Lombard & Fortune Mini Mart

For many a moon this place was a space storage facility (btw, what’s up w/​all the storage places poppin’ up in No Po? They’re taking over entire city blocks! The former lot w/​Sid Dorn Chevrolet, for example…). Then this place was called, I think, «The onion patch» for a good chunk of the mid-​90s and early early 2000s, and sold local, organic produce and what-​not. The mini market as-​is has been in place for about 8 or 9 years, according to the fellow working the counter.
This place has a cozy and admittedly slightly sketchy feel to it, nestled as it is w/​heaps of dilapidated row-​housing (and they are truly heaps, I say unto you!) in the immediate back drop. It has none of the advantages of the 7 – 11 just half a block away: it is not 24/​7, there’s no slurpee machine or hot n’ ready junk food at the counter, no deep fried verboten sehr guten fooden. Not even a pay phone or an ATM to speak of! But they do offer competitive prices on ice cold beer — - 18 packs of PBR for just a tad over of ten smackers, So there! And «Lombard Fortune Mini Market» is a simply lovely moniker; who could dispute it??? Very scarcely do I play powerball, but if I or any other local ever wins a BIG ONE, it’s only right that the winnin’ ticket should’ve been purchased here at the Lombard Fortune, baby. Mini-​market!