I hear other teenagers hang out on street corners and in pool halls. My son and his friends? Throughout all four years of high school, at every time of the day and night, they could be found clustered in the same place: the St. Louis Park Byerly’s.
Until now.
Tonight (February 18) at midnight, all Byerly’s and Lunds stores will close their doors, not to re-open until 6 a.m. tomorrow. And this is the way it will be from here on in. It’s the end of an era: Byerly’s has operated 24 hours a day since 1971 and Lunds since the early ’90s. My son and his crew — many of them Orthodox Jews who rely on the kosher deli for a late-night, after-party nosh — are devastated.
You may be, too, the next time you get a craving for baguette, fig spread, and cave-aged cheese after the jazz clubs close. Because from now on, Cub, Rainbow, and Perkins will be your only options.
"This is mostly an effort to focus our resources on those hours when most of our customers are in the stores," said Aaron Sorenson, a spokesperson for Byerly’s and Lunds. "By closing overnight, we can take some of our staff and move them to peak hours. We expect aisles will be cleaner during the day and there will be more people there to increase levels of service."
When pressed, however, Sorenson admitted there was another reason for the change in hours: A rash of recent late-night robberies have made store management fear for the security of its staff members.
"We realized our overnight team members were vulnerable," Sorenson said. "There was only a skeleton crew and people knew it. So they were more likely to take advantage and put our people — and our customers — at risk." (Note: Sorenson asked me to be careful with this information, which is why I waited until the new hours went into effect to post — so as not to publicize the problem and invite more walk-in thefts.)
From now on, Byerly’s and Lunds will operate more like other high-end grocery stores, locking their doors to stock and clean at night, then opening with sparkling, full shelves the following day.
As for my son and his friends, I do worry. . . .Frankly, the deli and luncheon counter WAS a nice place for them to congregate: Wholesome, close to home, and full of exactly the sort of quality food I advise them to eat. Now, when I want to find my 17-year-old, I’ll have to start calling people’s houses instead of simply driving over to Byerly’s. Next thing I know, he and the boys will be reduced hanging out at Walgreen’s. . . .or Holiday.
And who, I ask, will bring them kosher club wraps and cream sodas there?
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