Is there any 'normal' grocery store here at all???? (St. Paul: for sale, lawyers)

[AlwaysDream]

guys, I live in Bloomington and find the prices are too high what I used to,
example Banana here is 57cent/lb, I used to pay 37cent/lb.
Apple $1.15/lb, used to $.94/lb,
potato : $5/10lb, used to 3/10lb
and the list grow to tea
20pck $4.5, where i used to 100pck/$4.5
Cub is overpriced, rainbow is the same. Super target is little lower
Have to check costco ... do you expert resident agree with me here?

[chilaili]

Originally Posted by moving123456

I am looking forward to getting back to shopping at MN grocry stores after living in the southeast.

I will take Cub or Rainbow any time over Winn-Dixie, Publix, BI-LO, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, or Lowes Food.

What about the Piggly-Wiggly?!

[sugarbeet]

Originally Posted by moving123456

I am looking forward to getting back to shopping at MN grocry stores after living in the southeast.

I will take Cub or Rainbow any time over Winn-Dixie, Publix, BI-LO, Harris Teeter, Food Lion, or Lowes Food.

I agree with you about most of those stores, but the service at Publix can't be beat. The first few times I went to stores here after moving from Jacksonville, FL (although I'm a MN native), I was so shocked to find my groceries still sitting at the end of the counter waiting to be bagged after I paid. At places like Cub you're expected to bag your own I guess. At Publix - at least the ones I went to - they were on the spot with bagging and ready to take them out the door for you.

[music7lover]

Cub is not overpriced. What do you expect to get food for free?

[moving123456]

Simon Delivers can be very convenient sometimes. Pick what you want online and wait for the delivery. I have not found anything similar since moving away.

Same with the "Milk Man" that I still had stopping by the house weekly from Meyer Bros Dairy in the western suburbs before I moved out of the state. It was very convenient to have an automatic weekly delivery of milk, eggs, butter and small things like that.

[Hoosier]

Originally Posted by moving123456

Simon Delivers can be very convenient sometimes. Pick what you want online and wait for the delivery. I have not found anything similar since moving away.

Same with the "Milk Man" that I still had stopping by the house weekly from Meyer Bros Dairy in the western suburbs before I moved out of the state. It was very convenient to have an automatic weekly delivery of milk, eggs, butter and small things like that.

A coworker just spoke of Simon Delivers yesterday. I went online to check them out and was surprised to see many of the items we regularly buy were the same price as in-store. A few items were maybe a dollar more. And again, from what I was told, you just learn what to buy and what to go to the store for. Delivery charge is like $7 or so. And when you think about how it cuts down impulse buying...you'd be saving money there! I think we'll be trying that option out...especially with our busy lives! More time to spend with the family, instead of at the store.

[think.reciprocity]

This thread is really confusing me. I have been throughout the US & spent enough time in NYC, LA, Atlanta, & San Fran to know that we are abundantly blessed when it comes to choices of supermarkets in the Twin Cities.

I remember reading somewhere a while back that we have more supermarkets per capita than any other place in the USA.

As for prices. I once could by bananas for 10 cents per pound too. What year are we talking about. Groceries are more expensive but I don't think that our prices here are that much different than many other places in the US.

Prices in the LA area are astronomical compared to here. There have been investigations done on the local news regarding comparison prices of our local chain stores. There are some instances of real price differences - but by & large the prices are about the same with the different chains. Other than the luxury stores like Byerly's, Lund's, & Kowolski's. Then there is Trader Joe's & Whole Foods which are more expensive due to their specialties. Also, stores like SuperValu & other chains of that nature have higher prices than the more warehouse types.

The big price differences seem to be on items such as diapers, formula, & other sorts of staple items that are more expensive in lower income neighborhoods - where folks are forced often to buy close to them rather than go elsewhere for a better bargain. This has been shown to be true in grocery markets as well as places like Target, KMart, etc.

We have markets in every neighborhood & seemingly around every corner in the Twin Cities. I've been to other major metropolitan areas & was often hard pressed to find any market of substance - nothing other than corner markets or deli's.

While I can't wait to move to LA - we, in the Twin Cities, are so very fortunate for the grocery market options we have here. That, my C-D friends, is my 50 cents on the matter.

[bighusker]

Originally Posted by music7lover

Cub is not overpriced. What do you expect to get food for free?

If you don't think Cub is overpriced, then you've either found a magical Cub store that bucks the trend or you haven't shopped around very much. In Plymouth, the SuperTarget kicks the crap out of Cub on most items (many frozen items are $.50-$1.00 cheaper). Milk and Orange juice usually seem to be $.30-$.40 more expensive at Cub. Even the items that have "price reduced" plastered all over them are usually more expensive. I am sure there are some items that are cheaper at Cub, but the markup over many items at SuperTarget is astronomical!

The only advantage Cub has is that it's open 24 hours and I've taken advantage of that on several occasions. I'm sure they have a bigger selection than SuperTarget, but nothing that entices me. Rainbow Foods is even worse. I went in there once and in addition to looking pretty run down, their prices on the items I was looking for were even more expensive than Cub!

Coming from Omaha, I was used to these "bag it yourself" grocery stores as being extremely cheap in comparison to the "full service" grocery stores we have down there (Baker's (Krogers), and Hy-Vee). Up here, it seems like that is all they have and they are certainly no bargain! I'd like to see Hy-Vee enter the twin cities area...the closest one they have right now is in Farribault.

But at least there is a lot of competition. Even in Plymouth there is a Cub, Rainbow, SuperTarget and Lund's within a 3 mile radius...

[music7lover]

Thank you Think.reciprocity. I have no idea what these people are complaining about. The Twin Cities area has incredibly good grocery stores. They should take a trip to San Fran to see how bad it could be.

[Brantacanadensis]

Originally Posted by alexxx1982

I just moved to twin cities from Madison, Wi and very dissapointed so far... I can`t find a good grocery store - I hate Cub foods and never went there in Madison, because it`s expensive, more expensive than Woodmans or Copps (local WI stores) also at Cub I couldn`t even find half of what I normally used to buy, I don`t get it - the store is huge, but it`s full of crap... plastic fruits and tasteless vegitables....brrrr ((
Whole foods, Rainbows, Kowaslki`s - those are even more expensive.
Aldi - I was surprised, but for example eggs and some other things are more expensive than Cub, that is not even funny.

So may be somebody knows if there is any grocery store, may be somewhere in suburbs, even northwestern Wisconsin is fine.

I don't know of any decent grocery stores. They are all high due to the unions. I suggest you shop at a Rainbow and get stuff you eat regularly when it's on sale. For instance, I don't like to cook or spend time preparing meals. But, I want to eat healthily, so I have a frozen dinner (healthy choice, lean cuisine or the like) but buy them according to has the 5/$10 on sale that week. I also eat power bars for breakfast, but do find them expensive at these stores. I'm checking out Wal Mart next for them. If you buy other stuff - bottle juices, etc. - try Wal Mart (not Target - they are just as overpriced). Wal Mart has some really cheap stuff. I think Minneapolitans just love their grocery stores (I'm not from here, I'm proud to admit). They feel they are important enough to be waited on, get their stuff bagged for them, and even carried out to the car. It's all very fitting for their arrogance. Go to Lunds or Byerly's just to see the way the customers act. It's amusing. Also, grocery stores are more than just stores here - it's the meeting place, just like in small town America - since you can't talk to you neighbor next door since he won't answer his door when you knock on it, you may just run into him at the grocery store, and can chat there. If it weren't for the grocery stores in this area, people would never see their next door or just down the block neighbors.