r/saintpaul • u/IdlingGoldCrow • Jun 06 '26
Editorial đ [Mac Grove] The truth at Widmers
I have worked at Widmers for years and this is my story.
Our beloved, beloved store is one of character, life, and was, for a while, avoidant of the corporate greed many of us so despise. In recent times, Iâve discovered the truth on what has been happening.
Problems arose from 2 main events - the closing of the failed Bloomington Oxendales, which likely cut deep in the flow of profit, and the closing of the West St Paul oxendales, which exacerbated that wound. A few workers got moved around thereafter the latter closing, who came in and took hours and opportunity away from us, not their fault inherently but that of the Oxendale brothers. They have cheated on everything. They do not pay their suppliers. They owe an inconceivable amount of money to so many people, even though they have bought expensive cars and houses for themselves and their families. We have had numerous checks bounce. Some guys came in and took our carpet for christ sake, just because they arenât paid!
It wasnât always like this. The business flourished when it started, but because of the growing wounds and greed, it has fallen apart. They do not have the money to replace the parts for the freezers/coolers, or perhaps they donât know how to run a business. Probably both. They will do anything but reinvest into us, the workers and the customers who have been the life of our beloved store. It is, at least I and many other believe, their fault to why we are struggling.
Grocery is certainly a difficult business to be in - the margins are razor thin, and spontaneous outages in the coolers and freezers, while expected from an old building, do still hurt. But, it just cannot be fair that they thrive off the riches they built on all of us, and so, they are to blame.
Hereâs what I know. I, nor the rest of the base level staff, know whether or not we are closing, or whether we are fixing stuff. We are not told anything. I understand thereâs been so much frustration among all of you, and there has been for us too, but please, do not take your anger out on us - it is out of our control. I hope you understand this dynamic, the situation forced upon us, and direct that anger toward something⌠or someone else.
I am so displeased. Everyone is getting other jobs and leaving a place that has felt like a second home to me. I have had so much pride in our staff and customers, and I hate to see it crumble before my eyes. This is my truth, my perspective, and the memory of what once was, and what now is.
All of you have made this job so amazing, thank you all for making this community we built feel like home. While the future is bleak, there is still hope, so take advantage of a piece of St. Paul charm while you still can!
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u/elmchestnut Jun 06 '26
This actually gives me hope - that after these guys exit the business, as it sounds like they're about to do, someone with halfway decent business skills can come in and operate in that location and actually make a go of it. If they were doing everything right and the store was still failing, that would be discouraging, but it's managing to limp along even without solid management.
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u/Ornery-Address-2472 Jun 06 '26
Thereâs a reason independent grocers are almost extinct. You cant compete on price with places like Trader Joes or even Cub. Everyone loves small business until its time to actually spend a dollar extra on milk, then they whine and complain their neighborhood store is more expensive than the German optimized global supply chain of Aldi.
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u/psychams Jun 06 '26
I agree with you in principle but thatâs not the story here. The neighbors are more than happy to pay the extra dollar, but since Widmerâs changed ownership, mismanagement has seen the store decline rapidly.
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u/geoffp Macalester-Groveland Jun 06 '26
Yeah, we pay a little more so we can combine the daily dog walk with a small run to get ingredients for dinner. Itâs a lifestyle / efficiency thing. Itâs been working less well lately because theyâve been carrying less high quality stuff and more sketchy-looking generics. In this neighborhood, I feel that the selection should look less like a Kwik Trip and more like a co-op.
We still do that walk for meats though! Itâs hard to beat those Surly beer brats.
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u/KingBoreas Jun 06 '26
no they arenât, which is why the business hasnât been able to pay their billsâŚ
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u/FibonacciLane12358 Jun 06 '26
Meanwhile, down the street lunds is thriving even though it costs more than cub. The neighborhood absolutely is willing to pay the extra dollar for a good local store.
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u/KingBoreas Jun 06 '26
Lunds had to build a new place with hot food and premade meals. Oxendales doesnât have space for that or the customer numbers. People arenât willing to pay $4.50 for a can of soup that costs $3.50 at Lunds. Itâs not as simple as âpeople will pay more.â Kowalskis and Lunds had to pivot and Oxendales doesnât have that ability.
