Hickam Commissary

The good thing about this commissary is it supports the airman who live on the Hickam side of the Joint Base. I am sure that makes living on the base much more bearable not having to forage off base to get groceries. This is a small commissary similar in size to the commissary at Nellis AFB. They have the basics but not the selection of a larger commissary.
I like to come here for some of the Touristy items they carry that the Navy commissary doesn’t carry. They have the great Hawaiian teas — Pineapple, Mango and Guava. They are half what the ABC stores charge if they even have them. I also got the yummy Pancake mixes from Hawaii — Coconut, Taro and Macadamia nut all with natural flavors. They are a great price at $ 1.50 each. You can’t find that out in town at that price. I got some more coconut syrup which was half price from what they wanted at the ABC store and the Famer’s Market.
The other touristy items selection has gotten smaller so for nuts and chocolates the Navy Commissary is the way to go. Well worth the stop if your a tourist visiting the base and need items to take back to your condo or live on the base.

Prefer doing my grocery shopping here than the PH Commi because it is not as busy. They don’t get a lot of traffic because of the location. Their produce seems to last longer than PH one also but PH does have better meat selection.

Do I think this place is great? No. Will I still shop here? Yes.
I like the convenience of this commissary. It’s close to home, on base, and isn’t ever nearly as busy as the NEX commissary. I now actually live closer to the NEX commissary, but I avoid going there at all costs. The prices are pretty good as well… a lot better than other places I’ve seen. I do also like that they carry items that the NEX doesn’t carry. The workers are usually pretty friendly.
I still won’t buy the «fresh» meat from here. it’s not fresh, it’s already half frozen. If it seems fresh, it’s probably thawed by the time you got to it.
For the last few months or so, almost every single time I’ve come here for granny smith apples, the bags of apples have looked like someone has tossed them on the floor about 15 times. Not cool when the apples are nearly $ 6 a bag.
The produce is a hit or miss. Today, they had a horrible selection. I was thinking to myself, «can I get one salad out of this green leaf lettuce?» when i heard another customer saying to her kids something along the lines of, «the produce all looks like it’s on it’s last leg.» I was able to find a decent bag of apples, and I also got some bananas… so much for buying produce. Oh, and I got bagged baby carrots. those don’t really count.
I’ve also run into the problem that I’m making more than one grocery trip to get all of the items on my list… items that the commissary stocks, but that they don’t have any of. I actually stopped buying certain items because they were constantly out of stock. Now I find myself running over to the NEX commissary several times a month to get the items that I was unable to get at Hickam’s commissary.
Now it’s off to the NEX commissary to get the many items left on my list…

Only thing I don’t like is its super pack. After work don’t come here unless it’s a must. Other then that employees very helpful

Decent commissary. Much smaller than the one at NEX.

Unfortunately as many commissaries go, this one leaves MUCH to be desired! They don’t stock as well as they should (even though it turns out most of the products I’m looking for are still in the storage room after all). Their produce goes bad quickly… I even suspect they do a bit of swapping in their organic packages (the ones you can open) because every time I buy organic grape tomatoes, I get home and the tomatoes on top are okay and the ones underneath are no good… such a waste of $$. It’s very hard to find help there when you need it. Even when you call for help via their phone in the back, it takes forever for someone to come out and help, if they even do at all. The self-​checkout registers are usually malfunctioning. Some products do not have prices listed or have the sku’s in their system. They need more organic selections and they frequently discontinue items that I buy regularly. I dread it every single time I have to go there! I’m thinking they could definitely use better management!
Oh, and one more thing, their price for their puny rotisserie chicken is nearly the same as Whole Foods… why?! It’s not WF quality!

So far this is my favorite commissary on the island. I like the set up it has a nice flow from toiletries to groceries. Reminds me of regular grocery stores. The pearl commissary annoys me with how it’s set up.

The produce is ALWAYS either already moldy on the shelves or it literally goes bad the very next day. And when I’ve asked the produce workers, I actually had one tell me it’s very typical. I’ve had another say that the produce is frozen to ship it here, so that’s why it spoils so fast when they sell it. So sad. Same with the meat. I have gotten sick every single time I buy ground beef here.
This store is fine for boxed/​canned stuff, but go to Costco or Target for anything perishable.

I hate grocery shopping, but I hate it less when I go to the Hickam Commissary. It’s clean and well-​organized. Prices are excellent. But most important, its WAY less crowded than the main NEX commissary.

I was extremely disappointed because my girlfriend had to wait in the hot car and couldn’t come in so she was not happy I was really upset about the way they handled that situation she wasn’t even buying anything and it was thanksgiving

Of the two commissaries near me, this one is by far my favorite. However, it’s only my fave by being a lesser of two evils, so to speak.
It’s definitely a decent store, but it’s too small, the cashiers are very hit-​or-​miss as far as being the type of cashier you’re hoping they’ll be. The baggers have all been fabulous so far, so there’s that. The parking lot (and probably that whole complex) is poorly set up, and parking is usually very annoying. It’s very hard to find anyone who works there if you need assistance with anything, unless you’re willing to walk across to store until you find SOMEONE. Their coupon policy is also getting progressively more strict and therefore progressively more annoying.
I try to do my shopping at MCBH, but when I only need a few things, I come here.

