Oak Grove Grocery

I go here time by time whenever I am in the area and need a quick food shop. This is a great, cozy, and convenient place to shop for food, especially for those who live in Loring Park.
The place is hard to find at first if one does not look closely. The label is a little small, and the lettering is hard to see. Once the place is found, everything is much easier in the future. When driving along Oak Grove St., I best recommend always looking closely to the left side (it’s a one-​way road). It is located in an apartment complex.
The employees appear to do a great job at keeping everything clean and organized. Therefore, I always feel comfortable walking in there. I am always able to find everything that I need without any problems. I have had no major problems with cleanliness or clutter.
The employees are always friendly and helpful. It is mostly the same person working there all the time, but occasionally, I see a different person working. They always appear eager to please their customers. They also are great at carrying a good conversation anytime they can (especially about Loring Park).
Anytime I am in the area and need some quick food, I will continue keeping this place in mind. I feel like I can count on them for good quality and convenient food.
P. S. I was saddened to hear about the death of long-​time employee Mark. He was a good person.

I love this place! It’s super convenient if you live in the neighborhood and need something in a pinch. It’s great for late-​night snacks, ice cream, Heggie’s pizza, or that forgotten recipe ingredient. The produce isn’t great, but I go to the Wedge for that anyway. The prices are a bit high, but I am totally willing to pay a little more not only for the convenience, but also to support such a great little neighborhood store. All the staff are super friendly and helpful and have been more than happy to help with a return or exchange. I dislike going to the seedy stores along Nicollet and would easily go out of my way to shop here. Fortunately, Oak Grove Grocery is located right on the path of my daily walk.
Also: If you’re like me and you never have cash, be prepared to spend a $ 5 minimum to use your card. This is pretty standard for small businesses, so I don’t mind grabbing an extra something off the shelves to meet this requirement. This place is a gem.

I don’t think the prices here are crazy. Comparing this little shop which has a total of 3 or 4 employees, (who are also neighbors, I think) to Target/​Walmart level of discounting is ridiculous. It’s called a «convenience» store for a reason. I live in this neighborhood, and when I want something conveniently, I go here and am back home in 5 minutes, I do not walk to downtown Target which would likely take 1 hour all told, just to save a dollar or two! The prices are competitive with any normal convenience store, and much larger selection than most.
The store is not dirty. Some items are dusty because no one has bought them in a long time, but nothing gross.
They have a lot of stuff, some of it surprising — things which they don’t even have at Lunds often (old-​fashioned normal cat litter, diet ginger ale). Try finding an array of diet soda at other nearby convenience stores. They have almond milk.
Other things can be surprising that they do not have, especially produce which is limited and not often especially fresh. I always call first before relying that they have anything, and they are always very helpful and know exactly when new stuff will arrive. Most dependable are supplies for making cocktails (lemons and limes), along with lettuce and onions, I think.
They have a large community bulletin board for handymen, posting stuff for sale etc. The staff are very friendly. They are open until 11 each night. It’s an asset to the neighborhood for sure.

Can anybody confirm if Crazy Mark still works here? He was the sole reason I kept coming back to shop.

Oak Grove Grocery is the standard over priced neighborhood corner store. I come here for late night snacks (drinks, ice cream, chips) and the prices for these items are what I would expect anywhere. Every so often, I need a forgotten ingredient for a meal. This is where I have to decide whether or not it’s worth paying three times what the item would cost at a regular grocery store. They do have a little bit of everything but the prices are just not worth paying if you don’t ABSOLUTELY need something.
On the other hand, the people here are great. In the summer months, it seems like half the block is standing around outside visiting and chatting with each other. The people working there recognize you and most likely know your name.

Other than it living up to it’s name as a convenience store, there is NOTHING convenient about what they charge. You walk into a dimly lit basement room that is only slightly larger than a one bedroom apartment with all the walls knocked out, and it is STACKED. Floor to cieling.
I will give them this, they have pretty much everything you could think of, they have produce (notice the lack of my using the word ‘fresh’), animal care products, hygiene stuff, food, random drinkage, and housewares. They also sell cigarettes at a $ 1 premium to the SuperAmerica only a few blocks away…
Even though the staff working here is super fun and friendly, I just can’t find a way to justify spending $ 1.50 more for basically any and everything that they have in stock… It’s just too much to pay for convenience, because honestly, it’s the same distance walk for me to get to FOUR other markets, or I could just do what everyone else in my neighborhood does, I could walk an extra 2 blocks up into downtown, and shop at Target.

Neighborhood fixture with friendly people and exorbitant prices. I understand charging a convenience premium, but OGG’s prices are beyond the pale. I rarely feel so lazy that I won’t walk down Nicollet a few blocks for a better grocery selection at reasonable prices.
If they had better produce, I’d drop by more often.

Basically the clerks are good peoples but the 1) prices are outrageous, 2) they don’t restock popular items (minimal ordering strategy) and 3) many items are expired or so freezer-​burned you would need a cryogenic scientist to make them edible again. I shop here frequently because it’s right across the street and sometimes Im too lazy to drive to Kowalski’s or the wedge, but the owner uses location as an opportunity to price gouge locals who lack adequate transportation. That’s just wrong. This place is like the opposite evil twin of Walmart (not that Walmart isn’t evil): small, high priced and great customer service.

Wonderful little basement grocery store! Good variety of different items (including Flour and Powdered Sugar), not just dinty moore meals and cheerios. If you live in the Loring Park or Elliott Park neighborhoods it’s a much more convienent location than any other store, also a better option for grocery than CVS. Great Great Great.

A little overpriced but and pretty standard necessities. The thing I always liked about OGG, aside from it being steps away from my old apartment, was that I rarely walked out without meeting some weird characher leaving with a good story.