In back, the wooded partition between the two halves of the space opens up a bit, creating the de facto pool room at the rear of the building. A pair of gaming machines can be found back here in an alcove that feels about a mile away from the front door. Flags hang down throughout the space here, adding another visual element. Owner Liacopoulos by his own estimation has changed little here besides a few surfaces and a handful of coats of paint, letting the space exist largely as it did in 1983.
On the left side of the building, a quintessential liquor store can be found, this corridor of a retail environment given a bit of separation from the on-site drinking experience along the opposite wall. Lottery tickets and scratchers are available here, as is the cash only bar’s ATM machine, all of it creating the look of a small gas station convenience store nested within a dive bar, which is probably as fair a description as any for the confluence of forces found within Rite Liquors.
The draw of a so-called slashie is clear, rare is the place that a lottery ticket, an Old Style tallboy and six-pack to-go can all be found in the same spot. Businesses like Rite Liquors call back to earlier days when the local pub was an even more integral part of the community than it is today, requiring the kind of hybrid business model that Rite Liquors benefits from. No matter the history of the space of business type, this is a true Chicago experience, the long wall of liquor bottles, the no-frills atmosphere, the original elements throughout, the family ownership. All of it combines to create an authentic change of pace in a part of town flush with more expensive, more pretentious options only a few feet away.
