Common’s Market

Cool place, it’s been around for a long time. They sell loosie trash tags which makes up for their candy sometimes being stale.

I avoid this place at all costs for one simple reason: they charge sales tax on all items, even the ones that don’t need to be taxed. NYS sales tax is not difficult to understand. Nobody should have to pay $ 1.07 for an Arizona tea. If I may quote NYS Tax Bulletin ST-​65:
«Nontaxable beverages include: … unheated tea and tea products (caffeinated, decaffeinated, bagged, powdered, concentrated liquid mixes sold in canisters or envelopes, flavored, herbal, iced, instant, loose, or leaves, and specialty teas sold in bottles or cans);»
SPECIALTY TEAS SOLD IN BOTTLES OR FUCKING CANS.
Their laziness has cost them my business.
Also $ 10 minimum on credit cards. $ 5 minimum, fine, but $ 10? Nah. I’ll buy 5 Arizona teas elsewhere… untaxed.

For anyone living without a car in downtown Ithaca, this place has probably served as either a lifesaver or a godsend. Stocking both really basic groceries and drug store items, it stands in for the overpriced and too-​tiny GreenStar Oasis «supermarket» and Palmer «Pharmacy» nearby when either are closed. Extremely convenient that it’s open til midnight, though sometimes wish they’d extend that a little longer, so that I didn’t have to hope that Shortstop or the Sunoco convenience store would have what I needed in the early morning hours.
But, let’s face it; it’s not without its problems. Extremely small, grubby, sometimes attracting really unsavory clientele and not always staffed by the happiest of people (although they try their hardest to be nice), it might not be my first choice if there were plenty of other bodegas scattered around this part of the city. But there are not, and, if nothing else, I appreciate this place’s perseverance into the late hours of the night.

It is what it is. Convenient. Dependable for odds and ends, snacks, beer, etc. when you just want it cheap or late and don’t want to (or can’t) drive to one of the supermarkets. The cashiers are usually pretty friendly.

Admittedly, if I had to work a dead-​end cashier job at a crappy convenience store like this, I’d probably hate my life, too. Still, that is –not– a good reason to make it extremely well known to your clientele, lady.
If not for the Ben & Jerry’s signage outside, we would have never stepped foot in here. Do not be fooled! It’s just the stuff in tubs, not hand-​scooped.
Unless you need a serious mood-​dropper and/​or energy-​suck, don’t do it. Just don’t.