Honoring excellence: DeCA announces its Best Commissary Awards

FORT LEE, Va. – The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) has announced its Best Commissary Award winners for 2018.

The awards are given in five categories, determined by store location and size, and are named in honor of government officials who protected the commissary benefit and championed quality-of-life issues for the military and their families.

The evaluation and selection process began for these winners in early 2019, based on a strict criteria for customer service, accountability, safety, operations and sales.

“These stores’ excellence has set them high above the rest,” said retired Rear Adm. Robert J. Bianchi, DOD special assistant for commissary operations. “Considering the hard work our associates put forth to achieve this award, their efforts are truly commendable.

“We’re proud of what our DeCA teams do on a daily basis to ensure the military community and their families receive the highest quality service from the commissary benefit the Defense Commissary Agency provides.”

The awards are named in honor of American statesmen who championed quality-of-life issues for the military community.

The winners and runners up are:

• Director’s Award - Super Store
  
  1st Place – Fort Bliss, Texas; 2nd Place – Travis Air Force Base, California

• Bill Nichols Award for the Best Large Commissary (CONUS):
  
  1st Place – Port Hueneme, California; 2nd Place – Ord Community, California

• Dan Daniel Award for the Best Large Commissary (OCONUS):
  
  1st Place – Aviano Air Base, Italy; 2nd Place – Kadena Air Base, Japan

• Richard M. Paget Award for the Best Small Commissary (CONUS):
  
  1st Place – Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; 2nd Place – Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, Virginia

• L. Mendel Rivers Award for the Best Small Commissary (OCONUS):
  
  1st Place – Cairo, Egypt; 2nd Place – Hohenfels, Germany

Rogers Campbell, DeCA’s executive director of store operations, noted that the commissary employees’ sense of professionalism helped earn the awards.

“We strive to provide a consistent commissary benefit at all of our commissaries, and our people are doing just that,” Campbell said. “It’s a tribute to their professionalism that we recognize them with these awards.”

-DeCA-

Note: For photos related to the Best Commissary Awards, go to the agency’s Flickr page.

About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.