I've been dropping by for years, and it's a conventional local neighborhood store. They were helpful, To address the negative feedback: with the layout, (old store) and people carrying bag/backpack: of course there'll be a cautious eye as any responsible store owner would do. feels like their employees are more like 'family owned business' vs hourly hires that don't give a crap.. yes, I felt noticed, but: once i asked, inquired about product(s), they opened up with their knowledge and what's in stock. I've gone back several times and it has been good experiences. read more

Terrible Customer Service - Avoid This place I've never felt so unwelcome in a store before. All I did was open the fridge **twice** because I wasn't sure what I wanted, and the staff acted like I committed a crime. One of the employees got visibly annoyed and made a snarky comment about me letting the "cold air out." Seriously? If you're that worried about your beer getting slightly less cold for **two seconds**, maybe you shouldn't be running a liquor store where customers need to **see their options** before buying. The attitude was horrible--no patience, no understanding, just pure rudeness. There are plenty of other places that actually appreciate their customers and don't treat them like an inconvenience for daring to browse. Save yourself the hassle and take your business elsewhere. **Zero stars if I could.** read more

Terrible customer service. Immediately after entering I was stared down by the female cashier and by the older white man, who continued to stare me down while looking through the products. While looking at the fridges, I was approached in an extremely rude manner by the older white man. He got in my face without any introduction and used a snarky tone to tell me that "if I leave the door open like that Im going to let all of the cold air out". Mind you I had been looking for less than 5 minutes. I tell him I was trying to read the labels on the drinks to make a purchase and he continues to push back on me and tried to lead me to another part of the store in which I decided to leave due to feeling extremely uncomfortable and disrespected as an adult. I saw another reviewer say they had the same experience with the fridges so this is clearly a pattern. It was a truly weird and condescending experience. read more

This is my new favorite liquor shop. The staff is nice and not only do they have all the pop and juice I could want, they have at least ten different kinds of whisky for under $20 a bottle. And I recently noticed they have almost as many kinds of rum as Binny's. This short strip of Argyle is like a little Vietnam-town. Even though most people would consider it a sketchy area, if you walk with a purpose no one will bother you. read more

Foremost Liquor Store - Beer, Wine & Spirits Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

When you're traveling, you never know where to go for beer or booze, and you kind of just take a shot in the dark sometimes. We were staying in this neighborhood and stopped in because we needed some beer for the weekend. We were pleasantly surprised that they did have more than just your garden variety Coors and Natty Light. There was a decent but small selection of craft beers and an equally small but decent selection of ciders (which are my favorite). But some of the things we were looking for they did not have. Once we got back to our place we found that a couple of the bottles were outdated and older than we would have liked or expected from a bottle shop, which was disappointing. However, I do want to say that the staff here was wonderful - friendly, happy to help and answer questions, always willing to show us where something was, etc. We really appreciated their cheerfulness and great customer service. read more

During the pandemic I've been ordering from them online to have delivered and could not be happier. They have an amazing selection and if they need to substitute something they call or text and offer lots of options! They also take great care when packaging bottles for delivery, which I really appreciate. Such amazing customer service and great products!! read more

Helluva grocery style liquor store within mins of my apt...love it! Reminds me a little of my beloved Kenwood Liquors on Stony Island on the south side, minus the hellacious parking. They have all the good stuff here and is a convenient spot due to the BYOB restaurants in the area. A spot I will frequent quite often as peeps that work here are really cool! read more

I like to support small businesses and I shop there once in a while. Today I walked in with 3 bags from my previous shopping, was wearing a double mask and a hoodie from the charity I run for. I was barely inside that the person at the checkout pointed to me and told an associate "follow him around the store" and I was followed around the store without once even being offered help or anything. It made me feel dirty and nasty. I should have left without buying anything however I nevertheless dropped over $52 on champagne and beer. Will never again set foot in that store and strongly recommended anyone shop elsewhere. They should not be supported. read more

We were staying a few blocks away for the weekend and were in need of mixers and a couple more bottles booze. We stumbled upon this store when we were exploring the neighborhood. I will be honest and tell you I didn't expect much, but it was a decent sized store with a good variety of alcohol options. We had no problem finding exactly what we wanted and needed and were in and out in less than 10 minutes. A great success! read more

Conveniently located next to the red line Argyle stop, large liquor store with great selection and very friendly owners. Highly recommend.