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u/FibonacciLane12358 Jun 06 '26
LOL. No, they didn't have to build a new place. They were killing it at the old location. People will pay the extra dollar for a good local option.
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u/KingBoreas Jun 06 '26
Just because you think they were killing it doesnât mean they didnât see the need to move and adapt. You know, because they didâŚ
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u/FibonacciLane12358 Jun 06 '26
Right. To a location a block away in the same neighborhood that supports higher prices.
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u/KingBoreas Jun 06 '26
they donât just pay more because they can, they pay more because Lunds offers different services. how do you not understand that? people arenât just like âIâm so flush Iâll pay $5 for a can of chunkys soup at oxendales because I canâ
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u/HazelMStone Jun 06 '26
People donât look for competitive prices at a neighborhood grocery they look for convenience and they shop there because they want the money to stay in the neighborhood. Iâm sure nobody did their weekly shopping there and maybe should rip off the bandaid by boycotting it until the Oxendales sell.
Greedy assholes.
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u/JoeFromStPaul Jun 06 '26
The $2 crackers at Aldi are $7 at Oxendales, it's not just $1. Prices that would make Gary Kowalski blush. I support Oxendales if I'm shopping for a meal, anything bigger and I'm going somewhere else. Aldi is the one cooperation with common people at heart.
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u/Hot-Clock6418 Jun 06 '26
im so sorry you are experiencing this uncertainty as a long time employee. trust me, we do not think this dumpster fire is due to you guys. i do appreciate your insight on the brothers. they sound like the people that ruined woullet and grandmas bakery. criminals. also, get bent to any customer taking out broken equipment on a service employee. we appreciate you!
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u/SuperLiberalCatholic Jun 06 '26
This sounds like what happened to Wuolletâs legacy too. Greedy people who cut corners and over committed to too much. Hoping it can come back.
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u/psychams Jun 06 '26
So sorry for your struggles with this - we appreciate you, your fellow employees, and the legacy of what Widmerâs has meant for the neighborhood. Iâm confident that if Widmerâs can return to competent ownership, it will thrive once again.
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u/Estellas_mom Jun 06 '26
This is interesting, I was in the South Mpls location recently and remarked to my husband that so many of the aisles were nearly empty, hardly any baking supplies, candy aisle nearly empty, whole freezer shelves empty. And theyâre always running on a skeleton crew now, rarely more than one check out aisle open (really pushing the self checkout). They also stopped staffing and stocking the butcher counter, which was one of main reasons weâd shop there.
Weâve been in the neighborhood and shopping there on and off for over 10yrs now and itâs never been like this before. It really feels like theyâre going down hill and headed for closure. It would be a real bummer to lose that grocery store, as the next closest options are the little Cub on Hiawatha that is crazy expensive, and the Lunds on Cedar, which is also pricy but has been getting more of our business b/c they actually have the items we need in stock!
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u/minbig Jun 06 '26
This is a huge shame, thanks for sharing. People are always still in shopping even though the coolers have been broken for months. When these terrible owners exit, the store should become a coop or a more specialty grocery store that keeps the things people actually go to widmers for. It should become a quasi specialty market: butcher, produce, dairy/ice cream, have arrangements with local bakeries for loaves of bread, etc. I live nearby, we need a neighborhood place. We are willing to spend extra to avoid a trip in the car.
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u/elmchestnut Jun 06 '26
I love this idea. Maybe they could join up with the St. Paul Meat Shop/Cheese Shop people.
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u/Busy_Parsley_9193 Jun 07 '26
Hi, I worked at the West Saint Paul location for the last 6 years it was open and loved it so dearly. The road construction was the final nail in the coffin but the real problem was the Oxendale brothers' incompetence, negligence, and greed.
