In spring of 2018 we had the proudest moment in bteamballer.com history by buying our office space! The office space is really just a TV tray in the living room, but with the office space, we also got a house. With this house came a terrible curse…no, not a spirit or specter, much worse. I had to find a new grocery store! AHHHH, SCARY!
“Eric, why don’t you just go to the grocery store that’s closest to you?” thought the reader. You think I don’t know that? You think I’m that dumb that I don’t realize just go to the closest one? The problem is I live right in the middle of the Hy-Vee Bermuda Triangle with 3 Hy-Vee’s all 1.5 miles away from my house. There is only one scientific way to solve this problem. We are going to arbitrarily rank all the Hy-Vees in the Sioux Falls area.
Honorable mention: Aldi – I walked in once, looked for about two seconds, and walked right out. The idea of it scares me. It’s like a rogue grocery store. I am curious to find out how the quarter for the shopping cart works.
10th: 10th and Kiawanas – I’m going to be honest. I’ve been here once in my life. I got a slice of ‘za and a soda from here one lunch break, and it wasn’t great. If you want to see what a Hy-Vee in the 90s looked like, this is your spot.
9th: 26th and Marion Road – This Hy-Vee gives me anxiety. Sure, it’s a decent size Hy-Vee, but it seems so chaotic and unorganized. It’s just not for me, ok? It’s at my least favorite intersection in Sioux Falls, and I don’t like it. Bonus: They have Tesla charging stations here.
8th: 10th and Cleveland – I remember when this opened, and it was a big deal. It’s biggest negative is that the parking lot is a mess. It’s biggest positive is that my buddy Bruce works here on occasion.
7th: The old Fareway by Planet Fitness – This Fareway had chili crispitos that rivaled those served for my favorite lunch throughout all of elementary and high school. You feel like absolute crap the next day, but boy do they taste good. Sadly this Fareway closed, and we never saw chili crispitos again. (My greatest autocorrect of all time was the words chili crispitos which autocorrected to Chris’s Speedos)
6th: 26th and Sycamore – The first grocery store I ever remember. When I first moved back to the east side, this was the one I went to initially. Two problems quickly came up. First, Mayor TenHaken decided to destroy 26th Street making me avoid everything east of my house. Secondly, there are way too many people I know at this Hy-Vee. It’s like the unofficial Hy-Vee of Sioux Falls Christian type people. I like going to the grocery store, but I want to be there in my own world listening to music, not talking to people I know.
5th: Downtown Sunshine – I like the idea of it better than the practice. I couldn’t tell you the last time I actually was in the store, but I like that it’s there. My most vivid memory is walking through the bowels of the store to get to the bathroom in the back. It was like something out of a horror movie. The best part is the burger shack in the parking lot: a brat, chips and a 20-oz coke for $4. That’s a deal, my friends.
4th: 57th and Cliff – Small, but efficient. It was better when it was a Sunshine, and even better than that when it was a leaf dump.
3rd: Andy’s Affiliated on 18th and Cleveland – I sing the praises of this store like I own it.
Pros:
- Closest grocery store to my house. Supporting local business.
- The hometown atmosphere makes you happy.
- Open on Christmas morning.
- Good meat.
Cons:
- Not the best selection.
- Sometimes it smells
Before the pandemic I’d go here 3 times a week. Not as often now, but I still love it.
2nd: South Minnesota Ave – The Minnesota Ave Hy-Vee is the New York Yankees of Sioux Falls Grocery Stores. It’s the biggest and best Hy-Vee, and outranks all other Hy-Vees in all categories. The only negative is that one morning the girl in the bakery grabbed the wrong donut, TWICE! I’m pointing through the glass at the donut I want. She got it wrong! I didn’t want to correct her so I just took it. (It was a cherry cake donut. Not bad, but not the chocolate ring I wanted.) The reason the South Minnesota store isn’t the best store is because we are not a Yankees blog. (Gail would like it known that off the record the Minnesota Hy-Vee is her favorite grocery store in the world. However, to not offend her manager friend, on the record her favorite grocery store is the Fareway on 41st and Sycamore.)
1st: The Empire – It’s hard to explain why one grocery store is better than the rest of the stores in the same chain, but this one is. It was my HyVee for only two short years, but they were the two best years of grocery buying of my life. I would buy my groceries at halftime of Sunday night football. Do you know how many people are in Hy-Vee on a Sunday night? None!!! It was glorious. The store was literally 2 minutes from my apartment. The only people I ever saw were the hot twins, who are without a doubt the coolest people that I’ve ever hung out with. The progression of the aisles just made sense. It was a great store. But, I now avoid Louise Ave like the plague (not the ongoing corona virus plague, the bubonic kind), so I’ll probably never go there again. Better to have loved and lost than to have never shopped at Hy-Vee at all.
bteamballer 