Recently a new Hy-Vee opened in Oakdale MN near my home. We saw the new building going up and were immediately surprised by the size of the store. By the time the Grand Opening occurred the building was grand indeed.
They have all the extras a modern grocery store has except oddly a bank. There is a restaurant, the sit down type, as well as multiple pre-cooked food at various ethnic stations (not to be confused with fast food). There is a post office, a pharmacy and a health clinic, a flower shop and a Starbucks too.
The grocery store itself is very complete. I can't think of one thing we had to go somewhere else to get. That was not true when we hip hopped from Walmart to Cub Foods week after week hoping to save a few dollars on an ever growing grocery bill. Walmart was OK for the dry goods - boxed things, paper products and regular ubiquitous commodity off-the-shelf type of groceries. Walmart's selection/variety is often lacking.
Cub Foods on the other hand usually has a decent selection, however the local Cub in our area has turned in a filthy, sub par mess. Last week I went to get some produce on my way home from work to make my famous turkey ranch wraps and found a bin of rotten iceberg lettuce - every single head was brown and wilted. So I went to the cucumbers having decided I can get by without lettuce and they were soft and wrinkly - all of of them. I could not believe they were seriously selling this crap. That's just poor management. I realize not all Cubs are like this - but it's just another example of the abandonment of the inner-city by corporations - they don't give a damn that their stores that serve the city denizens are filthy and mismanaged.
Hy-Vee is obviously clean and tidy - it's new! But the produce is fresh and the customer service is fabulous. The biggest complaint we've heard is that it's too busy. It does get difficult to tool around in there will all those shoppers everywhere.
The prices are alright, on par with Cub I'd say. We have found that the Hy-Vee store brand is very good across the board. It does not seem like a big step down from the name brands. The prices on the store brand are extremely good and we found we are actually spending a little less and are having a much better shopping experience.
I've heard Hy-Vee will be opening more stores in the Twin Cities. Don't think Cub Foods hasn't noticed... A brand new Cub is going up across from Hy-vee on 10th Street in Oakdale as I write this. I'll bet it won't be a filthy trash bin like the one in Sun Ray, Oakdale is the "suburbs".
5 out of 5 stars
CW
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