Lunds & Byerlys Prior Lake — Attraction in Prior Lake

Ok, I have never written a review before, but here it goes...I am honestly fairly shocked at how many positive reviews there are for this Lunds & Byerlys. I am all about supporting local business (does this count as that even though?), but for the price point, the quality of the food is just not where it should be, and I wonder if some people are duped into thinking that the higher price automatically means the quality is high.

Produce is iffy sometimes (examples: green grapes with almost no flavor, produce that went bad very shortly after getting it home; does not seem as fresh as Target's produce). Bakery items, from what I've purchased, don't tend to taste as good as they look (examples: carmel apple pecan pastry, brownie bites). Also, make sure you check expiration dates. We have brought items home only to find they are expired or near expired. This is not something I would necessarily think I need to be so conscious of at such a high end store.

One pro - The staff can be very nice, and the grocery bagging service is indeed very nice. They will even help you out to your car with it if you want.

I did just return something though that was 8(!) days past the "best buy" date when I bought it, and, while I promptly got a refund, there was no apology. Just a somewhat curt exchange. And I was very nice about it, even pointing out that the ones I ate before realizing they were expired didn't actually taste horrible, just not as good as usual, trying to keep it lighter and show I wasn't there to take them to the cleaners. I was a little shocked there wasn't an apology of any sort, though maybe there was some embarrassment at play hindering that. I'm not quite sure.

2 more pros- My dad likes the meat selection. The butchers go out of their way to provide him with insight and good cuts. My favorite thing about the store is their hot food item bar. If this can be done right, I'd like to think maybe there is some hope that the rest of the store could improve. I also like the location. It's probably the best location for a grocery store for "south" Prior Lake people.

Why am I writing this? I am writing this because I feel the PL location for this store is somewhat a "dumping ground" for products that are near the end of their life, and I don't think it's right. I'm not sure if it has to do with PL's location or what, but I just can't imagine the Minnetonka location, which I went to as a child and remember it being extremely nice, suffering from these same quality issues. I am writing this because I am tired of trying again and again here, especially due to the convenient location, only to be let down by the quality of food. I don't make a ton of money, but believe in prioritizing good food, so to spend more on food, but not get a good quality payoff, or at least not consistently, is a let down and can be very frustrating. I am writing this in hopes that it can bring about change and help people to get what they pay for. I'm sure people's hands are tied at this store in ways, and I can imagine some employees are unhappy with the quality, but unable to make the changes they want. I've been there. But hopefully reviews like this can be shown to upper management and encourage a change for the...

I visited Byerly's tonight (8pm 4/8/24) to "splurge" on a frozen pizza and caesar salad after a long day. I picked a delicious looking pizza that had a "SAVE NOW" $1 off coupon stuck to the box. There were several different flavors of the same brand and they all were offering that same coupon. Once I was in the checkout line, I peeled off my coupon and got ready to checkout. The cashier says "your coupon is expired". I told him I had JUST peeled it off the box (he had watched me do it). He said, "well it's expired" and showed the bag boy to confirm. I said, "In that case, is the pizza expired?!". He looked at the box and said no, the pizza was still good. I explained that ALL of that brand of pizza had coupons on them... He said "Do you still want the pizza?" I said, no thank you. He then saw that I had typed in my membership id and suggested a different pizza that was on sale. I politely declined. I realize it's only one dollar... To me it's about the principal. I would have been totally fine if he had said "I'm really sorry about that. We'll have to go and pull all of the coupons off of those pizza's. I apologize for the inconvenience." Although, it would have been better if he had just given me a dollar off on principal but he did neither of those. It's definitely a lose/lose situation when an establishment is willing to lose a customer over $1. But when they charge prices like that and make little to no effort for their customers I would MUCH rather drive the 10 miles to Aldi where the prices are crazy low and the customer service is A+. To add insult to injury I had to bag my own salad on...

I work at this store, half of the time I'm the only one working. I'm a cashier and even when I have a terrible cough, stuffed nose, and no voice, they still tell me to come in. I'm touching everyone's food, I don't think they would want that. Supervisors get mad if we have conversations, they tell me to stand and face out. Supervisors choose favorites, some people get to stand around and goof off but if I ever did that I get yelled at. They ask people to come in even on days they specifically asked off. All of the employees that I talk to say they hate their job. Most of us at the front are teens, we don't need old people yelling at us all day. For 8 hour shifts we get two 15 minute breaks, this includes when we have to wait in line for five minutes just to get our food. 10/10 would not recommend...