Hamlet Quick Stop

We locals love the Hamlet Quick Stop! Ludik is a very gracious owner. If you need milk, beer, a loaf of bread and yes a gun you can find it here along with gas and diesel. Yes it does cost more than in town but instead of having to drive 20 miles for saw gas or lawn mower gas or if you need it for your car so you don’t have to walk along hwy 26 or 53 it’s well worth it.
The locals love to have what we call Beer 30 there and can pretty much be your self. That means wear what ever you want pretty much. Most of the locals come from Hamlet and love to stop have a beer or 2 with friends.
Thank you Ludik, Ruby and Loren!

First visit and won’t be the last! During a group motorcycle ride from Portland to Tillamook we took HWY 53 to reach HWY 26 and this store was at the corner. Large parking lot invited a nice resting point. I was totally impressed to see that there are loggers still working in Oregon as many trucks stopped in and guys that looked liked they put in an honest weeks worth of work in a day headed into store to buy some liquid refreshment. I noticed a Team Glock banner and thought it was odd that a store in middle of nowhere would possibly have new Glocks for sale. I walked into the store and the picture doesn’t do justice to the variety of guns that are for sale here. This would be a one stop shop if you forgot all your hunting gear. The employees and people I encountered were very kind. The gas prices were a little high but everyone talks about supporting local businesses when you can so stop in someday and support this one.

Ok, yea it s a gas station, yea its a flea market, yea its a used gun store, and yea its a quick mart…
But you know what is really cool about this place? This was the very pit stop when the FBI agent in «kindergarten Cop» was sick and Arnold pulled over so she could use the restroom. The clerk gave her a bathroom key attached to a hupcap… Hahaha! Well guest what? I stopped to use the restroom and I was given that exact key!!! That is worth the trip right there!
I did look over the used and new offerings. I did get some chex mix and a soda. The gas was a bit steep and I could make it home so I passed on the gas.
The clerk really did not speak, kind of a strange guy. Several folks said hi, he only nodded. Man of few words. He looks kind of entrapped behind the counter with so much stuff around him.
They could clean this up a bit, hide the nudie mags and organize the guns and used stuff better. A couple of days some fresh paint, and this could be a great little store. It is in a great location.

Holy. Crap. This place scares the piss out of me.
Let’s not bury the lead: guns. Lots and lots of guns. Not even in a case, but rather in literal piles on a counter. Handguns, shotguns, rifles, even some that looked downright military, all just in a heap alongside loose ammo and easily accessible by virtually anybody. True, they may be behind a counter, but there’s no barrier from walking up to them, especially considering no employees were to be found. I can’t even imagine the NRA thinking this is at all acceptable.
Other lowlights? Man, where to start. The rest of the retail section resembles an unholy union between a Everything’s $ 1.00 store and a Goodwill, with little rhyme or reason to the weird offerings on display. They sell blank VHS tapes, you guys. Blank VHS tapes. Oh, and expired cough drops. How long does it take for cough drops to expire???
Oh, there’s a back room, presumably some sort of coffee stop. I didn’t go in, because the entrance was below a sign that says «The Revolution Has Begun» and it was full of angry looking men wearing plaid in a decidedly non-​lumbersexual manner. I’m not sure what revolution they might be planning, but I don’t think it’s one that I’ll enjoy.
Man, sometimes you just really need to stop for gas. But honestly, running out of gas in the middle of the woods is only barely an inferior option.

Overpriced gas. Crazy overpriced.
and…SCARY! There are a slew of used firearms just sitting behind the counter. Like, anybody could walk up and grab one. Big scary knives just sitting out where kids could walk up and pick them up. A bunch of dudes handling firearms and speaking Russian.
My next review goes to ATF. What is this, Alabama?

Wow. This year I hopped in my car and drove 8000 miles to Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas… and the Hamlet Quick Stop made ‘south of the Dixie line’ pale in comparison.
The inside looks like a «Flea Market» threw up on the right side of the establishment, and looks like a survivalist supply store on the left side.
Oh, yeah… you can get a ‘Rock Star’ and some twinkies — but you can also get gun cleaning oil (I found it with the Gillette After-​Shave), and a gun made for killing elephants. This Quaker girl just has to take her husband’s word for what some of that @%$ was. They have guns and knives like I have never seen before. I think they even had nun-​chucks.
I was just thankful they have a kind of divider in the middle of the store so that I could be by myself for half of the event. It is the kind of place that is like a train wreck… you just have to look, but don’t want them staring you down while you look… if that makes sense.
Lets just say that my husband finally agreed with me. He really should have ‘dressed down’ for the excursion. Echo brand black shiny shoes and North Face is not the way to blend in at the Hamlet Quick Stop. No messed up hair day for him could have ever come close to the hair that walked through the door of this place. I have my «cemetery overhauling gear» (mucky shoes, jacket suitable for a barn) in the trunk so I was set… but my husband? was not.
Oh, my favorite? We took photos out front for you! and we were out there so long? that they came out to investigate. I was already hitting the gas pedal of my Hyundai Elantra with my «Find​A​Grave​.com» bumper sticker otherwise I might have been a little worried.
Yeah, a Quaker and the Hamlet Quick Stop just really don’t mix.
My husband now has a rule. He must at least bring with some «dress down» clothes when I am behind the wheel — which is often since we only have one car and its mine. :)
Overall? It is easy to get to, lots of parking, can get gas, coffee, I guess. But, I would just wait til you get to Seaside, OR or Nehalem, OR if I were you. Or go! If you want the experience.
Oh, and don’t forget your copy of «Weed World» on the way out.
Signed,
…a Quaker. Iowan