Coborn’s Superstore

This store is so handy! The help is friendly and well… helpful. They carry most everything I need at the last minute, saving me a trip to a store further away. The prices do tend to be a bit higher than the big box places, that’s the way it works folks. I have been consistently happy with the natural foods section and they have even special ordered things for me that they don’t normally have stocked.

This is the worst grocery store I have ever shopped in. Okay, maybe not the WORST (there have been some seedy city bodegas here and there), but for a chain grocery store it is bad. Let me lay down what the problems are.
(1) Price. Seriously, the prices here are ridiculous. You’ll pay Whole Foods prices but won’t get Whole Food’s quality of selection. In fact, I’ve price compared multiple items I buy regularly and both Cub and Target have averaged about 25−30% cheaper (e.g., the coffee creamer I buy is over $ 4 at Coborn’s and $ 3-​ish or under at the other two places).
(2) Layout. You know how you can pretty much walk into any grocery store even if you’ve never been there before and sort of find your way around because there is sort of universal layout to U.S. chain grocery stores? Not here. It is completely counter-​intuitive. We’ve been there numerous times and every freakin’ time when we miss some item because it wasn’t down the aisle or in the area you’d expect. Insane.
(Our neighbor, who shall remain nameless, works at the Coborn’s main office in St. Cloud and has suggested they rearrange the stores because there’s market research showing how people shop, but the Coborn’s higher-​ups won’t budge. Oh, the neighbor who works there also does NOT shop there, if that tells you anything.)
(3) Did I mention the ridiculous prices?
Bottom line: Run in for a quick gallon or milk or bundle of bananas, but save your weekly/​regular grocery shopping for somewhere – ANYWHERE – else.