Cosmos
Cosmos, MN · Food & Drink
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2 St. Cloud-area grocery stores named among the best
USA TODAY has released its list of the 10 best grocery stores in the U.S. for 2026. Two of the supermarkets included in the top 10 have locations you can visit right here in the St. Cloud area. USA TODAY 10Best ranked U.S. grocery stores for their value, selection and service. The 10 best grocery stores were nominated by an expert panel and voted on by readers. The ranking was released in early September. Two chains with central Minnesota locations made the list: Fresh Thyme Market and Aldi. Here's where they landed. Aldi Aldi came in at No. 4 on the 10best list. Low prices are also a big selling point for Aldi shoppers. One way Aldi is able to provide these lower prices is by offsetting other costs. Shoppers have to bring their own bags or purchase them from Aldi, and the shopping carts need a quarter to be unlocked, which can be reclaimed once the shopper returns the cart. This reduces the need for extra employees to bring in carts from the parking lot. USA TODAY also highlighted the store's lenient return policy, called the "Twice as Nice Guarantee," in which Aldi replaces the product and refunds the
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SC Cloud | St. Cloud Times
Longtime waitress opens her own diner in Rice
There is a new owner of a restaurant sitting in a familiar location. The Old Creamery Café, which opened its doors in Rice back in 1989, became LeeAnn's Main Street Diner earlier this year. LeeAnn Hockert has worked in restaurants and food service since she was a 15-year-old dishwasher at the Country Inn in Rice. More: The North Table blends fine dining, local food in St. Joseph After finishing school, she worked as a waitress at Clearwater Travel Plaza and then spent nearly a quarter-century as a waitress at Jimmy’s Pour House in Sauk Rapids. She left that role in April 2026 and didn’t waste time signing the papers on her new diner May 7. LeeAnn's Main Street Diner opened its doors May 17. Opening her own diner has been a dream for Hockert. “I worked my entire life and had an interest in having my own (restaurant),” she told the Times . “I saw it was for sale for a while and started to inquire about it, then went through the process to make it happen.” The menu, created by Hockert, is plentiful and still evolving. More: St. Cloud pizza owners launch XO Fire Pizza food truck “When I