About Us
A 101 Year Legacy
Leadership, community, and retail have long been a tradition of the Coborn Family. For decades, the Coborns’ have been recognized as pioneers. In 1921 Chester R. Coborn opened a one-room produce store in Sauk Rapids, MN. During its first two decades, the grocer would expand in size and selection, changes that were driven by economic necessity and Coborn’s commitment to ingenuity. 100 years and five generations later, that tradition continues.
Our growing retail company is in the business of people serving people – our employees and our guests! Our employee-owned company strives to live out our vision to be remarkable by inspiring happiness, healthy living and simplicity, one guest at a time.
Our company has grown, and we are proud to serve in the communities who represent us.What started as one store has grown into an employee-owned grocery retailer with nearly 10,000 employees and 200 stores across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Michigan that includes fuel, liquor, and pharmacy locations.
As an ESOP company, we take pride in ownership and we accomplish our goals through competitive prices, friendly services, product quality, cleanliness, and safety. Our share value increases year over year and our employees work hard to continually improve our company in order to remain a company our employees are proud to own.
We believe in giving back to the communities that support our businesses. As philanthropists, we give to health initiatives, youth, nonprofits and the fight to end hunger. Annually, Coborn’s gives back about $3 million+ to support the communities we serve and we donate nearly 2 million nutritious meals to those who need it most in our local communities, through our partnership with Second Harvest Heartland. Our “Bag Hunger” program also invites our guests to partner with us to make an impact by purchasing prepackaged grocery bags for food shelves.
Because the well-being of our communities is important to us, we continue to invest in health education; we encourage health and wellness through nutritious food choices and being active. Some of our recent investments include the implementation of the “Dietitian’s Choice” program in our Coborn’s, Cash Wise and Marketplace Foods stores and “Good 4 You” program in our Hornbacher’s stores and the hiring of our own staff dietitians to help educate food buyers, guests, and the community at large.
We’re always seeking ways to improve our company and expanding our horizons. Learn more about what’s new.
