Jerusalem Liquors

Woah, pricey.
I stopped in here on a whim, because the guy down the street at Foremost was hoarding the beer i was looking for, and selling it at a premium, because «people want, higher price now.»
I found what I wanted, but it was $ 19.99 vs. $ 16.99 retail at every bottle shop that has ever existed. Disappointed by the price, but desperate, I made my purchase. The guy at the counter proceeded to tell me how he has the cheapest prices in town. I explained to him, that even Whole Foods sells it for $ 3 less, and $ ²⁰⁄₆ pack and $ 80/​case is way to high. In years past, we paid $ 70/​case after taxes. Pricey, but worth checking out, as he makes an effort to get decent beer from his distributors.

1^st time. No selection. And you have a personal escort as soon as you enter the door.
Absolutely NO selection.

I’m not a «real» alcohol drinker. I don’t mess with light or dark liquor if it’s more than 5% which is basically a wine cooler I guess lol. Last year, I discovered Seagrams wine coolers and I love these wine coolers now! I had been looking for this wine cooler for the longest in my area! One day I searched the Seagrams website and this liquor store came up! Yesss! I was so geeked, 4 bottles of Jamaica Me Happy for $ 5 yep DEAL!

I like liquor stores where cops hang out. Five stars!
I also like liquor stores that roll out the red carpet and strew rose petals in my path when I enter, but ask for the moon, right? So, the cops will do. They can ‘cover me’ when I step out into the hail of bullets that rains down on Albany Park every night at a quarter to midnight (except on Tuesdays).
Forget about finding PBR in this place. I routinely clean them out of their stock because I loves me some PBR. Everyone’s drinking it these days. So I loves me some PBR. It’s too scary to go outside so I stay home and drink all the PBR I’ve hoarded.
I deducted a star because one time they were out of Snake Eyes 40-​ouncers.
W
T
F
Oh, I ALMOST forgot to mention. They stay open late every night, which means cops have a place to HANG OUT. And the guys in the store — not the cops, silly, the ones working there! — are pretty cool if you want to talk game or get an update on the local 411. They used to be pretty gruff but warmed up when I stopped asking for my damned rose petals.
It’s pretty decent, if you like liquor and stuff. And, don’t forget, they’ve got cops.

I used to loathe this place, but then realized its true value.
I have lived in Albany Park now for almost two years and when I first moved here I really had a bad opinion of Jerusalem just because it is your typical neighborhood liquor store with a limited selection of beer and wine and the standard line of liquors with chips and basic, basic groceries thrown in as well. It isn’t very nice or clean and the coolers are beat up and the doors don’t close all that well. Like I said, your typical Chicago neighborhood liquor store. But there is a reason I rated them 3 stars instead of one.
Every night as the local battle against graffitiand crime wages, this liquor store becomes a sort of HQ of the CPD. Cops usually park out fron t and just hang out inside with the guys working here since they always have the tv on with a soccer or basketball or random sports game. So since I live just down the block I have come to apprecieate this local ‘checkpoint’ if you will.
I enjoy the fact that I can go in here on any evening an get a cheap six pack, a bag of chips and also catch a few min of the Blackhawks game along with saying hi to the local police on duty.
Jerusalem is a real life example of how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. I like it… they would get four stars if they would just start selling Shiner or PBR; have you ever heard of a place not having PBR? Well it is Albany Park and not Wicker Park so I guess it isn’t all that odd!