Linden Hills Co-op

I’ll give this place 4 stars.
2 of the stars come from the generally decent selection of meat, cheese, and organic and healthy stuff
–1 star for the jacked up parking situation, yes it’s pretty lame.
+3 additional stars simply because they took over this space from a Super Value, which is about the lowest level grocery store experience you could imagine, given the location.
So there you have it, a total of 4 stars, even though they got negged for the stupid parking situation…

I really like this place, it is not too big and not too small, they have everything without being overwhelmingly huge. Staff is fairly nice and helpful. Would recommend to anyone that wants to shop local, organic, and fresh!

Very thankful for the Linden Hills Co-​op! Love the staff and all the selections! Thankful for good local food.

I really like shopping local and after a bad experience at Whole Foods I have been coming here for my raw foods/​holistic needs. The variety is pretty good, I’ve been able to find nearly everything I’ve needed here and the prices are reasonable.
The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars is that I don’t think an employee has ever smiled at me here or asked if I need help finding anything, greet me, etc… I don’t dress like a hipster/​hippy so I guess I might look out of place here and I feel like they look down on me for my appearance so that’s disappointing… They aren’t necessarily rude to me, but also not particularly friendly :(
It won’t stop me from shopping here, but it definitely makes my shopping experience uncomfortable, and if you haven’t been here before it’s just something to consider/​expect before you go.
EDIT:
Ok, I’ve been going here for a year now and I don’t know if I’ll come back… People are honestly just mean here; not only the employees but the other customers too! People will bump into me or cut me off and not say excuse me, today I was wearing a UST shirt and a man looked at it and rolled his eyes like «ugh, private school girl doesn’t belong here…“Come on people. I’m here to buy food. We’re all here to buy food. Can we be mature and shop together in harmony?

Legit co-​op. They had purple sweet potatoes, which I have been looking for FOREVER and not even Whole Foods had them when I checked at two locations. Also they had pistachio butter on clearance for $ 7.99. I love checking out what kinds of unique items are available. There was a little salad bar/​lunch buffet going on that looked really good.

Linden Hills Co-​op is a very useful break from Whole Paycheck. Don’t get me wrong, you can still spend a pretty penny here but you also have a lot of good deals on healthy, organic food!
As you may have noticed from a few of my other reviews, I am a 3 store type of grocery shopper. The Linden Hills Co-​op is perfect for a few things: bulk grains & food, cheese, drinks (such as kombucha) and some meat options.
Overall, highly recommend the Linden Hills Co-​op. Also, worth your time to stop by Sunnyside Gardens before or after.

I adore this co-​op! It’s not going to be my my «shoot I need groceries let’s buy everything in sight» kinda place, but it’s great for those unique and local finds.
They have a splendid assortment of bulk items here, definitely a great selection of nuts & grains. They carry many local products, including my fave Bee’s Knees honey. I’m always eyeing up their produce, but it tends to be pretty pricey every time I’m in.
Their cheese, meat, and salad bar options are pretty nice too. Lots of homemade soup selections & premade options for takeout. I recently tried their vegan chili and it was really good, folks.

I truly support the mission behind the co-​op movement and I loved wandering the aisles and scooping out the fun foods available. However, a shopping excursion here is a little tougher on my wallet than the big box I normally visit for groceries.
We ordered some sandwiches from the deli. I got the Beard’s Plaisance (brie, balsamic, roasted red peppers, artichokes, sundried tomatoes on a baguette). I was expecting distinguishable chunks of these veggies but it seemed liked the veggies were almost smashed into a paste. I know this sounds disgusting but the sandwich was very good. We ate in the seating area, which was clean, casual and bright with natural sunlight streaming in through the big windows in the front of the store.
Neat little place. Definitely worth checking out.
***Update***
I was snubbed by the deli department. Ordered a sandwich, which, like everything here, was not cheap. I can tolerate a steeper than usual price IF the quality and tastiness justifies. But, what I received was a sad excuse for a wrap…
Size-​wise it was a measly little thing, not well-​stuffed with ingredients. I even think some ingredients were accidentally left out, and they were the ones that would have given it more flavor (caramelized onions and tempeh bacon). The ingredients that were included were bland and cold – with the wrap tasting like it had come straight outta the fridge, unpleasant and unappetizing.
So disappointing.

The Linden Hills Co-​op is overpriced, but the quality is high. Both their bulk and their dry goods selection is ridiculous. This is slowly but surely becoming my go to place for hard to find items, especially when making my own laundry detergent, soap etc.
The produce is great. I have never seen such color, even in the winter. The best part is how seasonal everything is. My dinner plans go out the window and I plan my food around what looks good that night. If I were to stay in the area, I would get a membership. That would help decrease the cost quite a bit. All in all, great neighborhood place.

I beat the price heat by running through the aisles and only buying what’s on sale. Also, I’m a member, so I grab the member coupons.
All told my damage is the same as it is at Kowalskis, but only when I do this.
Also veggies/​fruits are limited — do like old europeans do and buy whatever looks good and let that dictate your dinner, don’t go in with a plan.

Very nice building in their new location off of 44^th and France! Beautiful produce section and the bulk of the store could easily be compared to the new Seward or Lakewinds Co-​op locations.
The real gem at LHC is the community room. It is used for cooking classes and as a community meeting room that can be reserved. As for cooking class facility the one thing missing is being able to see what is being prepared, there is no mirror or video system, so everyone has to gather near the cooking island to be able to see what is happening. Hopefully that will change in the near future!
Cooking class prices are among the best in town. Earlier this week I took a Thai class hosted by the Gai Gai Thai guy (Kris) and really enjoyed the experience. The price of the class was under $ 20 and included samples of the food (class discounts are available if you are a member of any of the Twin Cities co-​ops). Not bad for an hour and a half class with tastings.