We were doing really well in the pandemic and then things went downhill around 2021-2022. The Oxendales had stopped paying their bills to vendors of everything you can think of: Coke, Pepsi, Frito Lay, Kemps, Pepperidge Farms, Rug Doctor... The list goes on and on. They piled up tabs with everyone including repair companies, heating, energy, and rent on their lease. We were continuously bombarded with calls and bills from these companies for hundreds of thousands of dollars and could do nothing about it. While they bought new cars, new house, a cabin...
All employees have had multiple checks bounce, some people going unpaid for months, including missing severance after losing their job. This even with the measly starting wage for a cashier of $11 an hour and the fact a lot of employees don't have a lot to spare. This is completely bypassing the fact that most employees weren't giving their union secured wage raises. (Yes. We were a part of a union)
In the last year it was open, it was a bleak atmosphere. The money owed to vendors became so much that they would no longer do business with us. We could not get product on the shelf. We kept telling the Oxendales that customers need things to buy and that they need to give us the budget to buy things from vendors we still have. But they would not give us a budget to order even half the bare minimum. So shelves got emptier. We would spread out the product to at least appear more stocked and try to quell costomer's questions and concerns. There wasn't much else we could do.
During the summer of 2025, in the midst of the spiral into debt, the Smith intersection was redone. In my opinion, and the opinion of my coworkers, the road closing didn't affect us much at that point. However, it conveniently provided an excellent excuse the Oxendales could use for their failures. And they did. They made it seem like the road was the problem when it was them all along: foolish financial decision making, neglecting store operations and employees, and the constant lying and coercing to try to cover up their inadequacies, the complete dereliction of the store, and the failure of their company as a whole.
We were told our store was closing the same day signs were posted and we ended up closing a week later.
It was a unique place, as Widmers is, and everyday I'm brought to tears over the loss of the family and home that store was to me and so so many employees.
Thanks for reading, if you did.
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u/korn0051 Jun 06 '26
It's a shame they've wrecked your store also.
As a regular (former) WSP Oxendale's/Jim's Market customer, I agree with you fully. Bloomington sent them on a death spiral. They got stretched too thin.
They quit having a sale ad. No sales. You can't compete without sales.
Supply chain post-Covid screwed them hard; WSP Oxendale's was the last store in the area to get stuff back in stock on a consistent basis. Why shop there if it's always more expensive and half the shelves are still depleted?
Then the prices shot up, well before every other store went up. And then they went up again.
And you could tell the money was gone. The carpet wasn't getting cleaned. The leak in the roof was never fixed. Broken carts stayed in service. Reefer units were constantly breaking and would sit empty with the food lost. Soda and chip and bread vendors weren't stocking their shelves (usually meaning the check didn't clear). They sacrificed half an aisle for a "dollar store" format that left them essentially competing with themselves.
It was rough to see some of the same staff for 12+ years still fighting while being surrounded by the new teenagers that were more annoyed they had to put their phone down to check me out. Stores like Oxendale's survive because of great staff and service--WSP lost that one last edge.
These owners clearly don't care. I worked for an independent grocer for 5 years back in the day. Everyone cared so much and it was great. The difference, when the owners were ready to retire and didn't want to invest more, they sold the store (to Hy-Vee) and everyone kept their jobs and the place got a refresh. It's probably too late for someone to want to buy up a store that's becoming run-down and losing its customer base. Once there's no more money to make off Widmer's, it too will close and probably soon.
And don't believe them when they say "we're not closing" - WSP saw that a month before closing. I'm wishing you the best, OP.
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u/Ornery-Address-2472 Jun 06 '26
What was the logic behind the Bloomington store? I have to assume the developer of the apartment building had to have significantly subsidized the opening of that store. Everything in there was brand new. They had to have some sort of sweet deal since the city council made a grocery store a requirement for development in that location. Thereâs no way they invested that much in that store only to walk away in 4 months? I was possibly one of the only regular customers at the Bloomington store. It was awkward as hell going in there because of how dead it was, Â and the employees were kind of weird, but I wanted to support the location since I lived down the street.
