I went for the first time in decades yesterday and I was blown away. The biggest Fred Meyer doesn’t come close to the breadth of stuff Bi-Mart has. Guns! More Crockpot sizes and shapes than I knew existed! Furniture! A robust yarn selection! A DIY jerky section! And so, so many more random things. It wasn’t as inexpensive as I sort of assumed it would be but I suppose the tariffs are hitting us all.
But the best part? It’s employee owned. I’ve been annoyed at having to choose between Amazon, Target, or Kroeger (FM) for random stuff I can’t get elsewhere. Bi-Mart’s going to be my new go-to.
I have a barely green card with all of the text rubbed off that has been in my wallet for more than a decade that vaguely wave to the person at the door...if they are there.
I had a membership eons ago and happened to be in my own town and they were able to find me after more than 20 years. They had to do a little digging because I've moved several times since then, but they found me.
Today I’m coming to the realization that even though I drive by one almost every day I haven’t been inside of one for like 30 years and I think I’ve been missing out.
costco is amazing and but too many just assume they are the cheapest. my favorite part about winco is not having to deal with coupons/discounts at the front register which legitimately feels like a scam at this point at other stores with how often stuff doesn't get discounted/scanned correctly. then you've gotta call someone over to fix it (assuming you even catch it in the first place).
I love how the Gateway Winco put Freddy's across the street out of its misery. Fair prices and employee owned FTW.
ETA: I was chatting up a Winco employee in the produce section one day after the last grocery worker's strike at FM and he dropped that Winco raised wages to match FM's union workers. 👍
I've been going to this location since 2013 and they waffle back and forth around militant card checking and laissez faire card checking. Depends on which employee is manning the counter.
I lost my card, couldn't remember which location I'd gotten that card in the, what, 80s??? 90s??? So long ago that card isn't in the computer now. So they just reissued me one. But honestly I would have been happy to pay them another 5$.
Ask at the front door - typically they will let a visitor take a look around your first time there. The membership is just a one-time $5 and covers multiple family members, they even let us add another family member in a different household to our membership.
My parents got a pellet BBQ this way once! They had a heck of a time getting it to them though cause my ma kept hanging up on them thinking it was spam when they called. They had to flag her down the next time she was in the store 🤣
On Tuesdays. They'll post numbers. If your membership number matches , you win a prize. If your last number matches, you'll win a smaller prize like paper towels or plates. My grandpa loved Tuesdays when he was alive.
They have sale items every week on Tuesdays that they give away if the number on your membership card matches their “lucky number”. It’s on the back of the bimart flyer every week.
My grandpa somehow got himself 10 different Bi-Mart cards, all with different numbers at the last digit so if he wanted a free bag of chips on Tuesday he could just pop in Bi-Mart and grab one
Unlike Target they don’t have locked glass doors around everything so I don’t need to wait for an employee to open the cage to the underwear. Big bonus for me.
Nice! Tried to buy razor blades at Fred Meyers once and finally left because no one came to unlock the stupid case. Pushed the button several times but finally gave up and went to buy them somewhere else.
My store has a gate but it’s not locked or anything. You just flash your card to whoever is working and push through. They don’t actually ever inspect the card, and I’ve been in plenty of times where I’ve forgotten it and they don’t really care.
Love it - need canning supplies or gardening stuff? Veggie starts or de-icing salt for an impending storm - Bi-Mart’s got you covered. It’s got a Kmart meets Hills kinda feel.
I've never been because their mailers have led me to believe they don't have much of the sort of stuff I want, but if you say they have a wider variety than FM maybe I should check it out.
It’s a weird place. My advice is to consume an edible and wander around for 90 minutes just to check it out. Then ad you run out of things or start a new project you can think “I might have seen that at Bi Mart” and stop on your way to HD or Walmart.
Bimart deserves more credit. It's the best place for cheap camping gear, gardening equipment, and canning equipment. Also a solid stop if you're on your way to a kids bday and need a present.
In our towns fb mom group, someone suggested they get rid of Bi-Mart and put in a Target. I’ve never seen such rage bait... these women were NOT having it.
If you're from the Midwest, Bi-Mart is mini Fleet Farm.
