Rite Liquors

You have to come check out their amazing collection of hard alcohol behind the bar. It just boggles the mind! But how can you go wrong with a liquor store that is also a bar?
This is a dive bar in the best sense of the term and a great place to stop by for a drink. It’s cheap and cheerful!

Classic dive bar style. You can’t beat the prices and the atmosphere. It’s there when you need it…

A great hole in the wall type of spot which is rare in our city especially in certain areas. I love this place tho y cuz it feels like home in a dirty type of way when youre there. The boss and other patrons buy u shots, play u in pool and conversate with you. Things are so easy going here, they have a few tvs if you wanna watch a game. The drinks are cheap and if you want some snacks they are connected to a convenience store lol. Enjoy.

I had my first ever (through 4^th) shot of Fireball here… maybe 3 hours later I found myself doing the worm alongside Danny W on one of Chicago’s dirtiest, emptiest dance floors… 10 hours later I woke up on a couch with a large Bitey dog laying on top of me licking the smell of alcohol off my mouth and the front part of my body sore as it just realized that it has no business doing the worm.
It was… a night.
All thanks to Rite.
Rite Liquors is the kind of place you take yourself after you’ve had a rough check-​in with your parole officer… or the kind of place Danny W takes you when he’s got a fancy friend in town (not me) who wants to hit up some of Chicago’s more notable cocktail lounges but he’s really focused on under-​impressing her with places that are more funny than fancy.
Don’t come here if you’re in the mood for a finely crafted cocktail, come here if you’re in just the right mood to desire drinking out of a bottle inside a crumpled brown paper bag.
Inside is more than a little divey but as a person who dresses like she exclusively shops on skid row, I can’t complain. This joint is just my style. It’s a seedy-​like liquor store with an attached bar that you’d find in a Vietnam vet’s basement.
It’s CHEAP and cash only because obviously the tax man doesn’t need his nose all up in Rite Liquors business. Bartenders are fast and friendly and will whip you up just about any blue collar drink right quick. In addition to the expected Buds and Millers, they also serve the cheapest tall boy cans of Blanch de Brussels ($ 3) among other more crafty beers, I’ve ever seen, when normally I’d be paying $ 7 – 8 elsewhere.
And then there’s the Fireball.
Oof.
Normally, I don’t do shots. They make me barf on contact…
… except, apparently, for Fireball, which makes me wish I’d just barfed on contact because the next day was…
Oof.
I repeat… Oof.
But in a way it was totally worth it to see Danny get legit upset at his fancy friend (wearing a nice dress) for her having enough sense to not get down and attempt the worm on the floor of a dirty dive’s dance floor later that night.
Even though the women’s room smells like the pissy, human seepage stained streets of San Francisco, I’d go back in heart beat for those cheap beers and pretty unbeatable and authentic Chicago dive atmosphere.

Bohemians to Puerto Ricans you see them all in this dive bar. This is basically a liquor store with a small bar and one of the worse pool tables I have ever seen. Most of the seats are sticky from the seventies in this longtime bar

As far as «Dive Bars» go… this is the best by far! The staff is extremely kind yet firm. They know their regulars and they totally take care of us. Mike is one hell of a host and Steve rocks the joint. The ladies behind the bar know how to handle the occasional vagrant and treat the regulars as if they are kings/​queens. Not only is it a bar but it is a store as well. So after you have had your «Beer and a shot» two or three times… you can grab your «to go» bottle for your use at home. It’s a must stop in if you are in Wicker Park and on Division. I’ll buy you a shot if you see me there!

I learned about this place through Unilocal browsing and it fit the bill. I was fortunate enough to meet the bartender in the picture holding the rabbit and I totally love her. The perfect bartender that takes the time to chat her customers up. There was a very diverse cast of characters in the area and i fit perfectly.

Between the cast of characters, the dinginess, and the clerk saying «like 3 of our regulars are in there» as he sold me the mug shot section of the Trib for a buck… this place is not for the faint of heart. If you’re a fan of sticky floors and cheap pours though, you’ll be in dive bar heaven.
The bartenders are super nice, it’s always a different experience, and if you get hungry there’s all sorts of snacks to choose from on the east side of the building. What other drinking establishment in Chicago can you get a pint of Bulleit bourbon to go? If you can riddle me that I’ll buy you a super cheap drink at Rite Liquors.

This place has cheap prices for expensive booze. Crowd is all wackos, but the bartenders are really nice and yes it’s a bar with a liquor store attached. Hey, you get drunk got the munchies why not grab a bag of chips to satisfy your craving.

One of the most eclectic bars I have ever been too, doctors next to construction workers next to drug dealers next to hookers next to regular folks next to WWII veterans with literally the biggest selection of booze I have ever seen. A DIVE bar in the company of dive bars

I love dive bars and this bar is the perfect one. On the right side it’s a bar and on the left side it’s a liquor store — doesn’t that alone just give it maximum coolness? It’s a no frills place with cheap drinks that we always end up at if we’re partying in Wicker park.