Delightful. I was a littel skeptical going into the Coop as I’m not the typical «green» coop guest. LH Coop was on my way home, and just needing to pick up a few things decided to stop in. Love it! On the whole this place is a little spendier than what I would like, but probably not too different than Whole Foods. They have a really nice selection of premade soups and salads, and I was really impressed by their assortment of Great Harvest breads and pastries!
I won’t be going here too oftern for the sheer fact that I like it too much that a larger % of my disposable income will be going toward fancy organic food, but i’m a fan!

I practically live at the deli here. The garlic pasta will make you slap yo’ mama. I eat it cold. A delicious blend of fresh chopped garlic, olive oil, and other spices. In addition, their pad thai is yum yum yum. I’m one that believes you are what you eat and stopping here after the gym is a great routine. If you love cheese too, stop by the cheese case and get some reccomendations. Cheese is my cryptonite, and they have a great selection. Something about the fat and salt. I;m drooling.

Cute little co-​op. I live no where near here, so I would never be a member, but I did drive all the way across town to grab a few jars of PB2, which is an amazing powdered peanut butter.
While we were here, there was some local farmer sampling going on, which was pretty cool. The store itself is really neat and clean. I was pretty impressed by all of the cool products they had towards the back of the store, both for kids and adults. Lots of gear to pack your own lunches in a green way.

We are trying to do a better job of eating locally-​produced and organic foods, so Linden Hills Coop is at least a 2 or 3 times a month stop. Not as much selection as Whole Foods, but it just feels more local and authentic. Plenty of fresh and local produce, and a good selection of bulk items (including spices!). Decent salad bar and selection of prepared foods /​salads.
The meat/​seafood counter folks are always super helpful. They order daily from Coastal, so if we ever have specific seafood requests, like mussels, we can call in and usually that night we can get exactly what we wanted.
One beef with them is that I wish they had more paper bags for produce and bulk items, and more cardboard containers for the prepared salads. I should just get used to bringing my own containers, but I would think a coop would want to reduce plastic usage more than the average store.
Bonus, they are across the street from France 44, so if I time my shopping right, I can stop across the street for an afternoon wine tasting after I hit the grocery store.

great little overpriced coop. all the organic locally grown goat milk you could afford.
I swear a red bell pepper was twice the price here as at whole foods. Didn’t think it was possible to be more expensive than WFM. Srsly.
The coolest thing here is that you can weigh and print your own labels for the bulk section, which is by far the biggest and baddest bulk section I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world ever. and I mean that.

Enjoyed stopping by this co-​op got quite a few good tea blends, over I can see us back. the store may not be as big as some of the others but they are well layouts and have a very good variety of items.

The new Linen Hills Co-​Op is one of the best grocery stores in Minneapolis. It has the best organic vegetables and fruits, the best delhi in town, best home made soups (african peanut soup) my favorite .
The staff is unbelievable helpful stop in and experience a grocery shopping at its best.

I had not ventured into this store for several years and now, have been there twice. It’s part of the Linden Hills Coop and I the staff guided me towards compost tea bags. These are like fat tea bags full of organic nutrients that release every time they are steeped or wet. Having resolved to not put chemical fertilizers or pesticides in my garden, these are a great find and so easy to use. Bury it into the soil by a plant and you’re done for the rest of the season.
They also have other garden stuff, ceramics, books, baby items including cloth diapers of several kinds, cookware, cleaning tools, laundry supplies, etc. The staff is very friendly and it’s a great place to browse for unexpected things.

My wife and I were all set to get a recommended sandwich at Clancy’s Meat and Fish Market in Linden Hills, but it being New Year’s Eve, they were closing up early and had no bread left. They are an awesome butcher shop and I picked up some ground Bison Meat (They had Duck Bratwurst, Blood Sausage, ground lamb, all sorts of cool stuff) But I digress. I’ll have to get a sandwich there later this week and see what my friend says is the best sub in town tastes like.
I still felt like a sandwich to have while watching the Gopher Football team play in the Insight Bowl against Kansas. My wife said there was a Co-​op around the corner and that she had been to quite a bit. It is located by a fantastic Famous Dave’s and near Lake Harriet. I posed the question whether it had a deli or not and my wife said, «Oh sure.»
Now, I have never been in a Co-​op before and it was well… different. There were tubs of grain everywhere for bulk purchase and tiny aisles full of real unique items I have never seen before. I saw some Goat’s milk, which I hadn’t seen since my dad brought some home once when I was a kid.
We meandered around the store and ended up at the back of the store with the deli. They had a deep black hummus sampler sitting there, which was amazing and a fill out your own card sandwich making order thing. I ordered the roast beef with cheddar on caraway rye (I ordered Foccacia, but they were out) I also had some mayo and mustard and tomatoes.
The staff was truly great, I must have been asked if I had been helped three times while I was waiting for my sandwich.
An aside, while we were waiting, a lady actually asked to sample a raw turkey meatball. Really??? Taste a raw turkey meatball? The lady behind the counter seemed aghast, as was I while I wasn’t dry heaving. The lady asking for the taste actually seemed offended that the counter lady wouldn’t let her taste a RAW turkey meatball. Seriously one of the most awkward and disgusting moments of my 34 years. She actually was getting angry at the counter lady for not letting have a hunk out of a meatball that others would be purchasing.
The checkout lady was cordial and wished us a happy holidays and I scurried home to try my sandwich creation. The mustard was lacking, if she even put it on, but the roast beef was plentiful and bread was what you expect. Good cheddar and an overall solid sandwich, nothing special, but nothing to not recommend.
Lots of characters in the 10 minutes I was there, but a very cool little grocery store with a solid deli. Their deli salads looked fantastic as well.