Walmart — Local services in Inver Grove Heights

Nothing like a little undercover racism to start your day off right!

I’m in the check out line #7(today, 10am if any higher up cares) and notice the self checkout was open, wishing I had gone to it instead as there was four lanes and only one customer using them. Then I notice that one customer was being heavily monitored by an employee standing behind her. What do you know, she was black and had a gold chain on...must be up to no good! As I load my groceries up, I see that the guy is still watching her every move as she pays for her small bags worth of items. Another customer pays and goes, but he doesn’t even notice her. He’s to busy watching the other woman’s EVERY move with a scowl on his face...like he was just waiting to pounce. I stared at him, stare at her for a solid two minutes before he sees me watching him.

It was subtle, but it was definitely there. I’ve worked at a grocery store in my past and I know how some people stereotype their customers.

I was told this store is much cleaner and organized than the Robert St store, so I went out of my way to give it a try. While it is true that it’s a much nicer store, I will never return here again after what I witnessed.

Kicking myself for not calling him out, so this will have to do for today. Maybe next time he should walk up to customer and kindly ask if she needs help instead of glaring at her from behind like she was...

Use to be a pretty decent store but has really gone down hill. I will give the store points for being very clean and the employees are very friendly with the exception of the few women in the head scarves. The couple of them that I have dealt with were nowhere near as friendly as other staff I have dealt with. ( Might be a cultural thing, I'm not sure why they seemed so "snappy" but each of the ones I have dealt with were.) The big problem is that this store has greatly reduced their food department and it now has NO selection and the grocery area is so small that its not worth going there if you have ANY food items on your list. I would have guessed that once Rainbow Foods left the area, whoever is in charge of this store would have jumped on the chance to actually expand its food offerings as the customers who once went to Rainbow would be looking for a new place to buy their groceries, but Walmart really dropped the ball there and instead heavily shrunk their grocery department and therefor, losing out on that huge market of new grocery shoppers. Though this store is right by my home, I will be choosing to drive farther away so that I can go to the Target off the highway. That Target may be a tad bit more expensive, but it's worth it for the convenience of being able to get my household items AND my groceries in...

It was a Wal-Mart full of Wal-Marty stuff and people doing Wal-Marty things. There is nothing special about it, but there's nothing wrong with it either. The store was clean and organized, which now that I think about it... compared to some Wal-Marts I've visited, being clean and organized is actually kind of special, so for that alone, I'm gonna get a little crazy here and bump this up to 4 stars.

Seriously though, this location is a nice store. It's always clean and organized and always seems to have enough staff on hand to keep lines pretty short and get you checked out pretty quick. I can't really ask for much more than that.

Wait. Yes, I can. Grocery inventory could be better. There is usually at least one item from my grocery list that is out of stock (and im not talking about something weird like avacado cupcakes or something, I'm talking about stuff like Ranch dressing or saltine crackers or milk, you know, like normal stuff). But it's not a Super Wal-Mart, so I guess it is to be expected to a degree.

I also hate it when they ask to see my receipt. I JUST PAID FOR IT! IT'S MY STUFF. I OWN IT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! But that's a whole different discussion for a whole different platform, so I'll just leave it at that and move on with my review.

Actually... that's all I have for this review...