i only care about the wine. I feel like i should be keeping this place a secret because of all the old vintage wine they have. more old vintages than any place I've ever been to. Alot. 1995 barolo's.,1999 California cabs, Spanish, French, German, Austrian, and even Romanian. ive only got 4 bottles from them so far as a testament to my restraint. first 2000 super Tuscan was good, although some said it was slightly off. second 2002 french was corked. i have two bottles sitting on my mantle and one is a synthetic cork so it should be fine. I've inspected the outer rim of the cork on the 02 valpollocella and it seems fine. I'm crossing my fingers. what the average consumer doesn't understand(like one of the people who reviewed) is that wine that is "past its prime" can potentially be very good. of course the risk of oxygenation and cork taint is alot higher the older they get. still i am suspicious of the fact that they have SO much older wine. did it fall off a truck? did they get it from dodgy distributors? did their store have heating or cooling issues at one time? It really is to good to be true so somebody must know something... I shall report back on the other two bottles. read more

I will echo the sentiment of other reviewers that the staff here is excellent. While I lived in Uptown I tried never to buy alcohol from anywhere else. The beer selection is good, the liquor selection is good, the wine selection is great. You could always root around and find a really good wine on sale for way less than it should be. And the prices, oh the prices. At worst, the prices will be comparable to anywhere else you are buying booze. Cases of beer might be a little more expensive here than, say, at Jewel. Otherwise I find that their stuff is cheaper here. Certainly Wild Turkey (my personal poison) is cheaper at Foremost. Also a good place to stop in if you are heading to a dinner party and need to pick up a bottle of wine. Just tell them what is being served and how much you are looking to spend. They will take care of the rest. read more

They have a great selection for a decent price! (Cheaper than Mariano's) and they help right away if you're looking for something particular. Perfect for your neighborhood liquor store. read more

Yesterday, I was in this store. While I was in line to check out I witnessed a woman behind the counter blatantly discriminating against a man in a wheelchair who was simply asking for help. This gentleman was promptly denied help being told by the woman she has many wheelchairs in there shopping and no one else"complains" I heard the entire conversation. the man in the wheelchair was not complaining but simply asking for help with getting what he was there to purchase, after woman finally checked the mans purchases out and he proceeded to leave. I followed behind and caught up To him outside on the street, I introduced myself and told him after what I witnessed I will not be shopping here ever again and advised him to just go to Jewel-Osco. Better prices, easier access to products No blatant discrimination against disabled people. I was genuinely appalled at this woman's attitude towards this disabled man and will Never shop here again! read more

After living on Argyle in "Little Saigon" for a year now, the staff at Foremost has become another group of friends for me. Some of them I would consider as close as family. No, I'm not that much of an alcoholic, they're just that friendly. (ok, maybe a little of both...) Everyone is friendly and helpful and they have a fantastic selection of booze for all types of boozers. Their prices are considerably less than J.J. Pepper's down the street. Great neighborhood place. If you're not Asian or a bum or a drug dealer, you definitely stand out in my neighborhood. If you're not comfortable with that, don't come to Argyle. Foremost gets all my stars though! If not for the prices, selection and friendly staff, then at least for the old school sign that lights up the entire block!! :) read more

Their giant flashy sign drew me in like a booze beacon with its promise of reasonably priced alcohol. There are a number of BYOB restaurants in the area, so it's very conveniently located. I noticed it in a frantic search for somewhere selling wine when I realized Masala let you bring your own drinks. It was just a few stores down, so we went there and browsed. They have the big name brand liquors and a decent selection of wine. I was hoping to find something Eastern European, but we found that they don't carry much from the Balkans anymore (something about importing or supply issues). We settled on a $10 bottle of Pacific Rim Riesling. It did the trick. If you're in a bind then this is a great place to come and pick up some bottles on the cheap. The employees are helpful and the owner is a really nice guy. He tried his hardest to help us find an alternative to what we came for. read more

Pretty gnarly-looking from the outside, and bare-bones on the inside. But those dusty shelves are stocked with gems, from a range of amaros, to vintage Champagne, to second-growth Bordeaux, to harder-to-find and reasonably priced spirits like Willett 3-year rye, Sazerac rye, and E.H. Taylor bourbon. Great prices on boutique Cognacs, too. Friendly, efficient service. I really just wish they would up their vermouth game, but that's my only gripe. And the lovely repaving of Argyle and increased police presence mean fewer hoodlums lurking outside, so no need to watch your back around here anymore. read more

