AAFES

Tiny location with poor selection. Shelves and displays are in disarray. Tried to return an iPad but was denied (they offered me a gift card which I didn’t want). I used my credit card but I was sponsored through my brother. If that’s the case, they shouldn’t let people make any purchases unless the military ID and credit card names match. Plus, the manager who was helping us told me I was making a bigger deal of it than it actually is which really pissed me off. Hate this location.

Ugh I’m so glad I quit working here. Management has become incompetent lately. If you want to hear just how bad it is working here, message me or just ask for Nate at the Burger King food court. The food court people have it worse and the amount of horror stories and violations I hear from hard-​working folks like Nate is despicable.
All I have to say is this: the ones who are self-​entitled assholes just because you’re retired, and you ungrateful dependasauruses that wear your husband’s rank and diminish the blood, sweat, and tears that ACTUAL, active duty/​veteran women in the military work so hard to obtain that rank for, that self-​entitled attitude that you bring to the BX and unload on the employees there is uncalled for. You make the shopping experience worse for everyone, and don’t think you can treat us like crap just because you’re in the service in some way or another. Guess what? A majority of the employees here come from military families, too, or were prior military. What a great way to serve those who serve you back, eh? So STFU when the only person at the Burger King joint available (Nate) is working his ass off to give you your fattening sandwich, because all the other workers never put in their hard work and always call out sick for some BS. Yes, he does this all the while getting underpaid and absolutely ZERO benefits, oh and illegally making him work overtime!
Yes, that’s all you’ll ever get for working at AAFES – you’ll get bottom of the barrel with minimum wage and no benefits, oh and you’ll have to deal with a lot of customers you never thought would stoop to an new level of stupid. Stay out of the food court so that they don’t make you work overtime illegally. Or actually, don’t apply there at all – instead call base IG and let them know that management is basically firing every hard worker in order to save their own incompetent asses. I’m seriously just waiting for this BX to implode because that’s how bad it’s gotten.
I’d say more about the job quality at AAFES, but this is Unilocal and not Glassdoor.
Anyway. As far as customer service goes, as a customer and even before I worked there, I never had any problem with any of the employees giving me a bad attitude – save for one, and I won’t say here name here. But she works at customer service and can be intimidating at times.
Also their policies can be stupid at times, and I noticed that prices have gone up (thanks to you ungrateful bastards who steal from our store. Don’t you know that half of the profits that AAFES makes goes back to MWR?), which makes it frustrating for me to buy at times. NEX prices are much cheaper than AAFES; I don’t know if they price match with NEX but they do price match with other stores such as Target, Walmart, etc. Although it can be a pain in the ass to price match with them, as they have to act all frivolous about it can call up the stores in order to verify (you can’t just go up to them, pull up the Target/​whatever store website on your phone and wave it in front of their face. You can get away with that, but if the price matching difference is more than 10 bucks, you’re gonna have to go through that painful process of having them verify with the nearest Target/​whatever store. Ugh. You’re better off just buying your junk at said store instead).
Also, they don’t price match with the commissary, Big Lots, dollar stores, TJ Maxx, and other such discount stores. Yes, they don’t price match with the commissary. Why? Because of some BS about how the commissary only buys items at its base price and sells it for the exact same price, so they’re not really making much profit, blah blah blah etc.
So foodie/​tolietry stuff will always be more expensive at all 5 Exchange branches. If you got the time, you can literally just walk across the street and buy those items for much cheaper at the commissary, even though they have that 5% surcharge.
(By the way, the commissary is under DeCA, which is under the DoD, so they get all the benefits that other Feds get; Exchanges do not. So don’t ask Exchange employees if they work there because they clearly don’t, and they won’t know anything about commissary rules and junk because they’re two completely different organizations… this is like asking a Target employee what the price matching policies of Walmart is, wth.)
What also sucks is that since this is such a small Exchange, they don’t carry a lot of items and you’ll have to buy most online or at a different Exchange. Makes you take the bigger Exchanges for granted. So there will be times when a really good item will pop up at this Exchange occasionally, and that should be your chance to snatch ASAP or you’ll never see it ever again at this particular Exchange, thanks to the limited space and inventory.
The BX has some concessionaires in the food court area, but I hardly see anyone buy anything form there except from the Filipino food stand, lol. So yeah, not much selection at the BX but it’s still a decent place to shop.

Being a Navy Brat most of my life and my DD’s father is an USAF Officer, I frequent the AAFES quite often as it is the closest Base Exchange to shop at. If you are Active Duty, Retired or Reserves for the Armed Forces, you can go on base and shop here. It is pretty small compared to other base exchanges I’ve been to all my life but you can’t beat the prices and of course… NO TAX.
* The Exchange main store sells a variety of items and has a Class 6 — Personal demand items (such as health and hygiene products, soaps and toothpaste, writing material, snack food, beverages, cigarettes, batteries, alcohol, and cameras – nonmilitary sales items) store. The mini mall area features a barber/​beauty shop, dry cleaners and food court.
Although very small, it is a clean, well lit and the folks working in the exchange are helpful. When I am unable to find an item or need a price match (Yes! They do price match), their customer service has been great at looking items up or checking their back stock and online inventory. Because it is a small base exchange, they do have a significantly smaller selection of items in stock. But I have to say that their electronics department is usually stocked with popular items like gaming games/​equipment, apple products and TV’s. You can always shop the online AAFES site if you cannot find what you are looking for.
Their ²⁴⁄₇ Gas station is a plus, having a Starbucks onsite it another added bonus but their food court needs some work.
PARKING: There is a pretty large lot but can fill up during core work hours (7am — 3pm)

The AAFES in LA AFB is a must stop for me whenever I’m town. I’ll normally stop after I land to pick up some beverage items and top off the rental car before returning it when I leave. Very convenient! There’s a food court and a small amount of concessions (e.g. barbershop) available. The gas station is open 24 hrs. Recommend and will repeat whenever I’m in town.

