Nectar

There’s something about visiting Nectar—the dispensary chain with four locations in Portland, as well as additional shops in Gresham, Tillamook and Eugene—that reminds me of hitting up Hot Topic as a teenager. Everything is visually branded with company logos, and all the flower is prepackaged in tidy glass jars. The music is loud and there’s no waiting room—just glass display cases and super-busy budtenders. That’s certainly true of the North Mississippi Avenue location, at least. When I stopped by on a Friday afternoon to stock up on a favorite strain that had sold out across town, they happily supplied me with a quarter and then loaded me up with the daily special: a couple of free prerolls of my choosing. That’s the true virtue of Nectar: When all the shops in town are sold out of that Green Day T-shirt you need, it has the buying power to stock up on in-demand goods and keep them around.