John Boy’s Alsea Mercantile

While yes, this little store has everything from top ramen to ammo to nuts/​bolts and even hunting/​fishing licenses, it’s way overpriced. Their shelf and refrigerated foods are all bought from WinCo in a neighboring town, Corvallis. In a pinch, it suffices, but if you can make it to Corvallis, go to WinCo on Walnut and buy the exact same thing for often dollars less because that’s what the owner does.

I love this little store. Every year we go camping not too far from here… after hearing about the boys going for food in the mornings before us girls showed up for the camping… many times… I had to check this place out… They have a little of well EVERYTHING. Just like a little good country store should have. First even though in the hot cases they had burgers, jo jos etc… the whole place smelled like funnel cakes… yes I said funnel cakes… there were no funnel cakes anywhere in the place. I loved the fact that there was an alligator skull, a sign for prison blue shirts and ice cream all within 8 feet of each other…

Loved it. Friendly people, large selection of goods, tasty Jo-​Jos at the deli.

Great little mercantile in a quant rural Oregon town. Tasty roadside snacks served up by the friendliest folks you’ll find anywhere.

Nestled in the Oregon backwoods, complete with dead animals staring down from the rafters, John Boy’s Mercantile is right out of some country cliché. This is the only store within about thirty miles of my parent’s farm. They have everything a rural market should carry, from nachos, to ammunition, to country-​style fashion accoutrements.
Whenever, I’m in Alsea, I make a point to stop by John Boy’s for whatever supplies we may need. Pulling up in my BMW with California plates always elicits the same knowing glances from the locals, who take pride in hanging out on John Boy’s porch, keeping an eye out for suspicious looking out-​of-​towners .
Sure, I live in San Francisco, the shopping mecca of the Western United States. Somehow, it doesn’t quite do it for me like John Boys. Where else can I score a bottle of hooch, coveralls made by inmates, a sling shot, ice cream sandwiches, assorted hardware and fishing tackle (complete with advice on what’s biting today)? I just can’t visit my folks without making a trip to John Boy’s mercantile.
Five Stars to John Boys!