Sidewalk sales and bigger savings are back at most stateside military commissaries, after being canceled last year because of the pandemic.
Most commissaries will have one event, generally a two- or three-day outdoor weekend sidewalk sale – with extra savings on a variety of everyday items, according to the Defense Commissary Agency. The events are scheduled sometime between April 29 and May 31. For example, two Texas commissaries – Fort Hood and Fort Sam Houston – will start their sales on April 29. These two sales are held over four days, through May 2. Find your store’s sidewalk sales dates here.
Items on sale range from snacks, beverages, pet food, international foods, baking goods, canned goods, and non-food items, to health and beauty products.
The sales coincide with May’s Military Appreciation Month.
Only stateside commissaries will hold the sidewalk sales; however, customers overseas should check with their local stores for sales events that may possibly be held there.
Officials urge commissary customers to check their local commissary’s web page for sale dates and hours because dates may change. Customers can also find sales flyers for their store on their store’s web page.
Commissary employees and customers are required to wear masks at sidewalk sales, following Defense Department policy regarding COVID1-19 safety protocols.
Those eligible to shop at commissaries include active duty, Guard and Reserve members, military retirees, Medal of Honor recipients, 100 percent disabled veterans, and their authorized family members.
In January 2020, eligibility opened to all veterans with VA service-connected disability ratings; Purple Heart recipients; veterans who are former prisoners of war; and primary family caregivers of eligible veterans under the VA caregiver program.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