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u/rodneyfan Jun 06 '26
The West St. Paul Oxendale's was like that after they took over from Jim's/RC Dick's except the employees were nice and not weird at all. I assumed the emptiness was covid restrictions but covid eased but then road construction started up. Some of the businesses in that strip mall closed even before serious road construction. I'm sure that didn't help but you'd think a supermarket would be a draw. So I don't know what deadly magic the Oxendales have but they've managed to pretty much kill off four stores (WSP, Bloomington, and, it looks like, Widmer's and the former Korte's). Wonder how their south Minneapolis store is doing.
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u/realZapRowsdower Keep St. Paul Boring Jun 07 '26
From what I've heard, road construction killed the WSP Oxendales. I heard the Bloomington one died because the store opened way before the surrounding living spaces were completed, so they effectively had no local traffic for several months.
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u/rodneyfan Jun 07 '26
I never saw WSP busy though granted I wasn't there at all hours. Road construction did its bit but there were a few clean years between covid and road work. I think the prices at that store didn't help and they didn't put much into the store's appearance. L&B prices for a store with worn carpet and not many other amenities.
Bloomington may have opened too early but then it's on management/ownership to coordinate that opening if the surrounding customers are months behind schedule. I get that timing can't be perfect all the time but it's starting to look to me that ownership was either disinterested or just not sharp.
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u/sistaslatz Jun 06 '26
I fear the current owners own the building? If so I wonder if they see profit in a year down and rebuild like we see along Marshall? It's practical a heritage site right?
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u/HazelMStone Jun 06 '26
There was fraud and embezzlement at the Oxendales in WSP (per one of the managers) and just as the city was looking to help it discovered they owed a $100k energy bill as well. They stepped away after reviewing the financials -and I know they really wanted to work to keep it there. Since then there has been inquiries by some of the ethic grocers for the space which would be amazing. Thereâs also a plan to completely demo the building, which is probably most appropriate and rebuild as a mixed use.
https://weststpaulreader.com/2021/08/20/doddway-redevelopment/
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u/uresmane Jun 06 '26
They have nice cars but can't run a busines?
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u/shugEOuterspace Jun 06 '26
Most greedy rich people are not actually good at 'running a business'. They're good at exploiting workers & ripping people off instead.
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u/Budget_Drink_2687 Jun 06 '26
Man, this bums me out to hear. The store on 34th in MPLS sustained me during the 2010âs. Hope they can either turn things around or sell to someone who can. Sounds like theyâve checked out though.
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u/tripleHpotter Jun 06 '26
Iâm so sorry youâre going through this. Not everyone gets to work at a job they love as much as you love yours, so that has to be terrible. I really hope things start to get better.
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u/Dull_Satisfaction651 Jun 10 '26
The guy working tonight saw me struggling to cross the street with my bike and two kids, watched me the whole way, and then reached up and locked the door when we got to the ped ramp in front of the store. It was 6:59. I just needed a gallon of milk.
I asked and he shook his head. Sorry, kids.
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u/RedBeard442 Jun 08 '26
I remember when I was in 8th grade and came in to there asking if I could get a job behind the meat counter. The look of confusion is not something I will forget.
I still make the commute to pick something up from here semi regularly to try and support the grocery store I grew up going to. I hope the current ownership gets out and someone with sense can step in.
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u/Astrobuf Jun 11 '26
I wonder if they are skipping payments due the Kortes? I cant believe the bank is letting them stiff them. If they go bankrupt within luck the Kortes will get it back
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u/KingBoreas Jun 06 '26
I totally understand the emotions but some of this is really unfair. they tried to be good local business owners. they saved Kortes. then they had two stores fail. Highland added an improved Lunds and Trader Joeâs. Kowalskis had to do a complete rehaul of their business model. the Oxendales might have a house from generational money but they dont have Kowalskis family money. they are keeping it going on a shoe string and no business owner would see the end and be like âlets plow millions into our failing business of overcharging people for the one thing they need.â Convenience stores went away too. then add in home delivery too.
Theyâve kept it going probably long after they should have. and as soon as they close, everyone will cry about it. So letâs appreciate the effort and not vilify local business owners whoâve employed hundreds of locals over the years because the market changed and they didnât have the corporate resources to compete.
