Tony’s Food Pantry

I’m amazed. I’ve been in this store three or four times, and today I was amazed by how rude the owner was. The last time I was there, I asked if I could pay for an ice cream with a credit card, and he said that there was a ten dollar limit, and as I didn’t have enough cash on me, I opted to leave emptyhanded rather than add more to my basket. I thanked him and left. Today as I walked in I felt like he apprehended me as I was walking in the door, and very rudely reminded me that there is a ten dollar limit for a credit card purchase. I was actually planning to pay with cash because I remembered he said that the last time. He also said I had been there several times before and often tried to use my credit card each time for the less than ten dollar amount. It was my third (or fourth) time in the store, and only asked about using a credit card the one time.
The hardest part about it is that I had just spent the day working on my feet being polite to customers for eight hours and as I was coming home expected the same treatment in return, and all I felt I got was verbal abuse. When I told him I wouldn’t be shopping in his store anymore, he said, ‘My business doesn’t come from people. My business comes from God.’ I’m glad that’s not the philosophy where I work. Maybe Al could come there for a visit for some further customer service training?
And this is also a good reminder that I should be buying healthier food than the kind that is sold in convenience stores.

I love the Tony’s. I’ve lived within one block of Tony’s (in three different apartments, I can’t move outside of a one-​block radius apparently) for the last five years. It’s our go-​to spot if we don’t feel like trekking to the grocery stuff for sundries like TP, butter, lottery tickets, the newspaper. There’s a CVS equidistant, but they’re always out of everything and I’d rather give my cash to the little guy then the drug conglomerate.
I will admit, the majority of our purchases at Tony’s are lotto tickets, but we’re loyal because when we win the lottery, the Tony’s will get a cut. Depending on the time you go, you will almost always see the owner Tony, but his name is actually Al. I finally asked him, because we always just call the store «the Tony’s,» as if all the employees are named Tony.
Also, if you need something on a regular basis, they will get it for you. He got me sweetened condensed milk for pie making.
Convenient, and so much kinder than the «man.» Sorry, CVS.

Tony’s is a small, neat, and a clean cornershop at Lawrence and Wolcott. They sell everything one would expect to find in a cornershop except for alcohol. There’s a good selection of sundries, a varied, but slightly overpriced (for a cornershop) beverage cooler, and a well stocked case of ice cream treats.
Avoid the frozen microwave items like Hot Pockets and burritos. They are all old stock that doesn’t seem to get much turnover. Every such item I’ve bought from them has been days away from the «sell by» date, and had freezer burn and ice crystals inside the plastic. One of my hot pockets had a layer of ice caked to the pastry itself.
The ATM fee is only $ 1.50 here, which is better than the $ 2.00 at the Chase bank across the street.
They take credit cards, but only over a strict minimum purchase of $ 10. Now, I know that MC/​Visa charge small merchants fees for small transactions, but I also know that all merchant agreements with MC/​Visa forbid enforcing a minimum purchase for credit card transactions. Whether this is fair to merchants is another question, but it is not fair to customers for merchants to refuse credit cards for small transactions.