Connah Store

Why the Connah Store has such low reviews… I’ll never understand.
Take it from me, someone who lived in the North End for over 2 years, all the locals love it. The Connah Store is a STAPLE in the North End.
It’s more than just a one-​stop shop for tourists… After 11 pm, it becomes a hangout. Locals hang out on the corner all night, perched like late-​night owls, watching the neighborhood antics ensue.
I have done this, on occasion, and watched drunk fools being carried by their friends or shoved into taxicabs. Your always bound to see yuppies, guidos, and guidettes.
Sometimes you can catch the village idiot sitting on the bench, handing out his number to pretty girls, and other times you can catch well-​known troublemakers waiting for their prey…
But the reason the Connah Store is amazing at night, is for the owner, Mark. Always in a good mood, he blares classic rock songs and will reminisce about his old days with you all night. He’s funny, charming, and will give you the low-​down on anything you need to know.
Aside from that, the store’s selection of food is better than any ⁷⁄₁₁ or White Hen.

Walking into this store is like experiencing the Soup Nazi episode of Seinfeld, minus any of the hilarity and all of the unpleasantness. The guy who works here was most definitely on some sort of substance (at noontime this past saturday) and his level of rudeness was pretty amazing. I walked in to buy some soda. Upon entering the establishment he began randomly calling myself and my friends random names which would get most people fired from their jobs. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to be funny, rude, or just was too drunk/​high to tell/​care.
I wanted to walk out but my friends really wanted soda so I grabbed a few small bottles of soda and asked him how much it was. He didn’t answer me so I handed him a 20. He handed me back 5 dollars. When I asked him how much each soda costed he still wouldn’t answer me. I told him I wanted my money back. We ended up walking out and spending the same money elsewhere while he verbally berated us.
I feel like he used to work at Dick’s Last Resort and cannot get rid of old habits or something. Avoid this place like the plague unless you want to feel tempted to kick in some snarky old man’s teeth.

This place doesn’t deserve any stars, but I had to give at least 1 in order to post this review. The guy behind the counter was RUDE and obnoxious. A couple asked about the prices of their purchase and the jerk rudely started rattling them off and then asked if they wanted to pay only a dollar for everything. Then he started yelling, «Retard. Retard. Retard.» and told them to put everything back on the shelves. Whatever I had in my hands, I put back and walked out of the store. Maybe the guy thought he was being funny. Being a teacher of special needs students, that is definitely not something to laugh at.

The biggest A-​Hole in Boston works at this place! I am not kidding. I got yelled at for trying to buy a cigar. I am not a rude or belligerent person, and I still got attitude and an ass chewing because I failed to point to the cigar I wanted… I guess verbal instructions were too hard to follow. Even after pointing, I was ordered to leave the store. Oh well, their loss… I would have spent a pretty penny on some expensive cigars.
Well, if you want to get verbally raped for no apparent reason, then go to the Connah store… otherwise, spend your money where it will be appreciated.

If you’re looking for a fight, go into this store and simply ask the clerk for a price on one of his cigars.
I rated this store with one star because there was no lower rating available. I just witnessed the rudest store clerk I have ever seen in my life. It was so bad I signed up for an account here just to write a review because of it.
I was waiting in line behind someone wanting to buy a cigar. He politely asked the gentleman behind the counter how much one of their cigars were. The clerk just stood there and came off with a quip about not knowing which one he was talking about. The customer told him which one he wanted and the clerk rudely rudely replied that he wanted the customer to point it out. It seemed that the customer could do no right. I guess the clerk couldn’t see where the customer was pointing because he started getting irate with the customer. The clerk started berating the customer about «not being able to follow simple directions», etc.
I have never seen anyone blow up so easily, so quickly over nothing. The clerk looked like he was getting himself worked up for a fight! I walked in to the store at the same time as the other customer so I can say I witnessed the entire exchange and saw nothing that could be remotely construed as wrongdoing by the customer. I was so disgusted I walked out of the store and took my business elsewhere.
Stay away from this place. People like this don’t deserve to be in business. Beware.

So it’s a convenience store, but it’s not been taken over by 7 – 11 or Store24. What gives? Well, I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out why not with respect to it’s location. When they say Connah, they mean Corner said in a North End accent. This is a local store for the local people. Understand?
Capisce?
So when limey Sir Sorries-​a-​lot (yours truly) tries to buy a Snapple and a Vitamin Water without standing in the proper line (behind the cash register or behind the lottery ticket register?) and tries to do so with no cash (uh-​oh)… well you can feel the unfriendliness oozing through. Just like point number 1 on Alex R’s review.
But hey, look at the store… do you expect good service and a friendly attitude to non-​North Enders? No. Expect it to be more like Annie Potts’ great line. «Ghostbusters, Whadda ya want?»

The Connah Store on Hanover is your basic convenience store that doubles as a liquor store and triples as a tacky tourist shit store — need a «France Sucks» t-​shirt? You’re in the North End now, homeboy — but there are three things that set it apart:
1) The person behind the counter does not care about you. Don’t ask if they have anything. They’ll say no out of spite, even if the Altoids display is right next to them.
2) I forget #2.
2) They got this enormous cat, right? And it sits right on the counter, directly between you and the uncaring counter attendant, so that you can’t set any of the stuff you’re buying down. You have to just hold it. And if you think the cat’s not gonna wack you in the hand with its head as you’re trying to get your change, you’re underestimating the amount of petting you’re in for. That cat knows what it wants. It is not fucking around.
And what that means is that if you need liquor or cigarettes in the North End, you’re bound by honor to get it at the Connah Store. And if you need Altoids, they’re on the counter to the right.
Update 5÷7÷07: Two things to add here. First, they don’t sell liquor anymore. Second, there’s nearly always an old person buying lottery tickets in here, and that means you will be waiting like ten minutes for your Altoids while they try to decide which kind they would like to not win. I kinda can’t handle that. I’m taking them down a star because it just takes too long to get to the counter.