Super One Foods — Local services in Duluth

sigh

So normally, this is a good place for us to shop for groceries. It's conveniently placed to where we live and it's usually got the things we need.

But over the years, we've had a recurring problem: meat. The meat at this Super One is spoiled at least half of the time we've purchased it. We would buy chicken well before its expiration date, come home, open it up to cook it, only to find that it was already spoiled.

This happened multiple times. On one occasion, I brought the chicken into the store to demand a refund and speak with the manager. The lady at the return desk kinda shrugged at me and said "Yeah, I don't buy my meat here either." When the manager came out to speak with me, he made a remark about how they had storage problems, but also about how I was the only person who had complained at this point. (I find that difficult to believe). He promised to look into it. (They did refund me, to their credit).

Maybe this is dogmatic of me, but I have this bizarre outlandish view that the meat I buy in a store should be safe to eat.

From that point though, we kinda committed to buying our meat elsewhere. It's more inconvenient to go up the hill to Sam's Club, but we figure that's a price we've got to pay for edible meat.

Time went by. We avoided buying meat at Super One. Then this week, my wife decided to buy meat there for a roast. Surely they've gotten their act together by now?

Nope. Meat was spoiled, despite it being two days prior to the "Sell By". My wife went to the store for a refund and the cashier was rude to her.

Now for a store to sell spoiled meat once in a blue moon is understandable. But the frequency with which it happens at this SuperOne location is indefensible. There should not be spoiled meat on display. There should not be spoiled meat for sale. This should not be "normal" for this store. Super One must reevaluate their health / safety practices in how they store meat. If consumers cannot trust the food that is sold to them, then the vendor selling them the food should not be permitted to do business.

Get your act...

Often questionable food. Too many rude, mean and unprofessional employees.

This store is the closest to my house, so I end up shopping there even though I hate it and I am honestly at the end of my rope. Why?

1. The produce is awful. Consistently moldy and spoiled offerings. You have to check everything thoroughly to make sure you aren't getting shafted.

2. Watch for outdated items on everything. We have gotten out of date; meat, milk, cream, yogurt, eggs and bread. Bagels sold with mold already on them. Check everything! Twice!

3. They must run their freezers very low at night, then crank them during the day, since the ice cream and frozen food is consistently freezer burnt.

4. While a lot of the cashiers are great and friendly people, there are some real stinkers. Many that don't even bother to pause their conversations with a coworker to greet a customer---which is annoying and totally unprofessional, but whatever. But the ones that really get to me are just plain mean. They have a horrible snotty attitude if you ask any questions, no matter how politely.

I worked in various customer service jobs with the public for many years, I also worked as a cashier in a grocery store in high school. I know how hard it can be to deal with rude customers and I also know many places are short-staffed, and undoubtedly people are over-worked.

And NONE of that gives any employee a right to treat customers like dirt completely unprovoked.

Do...

Super One Foods has something that the grocery stores do not carry in southwest Minnesota where my husband and I have moved to. As a native Duluthian, I am used to enjoying my potato sausage just like my Swedish Grandma always made. So my husband and I drove the almost 5 hours from Granite Falls Minnesota all the way to Super One Foods in Duluth where we KNEW we could buy it. (We brought a cooler along so we could buy several to bring back home.) The stores down south only sell it seasonally. I'm so happy that the one here understands that some of us actually like it year round. 😄 Otherwise, it has absolutely everything...