S & W Market

S & W Market has pricey beer prices posted, for this upscale area, the pricing is normal/​ok. wines priced. sodas, teas fairly priced.
regular grocery items available, neatly stocked. not many convienence/​grocery stores around.
drink: yerba mate raspberry tea (2.75)
–nice drink, not too sweet
take outs:
–3 stars for passing by
–4 stars if one lives in this area.

I’m gonna give this place some love. Mr. Grumbles (as a beloved friend tagged him) is possibly the coolest guy in SF. He and his wife run the store, and he don’t take no shit. He’s quiet, but smiles uncontrollably when he likes you. They are in an unfortunate part of the Lower Haight, and fortunately for you, he is open at all hours when you want to get fu**ed up.
He even watches the travel channel. Seriously.
Go there, ask for a bottle of booze behind the counter when only the wife is working. I always thought she asked her son to reach for the booze because she couldn’t touch it in practice of some religious tradition. It’s just because she’s too short. :)
Good people. This place is down.

When you think of seemingly impossible predictions, many things come to mind: sports upsets, weather and of course, how much beer is going to be consumed at your party.
For awhile when we hosted a party we’d traditionally get one keg, always certain that it would last the night. However, traditionally we had always run out and found ourselves passing the hat at 1:46am. So when one of our friends offered to buy two kegs for one of our parties, we were ecstatic. «This is great, we’re going to have so much beer left over!» my roommate said.
Come 1:52am on the night of (or morning after) the party, there we stand, full of dread and disbelief as we watch the second keg go empty. Would this really be the end of our party? Would it go out on such a sour note right at 2am? I take off out of the door knowing time is of the essence. S&W isn’t even the closest convenience store but I know some places tend to close 5 — 10 minutes before 2am. For some reason I just ran towards this place. Luckily, I was not disappointed. One of the guys who works here was waiting at the door, key in hand, for 2am to strike. I made it in probably at like 1:58am and purchased 2 cases of PBR.
Yeah, I kinda felt like I might get mauled making my way back carrying all the beer but all that mattered was S&W had just saved our party.
Aside from that over-​dramatization of one of our parties, S&W is a pretty solid place. I’m amazed the woman who works the counter is always so nice to me despite the riff-​raff she undoubtedly deals with on a minute-​by-​minute basis.
This place is automatically reserved as my go-​to 2am buzzer beater, assuming I can make the 3 block stumble quickly enough.

Mom and Pop’s are two of the greatest liquor store owners in this fair city of ours. One is always asleep (supposedly) while the other sings, yells or throws slurs at everyone who comes in here.
They have all of the regular liquor store fare.
The 4 star rating is for many reasons. They are the first LQ to open up in the hood. This is particularly good if you are an early riser (work, etc) or if it been one of those nights.
I picked up a couple of bottles of Champagne on New Years Day. One of the corks had rotted out of a $ 49.00 bottle. I told them about it a week later, and they replaced the bottle. No questions asked.
They often give me back my change in bills, not coins. Coins are SOOOOOO pre-​Y2K.
Better priced beer and liquor would push them to 5 stars, for sure.

Amazingly huge Thanksgiving spread with amazing people — :D
Three deep fried turkeys dripping in peanut oil — :D
Sweet potatoes covered in melty, toasted brown marshmallows — :D
Four hour post mouth orgasmic, slight beer buzzed bliss nap — :D
Dinner gurgling in my stomach — :(
Being out of toilet paper — :(:(
Safeway being closed — :(:(:(
S&W being open — :D :D :D :D
Not only did this place save my pajorative ass, but its a social petrie dish. Amazing place to check out the SF AllStars doing the World Famous Crack Rock Hobble, asking the storeowners «how much it would cost for just a coupla Doritos, not the whole bag.»
And then there’s Jamil, the owner. I get punchy and Brooklyn when fired up on the booze, but when ive been in there at those times, the last thing i want to do is say something that would even have him sneer at me half as angrily as he sneers at the AllStars.
Thanks again S&W for coming through when Safeway didnt, and the cats thank you, as now they dont have to be part of something that will «stain» their souls forever.