Fort Drum Market

The best Store in SW coming visit the Fort Drum market 🇪🇷

Nice clean store
Be careful outside!!!

Excellent my people's

They always got wat I need

They still owe me 😂

Great people

Excellent

It was nice

The store has a great variety of food and snack items for customers to choose from

This is the larger of two side-by-side grocery stores near The Vista Apartment complex in SWDC. My cons far outweigh the pros for this place, but I'll start with the pros: it's a conveniently-located grocery store (especially for those without a car) that is open until 11pm every day of the week. The food selection covers most of your basic needs until you're able to get to the Eastover Giant (about a mile or so away but with no direct bus/rail transit). So this market works when you need something in a hurry. It's kinda like having access to Uber when your car breaks down on 295 but you don't have rental car coverage bc you were too cheap to pay the extra $7.95 per month for the insurance.

So, anyway--let's talk about the cons. The Fort Drum Market prices are ridiculously high for many items. I spoke with the manager once about this issue, and he explained that he looks at Giant Food's prices to see what's "fair market." Well, Giant's prices are ridiculously high to begin with--you know. A second con has to do with the customers not knowing the prices of the food until it's rung up at the register and there's a line of folks behind you waiting to buy some milkduds or an $8 jar of Nutrella. I know it's not mandatory (I think) for mom and pop stores to put a price tag on everything in the store, but surely the store could tag some items like milk, cold cut meats, eggs, bread--you get the point. I have a suspicion that this is on purpose: ignorance, in this case, is smart if you're trying to hide the price of $2 individual rolls of thin toilet paper. Oh, and btw, at least the accented guy behind the counter will tell you beforehand that there's a .35 cent extra charge for buying the thin toilet paper.

This brings me to the customer service of the people of color who open up shops in economically-challenged neighborhoods to sell to their " brothers and sisters". At this store, I dont feel the "fam" connection. In fact, I feel that some of the clerks here treat us more like "step" brothers and sisters. No harm meant towards members of blended families. The shorter guy with the heavy accent (Caribbean? or African?) is the rudest. I remember recently at 10:55pm as I was about leave the store after having bought a few things, I stopped briefly to look at my receipt. The clerk in question tells me to look at my receipt outside the store bc it was late. It was 10:55p in a store that closes at 11p. I stood my ground inside the store to read my receipt bc it was the sensible thing to do if I had had a question. This same rude clerk also has a habit of talking "at" other customers instead of treating them with the dignity that they deserve. I'm sure, like me, these customers have had a long day, and buying food from a corner store operated by other peole of color shouldn't be an opportunity for another "putdown" by people in power. My very long rating of this store is bc of this irony.

Sometimes, people who look like us can be just as exploitive, condescending, and unfair as anybody else. I stopped visiting this store and will occasionally visit the friendlier/less expensive (in some cases, lol) store next door. But I've been traveling to Giant/Safeway more and more.

Ok place nice staff dose good things .