In August, 2008, Coborn's, a pioneer in Minnesota's grocery industry, acquired SimonDelivers, Minnesota's first and best Internet-based grocery delivery service to form CobornsDelivers.com. This is our story.

CobornsDelivers.com combines the retailing expertise of one of Minnesota's oldest and most respected grocery retailers with the entrepreneurial spirit of an Internet-based grocery company that refused to give up the idea that grocery shopping could be a heckuva lot more convenient — and waaay more fun.

SimonDelivers delivered its first grocery order in April, 1999, with the pledge "We deliver the store to your door!" The brainchild of a man named Simon Foster who was fed up with the inefficiencies of grocery stores, SimonDelivers.com harnessed the power of the Internet to bring over 10,000 grocery items to its customers' fingertips. Suddenly Twin Citians could get their grocery shopping done anywhere, anytime.

From its huge, state-of-the-art SuperStore in New Hope, Minnesota, SimonDelivers offered farm-fresh produce, restaurant-quality meats, fresh dairy and a full line of name brand grocery and household products — plus a hand-picked selection of wine, beer and spirits — direct to homes and businesses throughout the Twin Cities, all with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

Meanwhile, just north of the Twin Cities…

Coborn's grocery stores were busy providing the Upper Midwest with fresh, top-quality groceries, tremendous value and exceptional customer service, just as they had for over 87 years.

Coborn's was born in 1921, when Chester Coborn opened a single produce market on Broadway Avenue in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. The store grew and evolved as Chester added dry goods, meat and other merchandise, along with modern conveniences like shopping carts and checkout lanes. A true pioneer in the grocery industry, Coborn's was the first grocery retailer in the state of Minnesota to utilize scanners at its checkouts, starting in 1972.

Recognizing the potential for what, at the time, was termed a warehouse or discount grocery store, Coborn's opened its first Cash Wise Foods store in Willmar, Minnesota, in 1979. Today Coborn's, Inc., owns and operates 34 Coborn's and Cash Wise Foods grocery stores in the upper Midwest, along with convenience, liquor, video stores and pharmacies. Coborn's also operates a central bakery, central dry cleaning facility, central commissary, long term care pharmacy and its own grocery distribution center. The employee-owned company currently employs 6,000 workers in six states.

Coborn's attributes its remarkable success to four guiding principles: customer service, freshness, value and community involvement. In addition to recognition as Minnesota's 2008 Grocer of The Year, the company has earned a reputation for outstanding community caring, donating more than $2 million and thousands of volunteer hours each year to the communities it serves.

Better prices. Better selection. Bigger smiles.

When high gas prices and cutbacks in consumer spending forced SimonDelivers to close its doors in July, 2008, Coborn's, Inc., saw an opportunity to expand their business beyond the traditional store-based shopping model. "With rising gas and grocery prices, shoppers can save a lot of time and money shopping online at CobornsDelivers.com," said Coborn's president and CEO, Chris Coborn. "Our goal is to provide Twin Cities area customers with the best online grocery experience in the country. That means exceptional customer service, top quality groceries and lower prices."

To former SimonDelivers customers, it meant bigger smiles.