Lunds & Byerlys

What a market! Lovely ingredients, fresh and well displayed, thoughtfully grouped together so that a meal plan was easy to visualize. Plenty of choices and price points, this would definitely be my «go to «market if I lived in Minneapolis.

I stopped in today to grab a few things. My jaw dropped when I saw that the prices were nearly double what they are at the boutiquey co-​op near my home. The meat and vegetables looked way past their prime and the whole place is dingy and gross. I ended up just getting a case of Mineral water and bringing it to the register… which brings me to my reason for writing this review– I’ve never as a customer been treated so rudely. This woman, it says on the reciept that her name was Deb, refused to make eye contact. She did, however, repeatedly look me up and down and made faces at me. I was cheerful and friendly and attempted to engage her with questions on the off-​chance that I had done something to make her uncomfortable, but she muttered one-​word answers, sighing, rolling her eyes, and speaking with sarcasm. I did nothing to deserve this treatment, and I’m pretty dang normal-​looking. Why so mean? Was it my nose ring? She was super friendly to the middle aged woman ahead of me in line. Baffling.

Here’s what you should never do: Go to a big box grocer, Cub, or Target. Do your shopping there. Now go to Byerlys. You’re excused if the difference makes you dizzy. It’s expected. Byerly’s is where Ward Cleaver would shop, wait, where June would shop. I mean that in the good way. It is clean, it is organized and the best part is the staff. They all seem like they want to be there. Prices might be a bit higher but not as much as you would think. Did I mention the people? Anyhoo, even if it’s just a time to time thing you need to go here and see how a grocery used to and should still be.

This is a hard location to get to because you can see it from the main road but you have to either exit before you see it or back track and do the same to get on 94 after you are done also. It is a small and old store which is fine and I like the size but the layout is not good. Very choppy and cut up — -just flat out weird. I am not a huge Byerly’s fan but was in the area and needed groceries. The did have some BOGO deals that were attractive and so I had not trouble filling up my cart. The prices were not bad. I would not hesitate to stop again but I would not go out of my way to shop there frequently either.

I have shopped here for months and was always impressed with the array of gourmet items I can obtain to cook the dishes that got me into a Master Chef 2^nd round of competition.
This past year however the standards have fallen dramatically, and for a supermarket as upscale as this and considering the prices they charge, one should NEVER find strawberries with MOULD on them in the fresh fruit section, nor herbs so old I had to pick through 15 pacquets to locate a single one that wasn’t old or obviously beyond it’s sell-​by period. Not just basil, but many fresh herbs are left to go bad.
The real shocker is the seafood department. I bought «fresh» cod for a dinner party I was having in the late summer, packaged in their white butcher paper, and upon opening it to prepare it later that afternoon, was appalled to find sticky, reeking bad fish, the sort that is rife with bacteria and would kill people.
When I rang the store to speak with the manager, she rather reluctantly I thought agreed to send out the delivery truck to my house with replacement fish, but only after verifying my claim with the department manager. I only live a mile from the store, so it was hardly an inconvenience to save one rather loyal customer.
Weeks later, I bought a piece of tuna in the BOGO bin, which was marked down for sale, and took it home to freeze. A week later, took the fish out to thaw and upon opening that pacquet, found sticky, BAD tuna reeking of ammonia.
Byerly’s has suffered a huge loss of quality for the rather high prices they charge for their items.

Let me set the record straight my friends. THERE IS NO BEER, WINE or other friendly spirits of the alcohol persuasion here! I’m not sure what my other Unilocaling friends were drinking at the time of their reviews, but those drinks were not from this store. Do not be broken hearted by visiting this place to quench your adult thirst. You have been warned! I was told by the store clerks, that some of their locations do sell alcohol, but not this one.
Aside from not having spirits, this grocery store was B+ in my book. I was initially a bit nervous pulling up at 7pm and the parking lot was near empty. Once inside though, i found a neatly kept, clean grocery store with a good variety of grocery goods. They had what I needed for my business traveler needs (water, sushi-​to-​go, and energy bars). I came here instead of going to other similar businesses in the area based upon reviews. The overall area is kinda sketch. Thanks my fellow Unilocalers!

This place is pretty awesome the produce I fabulous and there meats are great I be crazy not to go there