La Primera Fruit Liquor & Meats

Great place. My go-​to corner grocery.

The staff is unfailingly friendly and their beer and wine selection is terrific. Any time I’ve been in the mood to try something new (most recently it was Samuel Smith’s Apricot Ale), I find something great at La Primera. Come here for good prices, great selection and wonderful customer service!

amazing beer selection. one of the best places in the city.

I’m a big fan of La Primera, mostly for their beer selection and the people who run the store. They’re decent people who care about their customers, and they get really good beer that is hard to find at Binny’s. Their selection of bourbon is also quite good.
If I needed to find an oddball (for me, anyway) ingredient that I couldn’t pick up at Jewel, this is the first place I’d go even though it’s a couple miles away. Also, it’s a little thing, but having a parking lot is clutch.
I appreciate so much of what La Primera stands for, and that’s why I go out of my way to support them.

This place is the best. Family owned, welcoming, helpful, and super down to earth. I even asked if they could start stocking a specialty soda that I’m kickin’ and they made it a point to get some for the next time I come in.
In a completely serious side note: their beer selection (as a Cicerone certified waitperson) is bar none the best in Andersonville, if not the entirety of the north side. These dudes are great.

La Primera is the best little local grocery store you never knew about.
I buy meats, cheeses, liquor, home goods and all sorts of other places from them.
I like them because they treat you like family and I know that I’m supporting a local business and money is staying in the neighborhood.
I primarily see Zack or Sam and sometimes Ramerio and they always know exactly what I need and always have a kind word. Sometimes we chat and what is surprising (I wish it wasn’t surprising in this day and age) is they actually remember our chats, ask about how things are going in work, life and family. It’s a true neighborhood business who cares about their customers.
They also carry a lot of ethic foods I enjoy which are harder to find in bigger stores like Jewel. I know that sounds crazy because Jewel carries so much but I think La Primera tries to get the best rather than everything. I’ll use one example… beans… if you go to Jewel they have like 2 kinds made by Monsanto or whoever. La Primera I can get the best beans I love and at a great price.
I could give you other examples and this will be the last one but they also carry things like real charcoal. What’s real charcoal you ask? Well it’s not that BS Kingsford stuff (although they do have that too for the masses) but real wood charcoal. Have you tried this stuff? Try putting that in your smoker or grill and you’ll be astounded at the difference.
Last thing I’ll say besides the great service is there have been a couple of times where I’ve asked them «hey would you mind carrying XYZ product because I really love it?» and you know what… they buy it and stock it. Try doing that at a chain grocery store. These people care about their business, the community and their customers. I’ll give them my money every day of the week.

OK… If you live in that weird in between Andersonville/​Ravenswood area, this place is for you. They have a great beer and spirit selection with a touch of old world charm. The guys a the counter are nice and helpful and the store is generally clean, Great place to go if you need cream or butter at 1am. I would give it five stars; however, buyer beware: Check the expiration dates!

I’ve lived in Edgewater for years and just discovered this beer wonderland. I was looking for Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, they have it. MAGIC. The guy at the register was helpful and kind, gracious to every customer. I’ll be going back.

Simply commenting on their beers.
They have a great selection of craft beers but i guess since they’re in andersonville, they dont have a choice lol. The prices were neither cheap nor overly expensive. If you are near, check it out for yourself.
The only thing that annoyed me is that they didn’t have 3 beers that they had advertisments for, in the store.

THIS PLACE ROCKS! My friend Andy took me here once and I fell in love. Zack rocks and the other guys too. Best wine and beer selection.

I live nearby, and this is the perfect spot for picking up a few odds and ends (like a late night craving for Hot Pockets or SpaghettiOs, or basic pantry supplies). Can’t do regular grocery shopping here, and the produce can be spotty, but the guys who run the place are terrific. Also, the beer and wine selection is top-​notch. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with their selection considering the size of the store!

A good place to shopping grocery but it does not really fit in the category of latino market. Did not find the variety I was expecting. Prices are fair and the service is good along with a convenient location

I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 7 years and I stop by La Primera several times a month. I can’t remember ever having a bad experience there. To me it is like a 7 – 11 with integrity and better prices. The people that work there are very nice.