The produce is usually on it’s way to rotting and many of the dairy products are past expiration but still on the shelves, but for the things that aren’t expired, I like saving 35% or so on my grocery bill.

Not as busy as the nex comm but i live closer to nex so that’s where I go, lol.

I live closer to the Nex but I’d rather go here. They are smaller but they’re not ever as busy as the Nex. I can go right in grab my stuff and be out within 10 minutes. I don’t have to fight the crowds of people who like to stand in the aisle and stare at the ceiling. And most of the time there are parking spots that I don’t have to walk 2 miles to get back to my truck.

Shelves are always stocked and a friendly staff. It is much easier to find parking and less crowded than the NEX commissary, especially on the busy days. It seems majority of the lanes are always open, because I hate spending an hour or so shopping for groceries to only have to wait another 20 – 30 mins for the two open lanes to get to the register.

I like this commissary the best out of all the ones on the island. Yes, better than the NEX commissary. The reason why, is there is always parking and it’s not that crowded, even on a payday.
It is out of the way because you have to go onto Hickam Air Force base, but it will still save you time. The produce section is small, but everything is fresh and they have everything you mainly need. The seafood section is small, but they have the usuals and also poke for sale. Not sure of the quality though, as I have never bought any from here.
The store is easy to navigate and everything is in order. They even have some things that the NEX does not, such as my favorite Cacique Queso Fresco Mexican cheese. They also have a pretty decent sized deli and refrigerated aisle full of other amazing cheeses such as Irish cheddar, Gouda, Brie, etc. and also an array of sausages and salamis.
There’s a made to order sushi station as well, offering California rolls, spicy ahi, ahi, salmon, shrimp, etc.
The line also moves fast so if your time is precious you should come here.

of course I’m a fan. It’s a store. Full of FOOD!
I actually don’t mind grocery shopping, it’s ME time away from the family. Hickam Commissary pretty much has everything I need. If I want a particular fresh produce or specialty meat item that they don’t have at the time, I’ll go to Safeway instead. Don’t even mutter the words «NEX Commissary» under your breath in my general vicinity, that place is the devil.

I’m torn on this one. This is where I do most of my grocery shopping mostly because its the most convenient to my home. They have a pretty expansive selection of fruits and vegetables and carry seasonal vegetables to include the ones you would expect to find on the mainland as fall arrives (apples, squash, etc), however there are times that the quality isn’t top notch. This is especially true with strawberries, tomatoes, other berries and bananas.
The meats have a pretty expansive selection and I have never had a problem with freshness. For some reason though there have been times where you’ll stop by and they are completely sold out of chicken which leads me to think people may be stockpiling chicken for an apocalypse I’m unaware of since the commissary in Dayton also ran out of chicken.
The lay out of the store is a bit odd with dairy and frozen food being towards the front of the store so I find myself having to grab all my non-​perishables and then come back to get my perishables on a loop back around. Also all ethnic food is not in one aisle it’s separated.
They have a pretty expansive selection of ethnic food, but sadly I still have to go elsewhere to get some Asian cooking needs.
I also am not a fan of the seafood department here, but thankfully living in Hawaii there’s plenty of seafood options out there.
The sushi counter offers a pretty good option for take out sushi when you don’t feel like cooking and the deli also makes a pretty decent sandwich.

This is by far the best commissary on the island.
In terms of price on the island, you can’t beat commissary prices compared to Safeway or Times.
This commissary definitely doesn’t have as much of a selection as the pearl harbor one off-​base. I usually can find about 90% of what i’m looking for during a weekly trip. Since I tend to go for healthier food, that’s a good statistic because most other grocery stores don’t carry what i’m looking for. With that said, since they have a «health» section, you have to spend the time to dig for what you are looking for. For example, if I’m looking for Mary’s gone crackers, they honestly could either be in the cracker section or the health food section. If you are looking for sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, that could be in the mexican display in produce, the tomato section in pasta, the tomato section in canned goods or the jarred vegetable section by the pickles. I guess that can be said about any store, but I feel I am searching more often here than other stores.
This commissary is the best though, because it is never crowded, even on paydays. I always go after work during the week, and I believe I had to wait in a line of 3 people once. When I lived in Mililani, a normal payday at Schofield could mean a register line around the store. I’m assuming since the navy housing is off base, everyone goes to the commissary off base as well, which makes it feel like costco everyday. If you need a really wide selection of EVERYTHING, go to pearl. If you need the basic veggies and canned beans, go to Hickam.

Since I got married to my hubby we’ve always gone to the Pearl Harbor NEX. But the other day we decided to try the Hickam NEX, mainly because it was before Christmas and knowing how NEX is on a regular day … yeah, we didn’t even want to try it.
I liked the organization of it, but like any store I walk into I hate not knowing where everything is. So we literally had to walk through every isle to try to find what we (mostly I) wanted. Did we find it? Weeell. kind of …
The reason I like Schofield commissary is because of the international food isle, I can also always find things that «we have in Sweden». At the NEX commissary I haven’t tried my luck because I’ve never needed the same things when we’ve gone here. I didn’t really need it this time either but I wanted to see what they had.
It is possible that there was an isle with what I wanted, but if so it was hidden from me.
The positive thing is that we could easily find parking, and there weren’t that many people inside the commissary. It was nice being able to walk around without almost bumping into people all the time. For the future however I think we’ll stay with the other two commissaries, but it was worth a try.