Prather's Market

Pretty good for as small as it is. Small selection of berries, but they looked nice. There was a pretty good selection of other types of fruit and vegetables. No kombucha and no children's chewable ibuprofen tablets. The big sign that says "Family Restrooms" needs to have two words added: "Just Kidding" (They are blocked off, and I'm guessing they'll stay that way.)Normally, we come south up the hill from Denver and stop at King Soopers in Conifer. This trip we were coming north from Salida and didn't want to drive all the way to Conifer.

I'm actually really surprised that this local market in Fairplay was as well-stocked with reasonably-priced items as it was. I visited with some friends to restock our Airbnb, and we found everything we needed and more. Who knew I wanted THAT much variety of salsa in such a small town? Normally I wouldn't review grocery stores, but this one deserves praise.

The first time I stopped in at Prathers Market I admit I wasn't expecting much more than high prices, a limited selection, and a note to self to remember to plan better next time so I could skip the trip. I couldn't have bee more wrong. Although it doesn't look like there's going to be much going on on the outside, shopping here is surprisingly good. The store is actually really big and they have a large selection of goods to choose from, including a lot of specialty items that I got one hadn't expected to see at a mountain store like this one. The employees are have always been consistently friendly which is an awesome bonus when you're the only real grocery store in town. Although prices are perhaps a bit higher than you'd find at a big chain store in the city, they aren't markedly so and after all, Prathers is the only store in town.

Great place to grab a few snacks when traveling, however, since they removed public access to their restrooms, we stop elsewhere. They now have portable toilets outside and they are horrendous. I highly doubt they have them cleaned regularly. Imagine being a paying customer and have to use the restroom out in a porta potty that has no toilet paper, urine and waste all over the floor and seat, and waste piled so high, it almost overflows. Disgusting to say the least. It's like this all of the time, during holiday and non holiday trips. We're over it. Not shopping here any longer. If they were smart, they'd put at least 4 outside and have them cleaned 2x/wk during the high travel times.

Yikes. Go elsewhere if you can. Our first time in CO and definitely the last. We had driven 26hrs and had to get groceries for our airbnb stay. Unfortunately for us, Prather's was the closest market to where we were staying. We used our map on our phone to check for markets and it was about 5:10p, on the maps it says Prathers closed at 7 on Sunday. We aren't locals we went based off the hours on the maps. Their website even says they close at 7p. They're about 30-40min away from the Airbnb so we went right away to make sure we had time to shop. We got there at about 5:50ish and a lady was running around yelling a time limit shoppers had and came up to us screaming we only had 5min to shop. We were frustrated and tried to explain why we were confused and she loudly kept saying "WE CLOSE AT 6p ON SUNDAYS IT HAS BEEN THIS WAY FOR 19 YEARS"Okay lady, how about you tone it down and think that your hours could be wrong online and it confuses NON LOCALS who haven't been here NINETEEN YEARS. What a horrible first encounter to have on our trip. Needless to say we got basically nothing and had to drive back out the following morning to get groceries. Luckily I didn't see her again the entire two weeks we were there. Unfortunately my husband did one more time and he was able to ignore her since she felt the need to go out of her way in the store to say something to him about "oh you came back." Trust me if we had options would've never gone back. Did not want to give them any money. Customer service at Prathers clearly doesn't exist.She even followed us out of the store the first night and when we got to our car, another poor family rolled up and was getting ready to go into the store and the lady was yelling at them saying they close at 6p and the family seemed confusedIf MULTIPLE people are trying to shop close to 6p on Sunday, maybe you should realize there's something wrong with your hours where people look up where to go or what's around them. Never again. Do not recommend whatsoever. Also their prices are ridiculous. I thought VA was expensive but nope, Prathers is super pricey for not so great groceries.

I'm a Denverite that has property in Park County and spends increasingly more time in Park County. I usually lug groceries the full distance from Denver to Como because this whole time I thought that the two "Dollar" discount stores were all that existed. I went to Ace for some stuff to work on my property and decided to peek in and see what Prather's even was. I was floored with the cleanliness, organization, customer service, and quality of products. I had to read the bad reviews to see how anyone can score this less than 4. Yes, prices are higher than say a King Sooper, because obviously logistics. I walked up and down the isles and while I wasn't specifically looking for expired items, none jumped out. You know where I have purchased expired items? Every grocery store I've ever shopped at. Seems to be part of the business, things inevitably fall through the cracks. I was just admiring the store when I asked a woman stocking the freezers if this store was associated with a larger chain. Turns out I asked the owner who gave me the history of Prather's at 9 am on a Sunday. That is dedication. As a Denverite that lived most of their lives in the suburbs I get being upset at having to spend more for groceries. Groceries were cheaper in Lakewood than they were in Denver. I million factors end up dictating prices of grocery goods. If you want cheap you have two other options in Fairplay. I used to go to the Dollar General down the street. There is just no comparison. I wanted a tetanus booster after the dollar general. The products were Walmart garbage. If you don't mind go there. I will spend a little more and go to Prather's without a second thought.

Wonderful customer service!And the staff is very helpful and friendly. Krystal is so very helpful.

I have no complaints about this store. The place is clean and well-organized and the employees are fairly helpful - more helpful than I typically encounter at stores these days. I mean, they don't play on their smartphones while you're talking to them, which seems to be the norm these days.

Buyers Beware!!!I have shopped in your store for 5 years and tried to shop local. I now go to city market in Buena Vista. The outdated food/meat and horrible produce that you better use by the next day is to pricey for my wallet!!! You do nothing to make it better. I bought whole wheat flour and when I got home it had a best use by march 4, 2021. Why are you even selling it at your over inflated prices??? You should even be selling this at all!!! This seems to be the norm for you. I returned it and the next time I was in you put it on the mark down shelf and even marked down, it was still more than city market. It shouldn't even be sold! It belongs in the dumpster.

We had a very good experience at Prather's. The staff is very friendly and helpful, the store with very clean, there was a much broader selection than we had anticipated, the fruits and vegetables were fresh. You couldn't ask for more in a small mountain town. And as mentioned in another review, it is expected the prices are a little higher, because their expenses are higher with the added transportation and low volume.