Kowalski White Bear Market

This store used to be my go to grocery — for 15 years.
Before I get started on the bad let me list the good.
–The produce is good.
–Dexa (sorry if I misspelled it) at the cheese counter is amazing.
–Even though the prices are higher than over stores I was willing to pay it for service and convenience.
Now the bad.
–They remodeled the store and ever since, things have been sliding downhill. They made the shelves shorter to uses different lighting system. The isles are shorter to create more floor space for higher margin non-​grocery items. The upshot of all this is that they are shocking considerably fewer items in the store. There are dozens of items that we purchased on a regular basis that are no longer available.
–Customer service has left the building. I have spoken to several employees in the store and completed customer comment cards. The employees are unapologetic. No responses to the comment cards have been forthcoming.
With the disappearance of stock and the decline in responsiveness/​service, we being forced to take our business elsewhere. The only reason I will go there anymore is to shop the cheese counter.
Can’t wait for the new Cub Foods to open on White Bear Ave.

Long time customer. Upscale grocery with good selection of produce (plenty of it organic), good array or standard grocery items, a very nice deli, all with an aim for high quality items. Very pleasant shopping experience. Has the benefit of a Starbucks coffee counter and seating to enjoy a coffee beverage. Plenty of parking. Note that prices are a bit higher than at some competitors, but worth it if looking for a lower stress shopping outing.

I definitely recommend going here. It looks great from the inside out! Their food is slightly expensive, but worth your money. Their bathroom looks fantastic as well! Good place to take a poo in too. Toiletries were well stocked, not one person came in while I was in there. Nice and cozy!

Took the family here last night as a quick stop for a dessert and was sadly disappointed once we got home! Both the other half and I got two different kinds of cheesecake and honestly we both took a bite and tossed. The chocolate cake my girls got were very dry and for $ 4 each a waste!
I might not ever go back to visit the bakery… sadly!

A great little market, with plenty of health, unique foods to purchase. The fresh deli/​bakery is a great place to grab a bite. It’s like a homegrown version of Whole Foods or Fresh Market.

Kowalskis is my number one spot for breakfast as it is conveniently located right next to my work. They have a great bakery selection, I absolutely love their morning buns! They also haver a great selection for lunch on the go, including salads, sushi, fruit cups, and other pre packaged meals along with a big wall full of bottled beverages. If you are in the mood for coffee there is a Starbucks right inside by the checkout.
I do not typically shop here for groceries, but I know they have a great selection of produce, and meat. They have just about anything you would be looking for in a grocery store. It is definitely your higher end grocery store. Prices are a bit higher than most but they have good quality food. It is fairly small but I like that because I do not get lost looking for a single item, and If you’re looking to quick grab something it doesn’t take fifteen minutes to get to the back of the store. However, with a smaller store they do not have everything under the sun. If you are looking for something very specific they may not have the right brand, size, or flavor you are looking for. The staff is very friendly and helpful, and often times they have free samples. By request they will even carry your bags out to your car.

I’m getter tired of this location.
Check out the pics of the rotten lettuce I bought less than 24 hrs ago. It’s an obligation at these high priced grocers to eye (and taste) what they put in the shelves.
Yeah in the attempt to have a light, healthy, gluten free sandwich.
They don’t have the same products as the Grand Ave store. However, they have a ton of open floor space dedicated to candy and random gift items for impulse buyers and «do it all at the grocery store» folks. Not bad, but if I can get more product grocery product selection into a space I kinda think that’s the actual point.
Here’s pictures of that lettuce. Grocers do have an actual business «burden» to refund for bad or nasty tasting products they sell if you can at least easily show clear spoilage or that the entire bottle of tartar sauce you opened doesn’t look used b/​c you only tasted it — before, thank goodness, using it.

This is our primary grocery store. We are avid consumers of all things local, organic, sustainable, so Kowalski’s Market is right up our alley. The store team goes above and beyond to make the environment inside beautiful and aesthetically pleasing as possible.
We’ve never had a bad experience here, ever. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to help. From the cashiers all the way up to the store manager, everyone knows their role and is eager to help the customer.
I love the little shopping area they have inside the store, its right inside the main entrance, before you get all the way into the produce department. I have spent a good amount of time wandering through there looking at all the cute goodies. I’ve bought several things from there too, not just my groceries.
On weekends, they have a full time staff dedicated to doing in store demos. I have had the pleasure of doing several of them myself through my school. Its always a joy to educate customers on local products, most of them already familiar with the product, but people love seeing it cooked in front of them.
The Kowalski’s shopper is an informed shopper and want to know where their food has come from and how to prepare it at home.
We shop at Kowalski’s every Sunday, we see the same people there every week, the same cashiers, manager, sometimes even the same customers. It’s a good feeling to know you’ve become a «regular».

Kowalski’s always feels so classy to me. Being from California we don’t have many nice grocery store options.
We come to Kowalski’s for our pre-​made food needs. Tubing down a river? Grab a Kowalski’s sandwich. Having a party? Whip out some potato salad.
I’ve also never had to wait long to check out. Short trip in short trip out.

The customer service at this Kowalskis is unbeatable.
Everyone in the store was more than willing to help and incredibly friendly.
The cheese section is fabulous and the «cheese lady» was incredibly knowledgable and enthusiastic. She took cheeses out of the case for me to sample before I purchased and told me the origin and history of some of the products.
The meat and seafood section is also top notch — very fresh.
This location is on the way to my cabin, so I will definitely be stopping in again soon.

This place is fantastic. The customer service here is oustanding. I went in this evening to pick up some less common items. Kowalskis is a market in its truest sense, not a grocery store. Emphasis on fresh produce, meat, bakery and prepared foods. The center store is there, but you will be well served just on the outside of the store. They did do some renovations here in 2012 which greatly improved the flow through the produce section.
The store manager ended up helping me out twice with some obscure items on my list. On one item, he ended up calling their cheese expert on the phone (not at work) and pinned down exactly what I was looking for. Awesome team atmosphere, everyone works together. The store manager ended up bringing my bags out to the car for me. (I did have my daughter with as a disclaimer)
I usually feel like hanging myself after a visit to Cub/​Rainbow. I am not sure how mainstream grocers have been able to make us such robots and shop at their stores and feel ashamed after we leave with nearly no customer service whatsoever (especially is you check out yourself).
So for the extra15– 20% in price and much better quality, I think you and I will be much better friends Kowalskis. Thank you

This is one of the cutest grocery stores! Love it. Has great food selection and produce looked very fresh. To top it off, they have a Starbucks inside and offer a punch card. 10^th drink is free.

You’ve come a long way baby! I remember this place before it had the homey, wood panneled store front and only a big cream colored building with huge red letters spelling out Kowalskis, capable of being seen from across the lake.
It’s got a relatively good selection of products although it feels small inside. There is no actual bakery counter, which would have been helpful in getting my dad’s birthday cake this past weekend. The checkers are helpful and only charged us $ 1.99 for some Papyrus Happy Birthday candles when she couldn’t find the price. The prices of all other items are somewhere between Safeway and Whole Foods, so not terrible.
It’s the closest grocery store to my grandparents and works in a pinch.