Love this place! When I moved to Uptown, it was the place I went to for wine. The guys who work there are super nice and the wine selection is BIG!!! I always went for the cheap wine, which is plentiful at this place! :)

One of the best small grocery stores you will ever find. People are wonderful. The beer selection rivals that of some of the boutique shops and the prices are very reasonable. Ask the owners to get anything special if for you and they will be happy to oblige. I live closeby and do alot of my shopping there now.

This is kind of a nice quick stop grocery store. They always have a variety of different items packed into medium space, so sometimes it’s difficult to find things, or you would discover some strange organization methods, like putting the cat food next to the diapers. They don’t always have what I need, but there’s always something that I want, like 5 different kinds of coconut water, organic soda pop and a great variety of liquor.
Not too crazy about the produce section. That’s something this place might want to work on. Some of the fruit looks demolished when I go there.
The guy who works there is pretty nice. Every once in a while some odd people come in. I don’t know what it is about this stretch of Clark St. that attracts the lunatics. Maybe they should consider changing the name to Fruit, Liquor, Meats & Crazies.

This a great little store with all of the essentials. The service is great and the prices aren’t too bad. I did pick up an expired item once, as other reviewers have mentioned, but I called the store and they refunded my money. They have a good selection of beer and a parking lot.

This is only a few steps from my house, so I always come here to stock up on bottled water, cat supplies, and organic TV dinners (Amy’s anybody?). The staff is extremely friendly and I can almost always find what I’m looking for here, especially when I’m too lazy to hoof the ten blocks to Jewel. Thank God for this place.
Be aware, though, that there’s a $ 10 minimum for credit.

Much as I love The First, I can’t honestly give it more than 3 stars. It’s a local neighborhood grocery store — a sort of Middle Eastern version of a bodega — and on that level is top rung, but it’s nothing more.
Reasons to love The First:
Booze, all kinds, all sizes. You need a half pint of Jack for your back pocket? This is the place for it. At the same time, they stock a nice variety of higher end liquor as well — you can pick up some Grey Goose or Belvedere if you are so inclined. Some decent microbrews side by side with flavored malt likkas. Hmmm … Oberon or a 40?
Made to order sandwiches. Grab a roll and have the deli guy whip one up.
Interesting specialty products. Herbal teas, decent whole bean coffee. Though The First has become a bit more reliable of late, their selection is still a bit hard to predict. I used to call them the «fell off the truck» food store, because you never knew what they were going to have in stock.
Multi-​Culti. It’s run by Iranians and frequented by Mexicans and Eastern Europeans, so they have a good selection of ethnic products. This place used to be run by a big bear of a man named Sallah, who spoke Arabic, Spanish and Polish. Now it’s run by Kenny, who used to run the liquor store where Andersonville Hardware now lives. Once he gets to know you, he treats you like family. Until then, not so much.
Warning: Stay away from the old, dust covered wine and cordial bottles. As if I have to tell you. These are relics from Kenny’s old liquor store, and are probably pre-​Millennial.
Crazy locals. Expect to see refugees from the local halfway houses talking politics and exchanging conspiracy theories up front by the cash register and coffee pots. Kenny and Zack — the hot younger guy who works the register — may be smoking while they check out your groceries. Some may see this as a negative, but ya gotta love the local color!

Update: Summer of 2007 they have a new maroon awning, cleared the windows so you can see in from the street and opened the front area so you can walk right in to their wine selection. They are also now carrying Amy’s Organic vegetarian soups and frozen foods, including soy pizzas!
This little neighborhood grocery store is conveniently located on Clark St. in Andersonville. And the staff is extremely nice.
They stock Silk brand soy milk which almost made me pass out the day I noticed it. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a small shop like this carry soy anything.
Surprisingly decent fruit but a ridiculously large wine selection that seems to have very little turnover. A truckload of Campbell’s soups can be found in one of the middle aisles. Mexican food galore of course so you don’t have to trek all they way to Jewel’s ethnic foods aisle. And a ton of whisky behind the counter if, like me, you need help keeping warm the long winter months.
Only three stars because there’s not enough candy and bbq things. And they don’t sell Lotto. Yes, I am a spawn of satan.