Opening a New Market?

Executives at St. Cloud–based grocery chain Coborn’s, Inc., want to make something clear—they currently have no plans to expand into the Twin Cities.

Sure, Coborn’s made news in August by purchasing New Hope–based online grocer SimonDelivers, which had folded just a month before. But Coborn’s says it’s doing just fine in its outstate locations.

“We probably will continue to expand in the non-metro rural areas,” says Dan Coborn, chairman of the board and grandson of the company’s founder, Chester Coborn, who along with his two sons opened the first Coborn’s store in Sauk Rapids in 1921. Coborn’s opened stores in St. Cloud and nearby Foley in 1963. (The company still has stores in both municipalities; both were later rebuilt at other sites.)

Today, the fast-growing chain has nearly $1 billion in annual revenues from 26 Coborn’s stores, nine Cash Wise stores, and dozens of convenience, video, liquor, and drug stores under a variety of names. The majority of Coborn’s holdings stretch along the I-94 corridor between St. Cloud and the Twin Cities. (The stores closest to the Twin Cities are in Albertville, Ramsey, Buffalo, Hastings, and Delano.)

The stores under the Coborn’s name are full-service operations; the Cash Wise Foods chain, which the family founded in 1979, consists of lower-price stores.

Many of Coborn’s supermarkets have adjacent pharmacies, gas stations, and liquor stores. “In many cases, we are a one-stop shop,” Dan Coborn says. “We were one of the first to have an offering this comprehensive in our part of the world,” the Upper Midwest. In 1972, Coborn’s became Minnesota’s first grocer to use optical scanning equipment at the checkout.

In 2007, Coborn’s made its first stock distribution under its new employee stock ownership program (ESOP). The Coborn family still retains majority ownership, but now nearly half the company’s more than 6,000 employees also own a share of the company under its ESOP.

“We wanted to shift the culture to grow the organization from the bottom up,” says Chris Coborn, Dan Coborn’s son and the company’s president and CEO. “And we want our employees, now owners, to think more like owners.” In July 2008, Coborn’s received the Minnesota Grocer of the Year award. The Minnesota Grocers Association cited the company’s success, philanthropic efforts, and high profile in the state’s grocery industry.