Pearl Specialty Market & Spirits

Reviews 4

BR

Bryce Cloutier

I was hired as an "Assistant Manager" of this liqueur store in November 2016 right before one of there busiest times of the year, the holiday season. If you are looking for employment, look elsewhere. I am writing this because the owner is very concerned about negative Yelp reviews so I thought maybe he would listen after posting my experience and hopefully I can save someone from going through the same thing I did. I have had many jobs and have been in a upper management role for the last four and a half years in other industries.This is by far the least professional and most unorganized place I have ever worked for. The owner posted the job as salary however after coming in for an interview which took place standing on the showroom floor I was told it was hourly and they wouldnt be able to pay me very much off the bat. I found out when I came in for my first day of work that the interview was held amongst customers on the floor because the back of house for the store is a total disaster and probably would of scared off any potential future employees. It is so messy and overcrowded with liqueur boxes you can hardly walk around. There is no break room, there is a small office with two typically unoccupied desk chairs however only upper management can sit in them, myself and other employees are forced to sit on the ground or on a crate or liquor box on our breaks. I wasnt put on payroll until a couple weeks into working there after taking the initiative to introduce myself to the accountant who was there doing payroll. He had no idea we had a new employee as he was never given the paperwork I filled out upon hiring. He asked me in front of the general manager how much I was getting paid and I told him. Two minutes later Im having a conversation with another employee and the GM walks up and informs the other employee that has been there for a year and a half that I am making x amount more money then her and then he simply walks away. I was shocked by the blatant unprofessionalism. Weeks later the GM and the same employee told me that if they dont like someone they will essentially run them out of a job. I was working typically 8-4pm Monday trough Friday for all of December, after the start of the new year I asked for more responsibility and was meet with being taken off all of my Monday through Friday shifts and only being scheduled for two 6 hour closing shifts on Friday and Saturday. The new weeks schedule starts on Monday however we typically wouldnt get a scheduled sent to us until Tuesday or Wednesday after the week had already started so for weeks I was forced to check in each night if I was going working the next day. After three weeks of this I brought my concerns to the owner asking for a explanation of why my hours were cut and why I was not being properly trained for the position I was hired for. I had also asked for two Saturday shifts in January off back in December and was scheduled for both of those shifts and brought this issue up as well. I was contacted back over a week later by the owner, he had no sound or reasonable explanation. He dodged all of the questions and blamed the scheduling issues on literally inclement weather and stating that January is a slow month for business. He was upset that I had requested days off as I guess not many people on his staff do so. (If anyone is still reading this and would like me to send them our email exchanges message me and I would be more then happy to forward them). After sticking by my stance that I wasnt being treated fairly, I was sent an email saying that I had been taken off of the schedule and my final check would be mailed to me. It is my best guess that I was actually hired just to work for the holiday season and it was never the intent of the owner to keep whoever he hired after the new year. Directly after the new year I very much got the feeling they were trying to force me to quit. Hopefully the owner will learn from this and be more forthcoming and communicate his plans when hiring his next employee.

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VE

Verity Benedict

I loathe this place. I live less than a mile from here and its on my way home, but over the last four years I stop by less and less because they always, always follow me around the store or ask me to give them my stuff, even when I have a $1,000 dollar lap top with me. Their logic, I bet, goes like this: person with funny hair and old shoes on, must be homeless, TOTALLY DEFINITELY GOING TO STEAL STUFF. Even though they can easily watch your every move. Hipster Portlanders love to complain about the state of the environment, but they see no problem whatsoever with harassing people that dont like to buy new clothes every two months, and then they wonder why the world is heading for ecological catastrophe. Well, maybe if the only way to be treated like a human being wasnt to buy a new armani suit and show up in a fancy car every day, more people would be less consumerist. Crazy, I know-- the little things we decide to do actually have an aggregate effect on the world! Whoda thought! I was in there tonight and, sure enough, as soon as I walked in the lady came out from behind the register and started to walk towards me to follow me around and ask for my bags. I pre-empted her and said, "yes, I know youre going to harass me, I have been coming here for four years and it happens every time...." and placed my $1000 computer and hundreds of dollars in text books on the ground for anyone to steal. See, they dont care if their customers stuff gets damaged or stolen, they only care about their own products and profits. For those of you that have done more with your life than work retail and party, youll know thats called "externalizing costs" and its why capitalism is ruining the Earth. Pearl liquor is just more of the same.

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HA

Hank Sawtelle

Ive visited here many times. The selection and location are REALLY great, but the hipster attitude just keeps getting worse. There is no hospitality; no attempt to make the customer feel welcome. Like, maybe, smile when someone smiles at you for example? They might be great guys, but they make me feel like a dick for interrupting their cool party, which isnt the way I like my retail experiences. Thus I dont like spending money here. Anyhoo, Ive taken to driving up Lovejoy to the store on NW Cornell across from Safeway. Very good selection, and the staff are genuinely welcoming. I dont really get off on posting negative reviews; I guess Im secretly hoping someone will read this and do something about it, because it could be such a great shopping experience. Will check back with Pearl Specialty after a while for signs of improvement.

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WA

Walk North

Pearl Specialty is a liquor store. In Oregon prices are set by the control board so you choose your store by location, service, and stock. PSM has a good selection of mostly higher end product. Less expensive or smaller bottles are under the counter or in the back room. The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful. They have a good selection of bitters and mixes and will explain the nuances. Handily, theres baskets of lemons and limes near the register. PSM is on the streetcar line and half block from Lovejoy Bakery. A block from Jamison Park, near many of the Pearl restaurants. Worth the trip. By the way, you can go to the control board website and see prices and (!!) what any liquor store has in stock.

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