Ginger Beer? Foremost Liquor saved the day and the Moscow Mule afternoon was salvaged after all. Pro's: Friendly Service Ginger Beer in stock Good prices Negatives: Shady folks hanging out in front Good liquor store, good selection and walking distance from my house. read more

Being the closest liquor store to my apartment, I would probably go whether I liked it or not. Fortunately, I like it. For being a mid-size store they have impressive selections of wine and craft beer. The staff is friendly, funny, and helpful. Prices are not the best, but not unreasonable. What also cannot be understated is the incredible convenience of this store on this street. There are dozens of BYOB restaurants within a couple blocks of here. I'm sure that Foremost makes huge profits off of people buying drinks and taking them just a few steps away. read more

I had expectations about as high as I would walking into any neighborhood liquor store: none to extremely low. However, was actually pretty impressed. They are spot on when it comes to wine recommendations and know their regions and grapes....who knew your local liquor store could be so great. Not the best price points, but it's a local business so I'm fine with that. read more

This is probably my favorite liquor store in the city. Friendly smiley faces greet you when you walk in & the selection of wine, beer,& fine liquor is amazing. Me & a couple of my friends were on a hunt for a bottle of Cognac that we couldn't find anywhere but we're able to found here. Jim helped us find what we wanted & recommended some fine wine for our wife's to enjoy that evening too, again thank you guys for the excellent service & ill definitely be back and recommend foremost liquors to all my family & friends. read more

It was a cold Saturday night after a long week and my boyfriend and I thought some hot BYOB pho could hit the spot. We noticed Foremost's bright sign down the street and decided to pop in and browse the selection. We were pretty impressed with what we saw - a solid wine offering, good variety of beer (chilled available as well), the usual spirits, and a nice back wall of scotch and whiskey. Aside from the convenience, selection, and decent prices, the two things that really made Foremost a pleasant surprise were the staff and Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer. The latter we had just had for the first time a few days prior and it was love at first sip. We could not recall seeing it anywhere, so finding it here was the most beautiful of coincidences. We bought five bottles with goofy smiles on our faces. The former was really a cherry on top of the experience. Each staff member was friendly, helpful, and had a good sense of humor. While Foremost is not our closest liquor store, I imagine we'll be back sometime soon (if only for the Crabbie's and the Dickel Rye). read more

Just returned home from the last purchase I will ever make at this store, and I am a 10 year customer. I generally spend just shy of $400 a month at this store and never have had a bad experience. Tonight I walked the 2 blocks from my apartment in the drizzle, not a big deal, but it turned into shit show. I dropped my mask on the sidewalk and it was soggy and dirty, not salvageable. I entered the store and stopped in their vestibule; and asked the cashier who I have seen a hundred times if he had a mask so I could shop, and he didn't so I asked if he could just get me my purchase and let me stay in the vestibule, and I will hand you my phone and use apple pay and he said " no you need to leave" the manager who was very understanding, and spoke from the office which is lofted above the store cashier to the left said "sir I apologize, we had hundreds and I used the last one last night please understand and come back", and that was ok and I got it. So I left the store and walked home and retrieved a mask and returned. I entered the store and made a $80 purchase and upon cashing out I told the cashier that I felt like it would have been a much better customer service move had he rang my purchase and allowed me to pay with apple pay and satisfy a regular patron and keep their business all in ear shot of the manager. I inadvertently left my glasses on the counter and had to come back in the store, with a mask and pick up my glasses from the counter, mind you he didn't offer to hand them to me, an he laughed and said " I thought you wasn't coming back ha ha ha" I said "excuse me" and he continued and said Fuck you, and the manager witnessed this!!!! He did apologize again, and I said "sorry, I am done and won't be back." I truly won't, there are numerous stores in Uptown that are as close, but I had remained a customer because the neighborhood is marginal and a lot of their customers scrape change together for a single Old Style, no judgment, but treat all you customers with respect. We all deserve to be treated with respect. So the end of an era for me and them. NEVER WILL PURCHASE FROM FOREMOST LIQUORS AGAIN...... read more

Last night I got off the redline to play dress up with some drag queens who live on West Argyle. I was in search of cheap booze and in a hurry. This neighborhood seemed filled with places that called themselves "party" or "convenience" stores. Here's how I see it; If you don't sell alcohol, you are neither convenient nor a party. I finally saw the big, glowing lights that said Foremost Liquor, shining in the distance like a beacon of hope. I had traveled long and I was thirsty. I was pleasantly surprised by their range of selection and competitive prices. I got my blue Four Loko for the cheapest I've found anywhere. The blonde woman behind the counter was really sweet and friendly AND to top it off, when my mess of life realized I dropped my keys there, she had them waiting for me today. Definitely recommend this place to anyone in search of a convenient party in Uptown. read more

