funny place. located right next to the infamous chimneysweep, review for that coming soon. in the meantime here's a long-winded way to quote mike brady with "caveat emptor."
one night i pop in at the short stop and grab a pack of vanilla zingers. i'm not usually a zinger guy, but at that late-night moment they are the late-night tv overseas orphans begging me to give them a home, even though zingers seem to get smaller every time i see them and they're now made by hostess, what the hell happened to dolly madison. so i get home and into the fridge they go, and later on they're perfect -- so much so that days later i'm thinking, man, that was a really good pack of zingers. so i'm in the neighborhood and stop in again and there's one pack of vanilla ones left. expiration date okay, package is okay, no, well it's not. there's a hole in the seam underneath towards the edge and you can even feel that the first zinger is dried out and dead. the guy behind the counter asks if he can help me since i'm looking around hoping some drunk or stoner has randomly left another pack somewhere, and i ask him if he has any more in the back. he says no, and i point out to him that there's a hole in the last package and they're no good. he takes them and walks behind the counter and i leave, zingerless.
a few days after that i pass by short stop 24 again, think zinger, park the car and go inside to find again one lone package of vanilla zingers. i flip it over and sure enough, it's exact same package with the same hole and the same dead zinger. i hand the pack to the girl behind the counter who says she keeps putting those things behind the counter to return and the guys keep putting them out.
i would certainly advise you check expiration dates and packaging before bringing any of your purchases up to the register since they obviously don't care about selling you stale food. by extension, i would skip the hot dog place next door altogether.
otherwise, they have a decent variety of liquor, beer, wine, ice cream, household supplies, pantry items, pre-wrapped sandwiches, and maybe a toy if you've been good. they sell individual mini boxes of corn flakes without having to buy the entire variety pack, likewise single hostess cupcakes and ding dongs which i think is worth one star on its own because that's important in a mini market open until 2 in the morning. but keep your wits about you, and don't get zingered. and say hello to my pack of vanilla zingers in the torn wrapper, because i'll bet a dollar to a doughnut it's still there. read more