This article was updated to include the commissary agency’s estimate of the number of newly eligible shoppers.
Department of Defense civilian employees can shop at 16 commissaries during a pilot program for the next 120 days.
The select stores, all located in the continental United States, will be open to all DOD civilian employees, both appropriated fund and nonappropriated fund employees. The DOD pilot program is testing the feasibility of expanding the commissary benefit to DOD civilians at all stateside commissaries, Defense Commissary Agency officials said in an announcement of the test, which begins Thursday.
Commissary agency officials estimate that about 61,740 DoD civilians will be newly eligible to shop at these 16 stores during the test.
Defense officials have directed the commissary agency to monitor any effects of the increased customers on the pilot stores’ operations and report those findings.
Family members of DOD civilian employees and former or retired DOD civilian employees are excluded from the test. DOD civilian employees won’t be able to purchase tobacco or alcohol products and won’t have commissary Click2Go online shopping privileges.
For 157 years, military commissaries have offered the benefit of discounted groceries on installations, with the current authorized customers including active, reserve or retired service members; veterans with service-connected disabilities; Purple Heart and Medal of Honor recipients; and authorized family members, among other eligible patrons.
The 16 stores are located in seven states:
- Alaska: Eielson Air Force Base
- California: Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and Fort Irwin
- Georgia: Marine Corps Logistical Base Albany and Robins Air Force Base
- Maryland: Naval Air Station Patuxent River
- Oklahoma: Altus Air Force Base
- Texas: Laughlin Air Force Base
- Virginia: Naval Support Facility Dahlgren; Joint Base Langley-Eustis (Fort Eustis and Langley Air Force Base commissaries); Fort Gregg-Adams; Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story (Little Creek Commissary); Naval Base Norfolk; Naval Air Station Oceana; and Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Portsmouth).
Officials selected the test stores based on criteria such as the size of the store, from small to large, and the store’s ability to accommodate extra customers. They also selected some stores with high concentrations of DOD civilians in the area to test the commissary agency’s ability to handle large increases in customers.
“Ultimately, allowing DOD civilians to shop in the commissaries is expected to increase [the commissary agency’s] sales volume, generating additional savings for all patrons through lower wholesale pricing and increased promotions by suppliers,” commissary officials stated.
In May 2021, defense officials expanded shopping privileges for DOD and Coast Guard civilian employees at military exchange stores in the U.S. and the U.S. territories and possessions.
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.