Prices are good. Instead of the gold standard, I use the Steel standard. A double-deuce of Steel Reserve should be 99 cents. Here, you get 4 pints for $3.13. That's close enough. Selection is good or bad, depending on what you want. They have a diverse selection of high-end, drink-to-enjoy beers. As far as drink for buzz beers and high-gravity lagers, they only have the extreme end. Camo Black Ice (10.5% APV) and Steel Reserve (8.1%) will do work for less, but Hurricane is the only malt liquor here, so that's disappointing. This limited malt liquor selection is the only thing keeping it from a 5. Location is great. Stop at any of the restaurants for a fine meal. read more

I'm lucky to have Foremost as my neighborhood liquor store. This is one of the friendliest and most helpful stores of any kind in Chicago, and their selection of wine and liquor is top notch. I wish they carried a few more beer and cider options, but I never leave empty handed. I always look forward to shopping there. Highly recommended. read more

The best staff and selection around. Always quick with a recommendation or help finding what youre looking for. A neighborhood institution.

Very nice liquor store. Used to be "my place" but I have since relocated to a different part of Uptown. Excellent prices on some of the beers (if I recall, New Belgium products are under $8), and no ripoffs. Wine seems to be a bit pricey, even by liquor store standards. That's a shame, because it's the only place to get wine within several blocks. Decent liquor prices. Good selection all in all, helpful, friendly staff, and I love the sign - it's totally old timey. read more

One of the best businesses in Uptown. Good selection and prices, and the staff could not be friendlier or more helpful.

Solid liquor store! Their selection does not compare to the almighty Binny's, but it is definitely a solid neighborhood joint. Both the times I came here I found myself trying two types of Asian beer I had not seen before. Although Asian beer is never life changing, I find it a nice change of pace from the heavier beers out there. Both the six packs were around $8 a piece, which is pretty standard for this type of beer for a store who carries it. The people who work there also came off as very friendly greeting me upon entry and exiting the store. This place is somewhat a hidden gem and definitely should be checked out. read more

Happy to find this liquor store near my new place. Staff is very friendly and has a great selection.

I am smiling right now. Why? Because I was having a bad day, and this store turned it around. :) I stopped in on my way home this evening and selected a four-pack of hard cider. The two workers at the register greeted me with smiles, and the best part is they told me that the cider came with a complementary glass that would perfectly fit one can of cider. This totally cheered me up and saved the day from being a terrible one. Thanks! read more

They carry St. Martin's Belgian beer! It's a rare (in the states) Belgian (not Belgian style) beer that's really hard to find in these parts. That's only one of the reasons why these guys are the best! read more

I like to make unique cocktails and this place has a big variety of products. They always have what I'm looking for and the staff is very helpful. read more

Wonderfully helpful staff who are willing to provide great service and make you feel welcome every time. The selection is strong and easy to navigate. read more

Awesome staff, great selection, great prices on whiskey - super convenient from my house. I can't really say anything bad about this place other than a limited selection of white chilled wines (my gf's complaint, not mine). read more

Great friendly staff. Good prices. Easy to get to by driving or public transportation

Hmmm what can I say.... broken down 1950's liquors sign, bums at the front of the store every day every hour, this is like old school Vegas... off the strip. Give the bums a tip of the hat and they will leave you alone, give them any money and they will chase you down the street for more. You get to the door and miraculously it opens, you would never think a place like this would have automatic doors, so now you are tripping into the store falling right into a life size cutout of a bikini clad babe touting her liquor is the best... Ok, not the best start. You go around the cow slaughter house size aisles and find... liquor and wine!!! More wine than you can shake your finely tippled finger at. The wine selection is awe inspiring for a little shop that really opens up into a Dr. Who telephone booth. Liquor selection is an afterthought and the cases of beer has to be paid for in Cash! Paper money, what an odd concept. This store is not half bad but it should be called Foremost booze and wine... now with a bum valet service! read more

This family run business has a very knowledgeable staff. The lead proprietor, Jim, is happy to consult on the appropriate liquid refreshment for any venue. A great place for discovery of new products and repository of 'Ole stand by's. read more

The staff is so nice here, and won't hesitate to talk about new beer with you. In fact, I walked in, and looked for maybe a few seconds before two of the guys working there struck up a conversation with me about beer. Great place! read more