Military officials tell troops 168 commissaries could close next month

Some military leaders are telling their troops to prepare for their on-base commissaries to close by early December if the government shutdown continues. As many as 168 locations at bases across the continental U.S. could be affected.

But officials with the agency that runs the military-only grocery stores insisted to Task & Purpose this week that the stores will be open through Thanksgiving.

“Our stores will be open to serve our customers through Thanksgiving,” Kevin Robinson, a spokesperson for the Defense Commissary Agency, or DECA, told Task & Purpose.

While DECA officials have been planning for the closures since at least last month, military leaders began telling troops this week to plan for December closings. Task & Purpose obtained two emails sent this week by leaders of two lar