eyes, turned away and acted like a little bit-​h.
WTF!!!

We took a side trip to Baker’s on a bike ride from Vernonia to Jewel and beyond. The staff were friendly and helpful, asked me if I was looking for a bathroom (obviously a cyclist, cyclists are always looking for a BR) even though I had not bought anything. I dropped my gloves when I went across the parking lot to the Elderberry Inn for some marionberry cobbler. They kindly set them out where I would see them when I hit the road again. They saw me coming back and pointed to them — «There’s your mittens!» Store seemed well stocked for a passing cyclist’s snack needs, but I was most impressed by their cyclist friendly attitude.

Baker’s General Store is really the only option in the area. If you’re camping our along the Nehalem (as we were) or find yourself the victim of poor planning (like you thought you could get from PDX to the coast on a quarter tank of gas) then you’re likely pulling in to the Baker General Store to stock up.
This little spot offers dry goods and food, a small deli, firewood, ice, and gas. It’s a dressed up version of a convenience store with actually kind of a worse-​than-​average beer selection and the bonus of some gear for hunters, fishermen, campers, and various outdoors-​y types.
My stops here were for camp supplies — firewood bundles ($ 4.99), ice ($ 1.85/bag), beer, jerkey, snacks and, as a poor advance planner, gas ($ 4.40/gal when average in town was $ 4). The prices here match the level of convenience, as I sure as hell am not going to drive 20 miles to the coast for slightly cheaper everything.
The folks that run this joint were plenty friendly to me when I came through both times. It has that sleepy country general store feel to it, and that’s kind of refreshing (vs. your average Plaid Pantry worker). Honestly, my experience here given the remote location was A-​OK. If they just had a bit better beverage selection I’d probably notch this one up a star.

ooohhh thank you.
They were the only place open early for coffee on my yoga vacation last fall.
Gas and coffee and a smile.
Thank you.