YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — Better check your calendar before heading out to buy that Thanksgiving turkey — or if you prefer pot roast, commissary officials say they can save you some serious bread.
Officials in South Korea have announced the holiday schedule for Defense Commissary Agency stores in the area; it includes several days of closures or limited hours during November and December.
The commissaries will be closed for two days around each of the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays, DeCA said this week.
On Nov. 27 and Nov. 28, the commissaries will be closed. On Dec. 24, the commissaries will have limited hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. They will be closed on Dec. 25 and Dec. 26.
The stores also will have limited hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 31, and will be closed on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2.
“I’ll just have to make sure I have enough cans of cranberries,” joked Janet Perletz, a resident of the U.S. Embassy compound, watching a commissary bagger load groceries into her car last week.
“Most of those days, I’ll probably want to just sit around the house anyway. I suppose if there’s something we forget for the last minute, we’ll just have to run off-post to try and find it.”
One thing shoppers aren’t likely to head off post to buy much of is beef. According to a news release from DeCA headquarters in Fort Lee, Va., commissary shoppers save an average of 35 percent on meat products versus a commercial store.
Overseas, where beef prices often are higher than in the States, that difference can be felt even more, officials said.
