Coborn's Grocery Store — Local services in Isanti

I posted a similar review about a year ago. And, while it was responded to, by what seemed to be a somewhat canned response, nothing has changed for the better with our shopping experience at Coborns in Isanti. Or, with utilizing their gas station. If anything, the service at the grocery store has gotten worse. The inventory levels, of sale items especially, has become an issue on a weekly basis. Most employees still haven't been trained to do basic grocery store duties like bagging groceries properly, etc. Last Friday night my wife was gonna bring home a pizza and salad from Coborn's and was at the store at 5-5:30 pm. Upon arriving she realized nobody was making pizzas. At 5-5:30 pm on a Friday night!?! She was rudely informed by someone in the Deli that there were no pizzas being made due to a lack of staff? Coborns used to be a GREAT store with GREAT and helpful staff members. And now is just not that same place, with the exception of a couple of grocery employees on the floor, the meat department and the pharmacy. If it were up to me, everyone in the front end of the store including cashiers, service counter and support staff up there would be replaced immediately. What Coborns needs to remember while they refuse to improve - is this is a people business and if people aren't happy with the products and services you provide, or the cost that you provide it - there is a Cub Foods and a Walmart in Cambridge that people can utilize. So, that is where my family and I will be doing their shopping from now on. It's sad that what was such a beautiful store at the start can no longer offer good customer service and proper inventory levels to support a small town...

Everything has a cause and effect, Effect : Loss of revenue due to poor listening to customer complaint. Business goes elsewhere (~$600/Mo ). Propagated bad reputation into other businesses. CORPORATE : Real question is was it worth it for you?

Cause.: First - we like Coburns; so it hurts us to take business elsewhere from a store (features) we like.

Second - this specific ISHANTI MN one is stuck in Pre-globalization or employs such folks who haven’t gone through HR about diversity/inclusion, anti-discrimination laws.

likely this is so deep in the woods place that asking the question ‘which country are you from’ again and again seems to be focused on non-white patrons -

with no clue of how it resonates when asked against the backdrop of other customers (mostly white) waiting in line OR how it feels and how out of place - We don’t see the question ‘which country are you ORIGINALLY from’ asked of a white person... let’s see how that flies.

Third: The person asking was mixed race and I am married to a white person, have more security clearance than most to call me American- regardless of my skin tone or ‘ethnicity’.

,though curiosity is great - timing and location is key and how it may come across when asked AGAIN and AGAIN.

If you want to understand ‘ethnics differences’ go read a book. Do the job, check folks out fast - enough with the overly patronizing questions..

When called - the manager in charge went straight to defending the guy asking the question instead of apologizing.

Hope Management realizes that $600 loss is the least of your problem especially...

Very clean store, some of the best meat around! Very fresh good fruit. There breakfast is awesome and I will definitely go back for that, food prices overall are definitely higher then average...the 3 stars is because I got there at 6:30 last Friday, there is a sign on the sandwich/Pizza station that says deli hours are 11-7pm (I don't remember the opening time, just that it was open till 7) the sandwich menu was still sitting on top of the counter, I looked it over figured out what I wanted, I had some groceries to get, so I figured since I had a half hour till they closed that I would get my groceries and then come back to get my sandwich. I got back at about 6:43, and the menu was down so I asked if they were still doing sandwiches, the lady tells me they close at 6??? I'm like oh well your sign right here says your open till 7 and online it says 7, I was here 15 min ago the sign was still out? She just puts the menu further away, doesn't aknowledge my comment at all, and walks away. The rest of the deli was open, but they were starting to put that away too. I was super irritated. I just wanted a sandwich, which I would have ordered when I got there, had I know they were going to close early, on a busy Friday... Point is, if your sign says your open till 7, you need to stay open till 7, or change the sign to say 645, or 6 (which was a lie, they don't close at 6) The lady was rude, I left and got a sandwich at subway instead and won't go back there for deli food again since I can't trust...