Haven’t showered since Monday? No problem. Rite Liquors receives a grungy 5 star rating solely based on it’s ability to live up to every expectation one might have of a liquor store/​bar — right down to the raucous toothless woman and the 2 dollar shots of a tequila brand no one anywhere has ever heard of (I’ll take 3).
Put away the pumps, save that little black dress for another night, and treat yourself to an evening among one of the best worst places this city has to offer.

this place is amazing. everybody ends up here at some point. lots of filthy regulars, hookers, dope pushers, and lots of normal people from the neighborhood and beyond too. the barmaids are usually pretty hot, and friendly, mostly polish girls, but not always. people come here to get smashed. everybody comes here though, either for carryout, for pool, for the jukebox, for the ultimate safe dive bar experience, for the polish girls behind the bar, for the drunken character studies, the booze, the hookers, the dope, for whatever… everybody comes here at least once, and if you come here once, you usually end up here at least twice lol.
mike, the owner, really smart, incredibly socially smart guy, happy, successful, greek guy with a great smile, laugh, and memory, and teddy, his son, big dude, like a giant teddy bear I suppose, pretty much run the place, and stavros, other son, helps in a jam. demetria, daughter, comes in and helps behind the bar occasionally, but she has a master’s degree now and never really wanted to get stuck behind that bar for life lol so you almost never see her. but she’s good too.
this is the ultimate chicago dive bar experience. like I said, it’s safe and friendly and it’s fun. right off the blue line stop on division at ashland. you’ve seen this place before lol. you’ve probably been here.

There’s a clear reason this is called Rite Liquors. It’s rite in all the wrong ways, but it will not disappoint you. Expect to be creeped out, and love it. Buy whatever you suits your fancy, then drink it. Rite then.

I like this place.
It’s loud, old, disorganized, worn around the edges and filled with personality… just like me.
Rite is your standard Chicago slashy. It’s well lit, has a few tv’s. a pool table and cheap booze. The weekend bartender is cute with both a hard, wry sense of humor and a heavy pour. You can find a seat at the rail during the week and they open at 7am. The big guy is pretty cool, owner I assume, and I always find a nothing conversation with a friendly drunk on the next stool.
On that terrible day when the shit hits the fan and you need a shot or four before lunch, Rite is a more than viable spot.

This slashie is the best. I don’t know who the patrons are, but there are a lot of guys with long oily hair, black leather jackets, 3-​day stubble, and very pale skin. If you were walk into Rite Liquors and yell, «I have a warrant!» half the occupants would probably crash out through the plate glass windows.
But, Malort.

I searched wine stores on the Unilocal App.
This liquor store was about the only place open at midnight and was the closest in the area where I was at. I headed there while I waited for my friends to arrive to a nearby bar.
So I figured, since I was in the North Side this liquor store would have a larger variety of wines than the liquor stores in the South Side, well not really. I search for one of my favorite red wines, had no luck, couldn’t find it.
I asked one of the employees if they sell it here he said no, but he was cool enough to look around, and he found a wine that is similar to the one that I was searching for. In addition, this place is half liquor store and half bar.
While I was wine searching I accidentally eavesdropped on some Hispanic dudes’ conversation while they were shooting pool.
This place may seem kind of sketchy, but trust me! I’ve been to worse. Nonetheless, prices are reasonable, employees are cool and the bartender-​chick is hot! Great place to grab a good bottle of wine for cheap.

Exactly what I wanted!
After a fancy dinner at the Bedford across the street, I wanted to cleanse my palate with a neat bourbon at this wonderfully old school, bar fly, bar +liquor store dive.

Am I in one of Rod Serling’s episodes of «THE TWILIGHT ZONE???» Deedeedeeedeee… YIKES! I can hear the music here… seriously.
This place is HILARIOUS! Half of the place is a liquor store… like an old man liquor store and the other half is a bar. Not to mention, the amazing scratch off lotto machine.
What an eclectic mix of people in this place. There are ALL walks of life in here… which always make for an amazing start to an amazing night. Not to mention, there was this wasted couple at the bar, probably similar in age to us chowing down on burritos and nachos… it looked really good. My question is… did they get that here??? If so, it just rounds out this place as being my new FAVORITE spot. I did stick to bottled beer just because I wasnt quite sure about anything else. We sat next to our new found friend that works at some mexican restaurant around there. We scratched off our $ 1 lotto tickets while this man was scratching off $ 20 lotto tickets… he even offered us to go halves with him on it… fortunately, we just watched him scratch off about 5 of those tickets with none of them being a winner.
I wish we wouldve stayed longer, however, I had to go to the bathroom and the girl chowing on the burrito next to me told me, its back there… dont worry, its fine. As I walked towards the back, there was an overwhelming smell of urine… I just couldnt do it.

Ha! I didn’t know what I was walking into, I thought it was just a regular liquor store.
This is where the real alcoholics hang out. I dropped in to pick up some NYE libations, I was wearing Adidas athletic pants (not sweats!) and a hoodie, and a guy at the bar says, «hello, sexy». I don’t even think he was kidding, he was just really drunk.
After that I attempted to quickly go about my business, but the alcohol is totally disorganized. The wines aren’t in categories and there is the occasional 40 oz of Bud stuck in there randomly. Hard stuff is behind the counter. After I got everything together I find out it’s cash only. I was pretty happy to find out the ATM’s surcharge is only $ 1.75. I think it’s the lowest in Chicago.
I get my money, put it in my wallet, and grab the bag from the guy at the counter. I was so eager to get out of there I forgot to pay! He politely reminded me and I managed to leave without sitting and having a drink with those characters while wearing my athletic pants. I really don’t think anyone would have judged. Maybe good to know if I’m having a dark day in the future.