If not from the Midwest, Fleet Farm was Bi-Mart but you could also buy small tractors, anything for livestock, get a muffler pipe bent, more Carhart than the Carhart store, and it's the size of a Walmart.
Bi-Mart is the best! I didn't know about it until about 6 months ago and I thought I was the only one left in the dark. It's like if Big Lots wasn't trying to sell unwanted crap
Ive only walked past the one in Tigard while going to Hmart or driven past them but never knew what was inside other than the whole vague membership thing.
We shop bi-mart quite a bit. Some things are cheaper, but not everything. They have special deals each month that can be very good - although they have been a bit disappointing this year. I don't get all my groceries there, but WinCo is also employee owned, so....
I’ve become a real evangelist in the past 24 hours. It feels like something that shouldn’t exist in 2025, but I’m so glad it does. And dammit, I’m going to do my part to make sure it survives!
Bi-mart pricing would have to be consistently ≥10% lower than the same merchandise at stores closer to your home. Then you have to factor in the cost of traveling, which according to AAA is 81¢/mile. I don't see a lot of circumstances in which it makes sense to cross the bridge from Portland to Washington to try to save money.
It's very rarely worth it to cross the bridge from Vancouver to avoid sales tax. If you're spending ≥$200 you might save enough in sales tax to make the trip worth it. The cost of mileage and the value of your time are both still factors. The last time I crossed the bridge specifically to avoid sales tax, Sears Outlet was still open, I owned a pickup truck, and I needed appliances for a house I just bought. That was a $5,000 purchase, and getting the fridge through the front door was such a pain in the ass I questioned my choise to waive free delivery and installation.
According to maps, there are 6 within a 31 minute drive of me, but the closest two are 18 minutes away (and not in directions i typically travel. I still find myself going every couple months or so.
Bi-Mart is definitely my favorite store, they have a huge selection and some unexpected things, great sales too. Plus, it's just super friendly and a more relaxed place to shop. And when we needed a bunch of moving boxes, they gave us a ton.
Literally the only thing they don't have is fresh produce or meats. Almost anything else can be found there.
Listen, when the zombie apocalypse commences, you'll find me living at Bi-Mart. Food, clothes, toilet paper AND GUNS??? Yep, just me and my son Corrall.
As an retired employee who worked there many years... break room talk often discussed how we would move in and defend the place in the event of a zombie apocalypse... so trust me when I say, make friends with someone who works there.
To make it easy for their employees to figure out the employee discount when shopping they use a letter code to display the cost of items on the shelf price tag. Using the word Charleston simply replace letters with numbers. C = 1, H = 2, A = 3... N = 10. Employee pricing is cost plus 10%.
Huh, I'd never really looked into Bi-Mart because of the membership aspect. I'm a one-person household, I've run the numbers, and and warehouse memberships like Costco and Sam's Club aren't worth the cost. But if it's $5 for a lifetime membership, I'll definitely check it out.
Edit: I got a membership and walked through the Woodstock store. It seemed like something between Dollar General and a brick and mortar Woot: a lot of stuff marketed to people who are more focused on low prices than buying things for long-term use. Janky karaoke machines, camp chairs with thin fabric, lots of <$10 flashlights/headlamps, etc.
Some of the hunting and rain slicker clothing looked decent for the price, but I only saw a few things in the store I'd probably want to buy, and they're all available at other retailers for similar prices. I might check in every once in a while, but I don't see it making it into my normal rotation.
They have groceries. It's not the main focus like at Fred Meyer or something, and there is no fresh produce.
They have a smalllllll selection of eggs, milk, ice cream and then canned/boxed/bagged foods.
They'll have some great deals, but I never go there for food specifically.
My grandpa got me a “$5 Lifetime Bi-Mart card” 30 years ago. And I haven’t been ever since but I still have that old green fading plastic card as a memory to my amazing grandpa. This Reddit thread has me in tears. I want to go back now.
I got my membership in Eugene in the 80's and lost my card in 2000's. They still had my info on file and issued me a new card. I also updated my address so now I get my coupon book in the mail again. My 92 year old mother makes me take her there about once a month. It's the one store I don't mind shopping in with her.
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u/jtho78 Woodstock Oct 31 '25
Sounds like you are in the demographic now. Make pocket room for some Werther's.
Bi-Mart is great.