At last a up to date and modern BX this place is great, and a nice food court just outside the main entrance. And modern and great priced items throughout the entire store.

Books are very reasonably priced! Mr. L bought some military history books and encyclopedia here very cheap.

The store supervisor is rude and has no custoemr service. Poor selection in every area, shies, clothes and cosmetics; better to go oxnard.

the management at this afes suck. he should be fired.
Main Exchange Bldg 252
(310) 414‑9404
Sun-​Sat 1000 – 1800 Military Clothing Store inside (same hours)

LAFB has a new, reconstructed, modern gas station located in the rear of the Base Exchange. It is a greater improvement whereas the old gas station was looking quite shabby.
I was pleasantly surprised LAFB underwent a drastic facelift for all structures, including the main gate entrance appeared quite impressive. Regardless of the reconstruction, the traffic going to LAFB was total chaos-​no matter what time you visit.

I’ll generously give them too stars as (some) of the clerks are nice. Very small, not great selection. The ladies wear has some cute stuff, but some of it is a little ‘skanky’ for my middle aged taste. Sometimes they do have a few Liz Claiborne items. Big & Tall men section does not exist. As usual the prices aren’t the best.
What sets this apart? They don’t always honor the price guarantee. You can find a few nice employees. For the most part, they’re a bunch of asses who come to work for a job. They hate it here and they hate you for coming in to bother them. I blame this on the management. They set the tone and when the manager is a jerk. well you know how this goes down. It’s just not very good. Although its a long walk, its in the same parking lot as the commissary (other side of lot). Gas station located behind exchange. Nice food court (never ate there) a lot of vendors selling their crap. I got a couple pairs of sunglasses for $ 20. Upon getting home, the kid discovered that they were defective. She graciously exchanged them.
Main Exchange Bldg 252
(310) 414‑9404
Sun-​Sat 1000 – 1800 Military Clothing Store inside (same hours)

LIke the COmmissary, LIke the Exchange and the Pharmacy. Everyone is always nice to us, and they just opened a new food court. I also really like the little carts inside the exchange and the dry cleaners are top notch.

If you are active duty military (including Guard & Reserves) or retired military, then you already know what AAFES is (NEX for you Navy guys). But you may not know there is one in the Los Angeles area. Close to LAX on Los Angeles AFB. Some people don’t even know there’s a base here. The next closest AAFES is probably March AFB in Riverside or one of the Navy bases on the coast. But, there’s a BX right here in El Segundo.
It’s actually a smaller layout (square footage wise), but they try to stock a little of everything you’d find in the larger locations. The layout is pretty nice. When you walk in the front you have all the vendor carts selling various stuff and the food court as Donny mentioned. Anyone can use the food court by the way. If you can get on base, they welcome anyone to eat there (you don’t need a military ID, so if you’re a visitor, your welcome to stop in for lunch or even breakfast).
Inside the Exchange proper is the typical layout; women’s clothing on the right, then baby/​infant stuff (kind of a small section, men’s clothing, shoes for the whole family, jewlery and perfumes. Then you have the snacks and basic household stuff. Magizines and Books, Luggage. You get the idea. A little bit of everything.
As I said in my Tip; It’s all tax free. Oh, plus, if you find something they carry cheaper in a local store, like Target, Best Buy, etc, they will price match. Just bring in some proof, like an ad or get the store to print out a non-​sale reciept showing the item and price. Just bring it in to the BX (now called the Exchange) and they will sell it to you for the price. Without the tax. So you can imagine, that can be quite a savings, especially for higher cost items like TV’s or cameras. I think it’s a bonus any time you don’t have to pay California for something you purchase.
If you have a parent, uncle or aunt (or any other family member for that matter) that has military ID benefits and they don’t know about this place, but live within reasonable distance, let them know.

First off, you can’t enter this place without some sort of military or CAC ID. I’ve been to a lot of AAFES locations, and the AAFES experience usually depends on the size of the base. I think Fort Lewis is the biggest one that I’ve ever been to. Well, the Air Force base in El Segundo isn’t very big, but. .. their AAFES is pretty decent despite the base’s size.
They got a Starbucks in there, and their customer seating isn’t that bad. They got a Burger King, and the other usual fast food places that are typical at any AAFES. Their dry cleaning is decent; I always bring my stuff there. There’s a GNC and a furniture store, too. As far as their Military Clothing and Sales section. .. it’s good if you’re Air Force, but for Army or any other branch, you may have to go elsewhere for your needs.
Their electronics department is revamped, and they have a decent selection of digital cameras, TVs, and computers. Their camping section isn’t that bad, either.
Since I live locally, having AAFES in my neighborhood is pretty damn convenient. Their Commissary is also pretty big, and their gas station can accommodate about eight vehicles at a time. It’s kind of a hidden jewel. If you have military privileges and don’t take advantage of this place, then you should at least come by and check it out.