{"id":48202,"date":"2020-01-12T19:05:55","date_gmt":"2020-01-12T19:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/12\/heres-what-military-stores-are-doing-to-get-ready-for-41-million-new-shoppers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:05:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:05:46","slug":"heres-what-military-stores-are-doing-to-get-ready-for-41-million-new-shoppers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/2020\/01\/12\/heres-what-military-stores-are-doing-to-get-ready-for-41-million-new-shoppers\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what military stores are doing to get ready for 4.1 million new shoppers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s the biggest increase in eligible customers for decades, and some have wondered how this will affect their long-time military shopping benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But defense officials, commissary<\/a> and exchange and morale, welfare and recreation officials have been preparing for the influx of newly eligible customers <\/a>for months to ensure that shelves are well-stocked. They\u2019re also keeping an eye on staffing in stores, knowing that, especially in some places, they will be stocking the shelves much more frequently; and they may need to add some cashiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While no one has a crystal ball to predict what these shoppers will buy and how much, there are some items that officials believe will be popular among these new veteran and veteran caregiver shoppers. One example is meat, because commissaries have generally very good pricing on meats, said Robert Bianchi, the Defense Department\u2019s special assistant for commissary operations. The retired Navy rear admiral is also the long-time chief executive officer of the Navy Exchange Service Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense Commissary Agency officials have been ramping up orders from vendors in certain geographic areas where they expect to see higher numbers of the new shoppers, such as San Diego, San Antonio and Hawaii. Preliminary data indicates that the Pearl Harbor store, several stores in California, and the store at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, are among those seeing increased traffic. Members of the industry supplying the stores have also been very supportive, he said, and commissary and exchange officials have shared information about possible areas of high volume with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new benefits were authorized by law for all veterans with VA service-connected disability ratings; Purple Heart recipients; veterans who are former prisoners of war; and primary family caregivers of eligible veterans under the VA caregiver program. Previously those with a 100 percent service-connected disability rating, and Medal of Honor recipients were allowed the benefits. According to the Purple Heart and Disabled Veterans Equal Access Act of 2018, these populations are now entitled to access to commissaries, exchanges and certain morale, welfare and recreation facilities on the same basis as military retirees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It applies to Coast Guard installations as well as Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\t