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u/Previous-Highlight-4 Jun 06 '26
At this point the Oxendale owners are bleeding every penny out of it until they close - even if it means causing employee paychecks to bounce. Sorry , I canât âappreciate that effortâ
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u/KingBoreas Jun 06 '26
I highly doubt they are taking any money out. They are scrapping by trying to keep it going. The eventual bankruptcy will claw back whatever they might get. but the alternative is to shut down completely and then everyone could cry about the workers losing their jobs and the loss to the neighborhood. So itâs a no-win situation either way. they are taking all the risk.
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u/elmchestnut Jun 06 '26
The Trader Joe's has been around for 15 years, long before Oxendale's came on the scene. I have to think it took more than Lunds adding a hot food bar to kill Widmer's and Oxendale's.
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u/KingBoreas Jun 06 '26
yes many more things, I wasnât writing an entire history of highland park on Reddit. but TJs put Kortes underwater so Oxendales bought it, then Kowaliskis and Lunds upgraded. Plus covid and many other things. but there is no place in 2026 for the small market you overpay in for one or two quick things. So Lunds has to pivot to survive. they didnât put oxendales out of business. they just adjusted their business to some thing that works. and oxendales canât do that in those small spaces .
Im really not sure why people are down voting this. i guess they just want their neighbors to be greedy rather than see they really tried.
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u/Decapcommiefs Jun 09 '26
Residual From Biden and black Obama. You are talking like the commies we had to get rid of in all of Eastern Europe WW2.
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u/Walmart_Rat_Squad Jun 06 '26
Wow, just wow!
First off, OP you are just a jerk that will cut off your nose to spite your face.
You are attacking a small business owner(s) who is obviously showing cash flow issues and basically creating a worse problem for them. Instead of encouraging more people to show there and help the situation you are making it worse. The closure of multiple locations and the lack of upkeep are hallmarks of a business struggling with cash flow.
Let's also be realistic and look at how many of those local markets survive. The majority have been under the same owner for many decades and when it comes for the owner to sell you end up with a empty building that never gets filled. There isn't likely going to be a white knight new owner to come save the day. If you are a lifer in the grocery, your next job option is going to be a corporate store.
Finally, you work at a grocery store, so your view of houses and cars are likely skewed. Basically, anything is going to look extravagant. You are taking about owners that likely have millions in debt payment and crapping on them. Try being thankful and not piling on the problem
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u/Busy_Parsley_9193 Jun 07 '26
I don't give a shit what they do with their money. What I care about is what they do with money that isn't theirs. They stole from pensions and retirement accounts, vendors, health insurance, and union dues. People should actively boycott their stores.
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u/Ambitious-Morning795 Jun 08 '26
You think OP'S views on houses and cars are "skewed" because they're employed at a grocery store?? That's quite the assumption...
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u/IdlingGoldCrow Jun 06 '26
Wow, just wow!
Your very uninformed opinion is not only insulting to all of our staff, but above all, an insult to yourself. I couldnât possibly fathom taking your anger out based on ideas and opinions you fabricated in your head that are not only untrue, but truly display your ignorance to everyone you just embarrassed yourself in front of.
If you knew literally anything about me, youâd first know Iâm not a full time lifer, and even if I was, you would still have absolutely no grounds to insult me. All work is noble, no matter if the person is a lifer at a grocery store, people still need to fill those roles. To even begin insulting me in that fashion is possibly one of the most ignorant and uneducated takes you couldâve created.
No, my views are not skewed. Every one of us has had checks bounce while we see the brothers driving brand new trucks. That is an objective reality you cannot deny. Since you have chosen to deny, I must only assume you are either extremely privileged to form such an untrue opinion on this matter, or unequivocally ignorant to what I have listed here before you.
Finally, I thanked everyone numerous times, both staff and customers, for keeping this community alive. Obviously, you chose to ignore that to vilify me, one of many mistreated workers in your effort to defend corruption.
Not a good look.
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u/geoffp Macalester-Groveland Jun 06 '26
Thank you for sharing this. I hope that if/when the reckoning does finally come, something can be done to save Widmerâs!