Eric Richards Named New General Manager of Lunds & Byerlys Northeast
Thursday, March 24, 2022 at 9:48AMArticle by Becky Fillinger
Eric RichardsLunds & Byerlys Northeast, 25 University Avenue SE, has a new General Manager. Eric Richards is excited for this new phase of his career and wants to create memorable ‘grocery memories’ for the Northeast neighborhood just like he remembers from his St. Paul childhood. Stop by and say hello!
Q: Congratulations on your new assignment as General Manager of the Lunds & Byerlys Northeast location. Have you managed a grocery store before? Do you have a high-level vision on where you'd like to lead the store?
A: Thank you for the warm welcome! I have been in the grocery industry for twelve years. I started as a maintenance employee at our store in Highland Park, and worked at numerous locations before winding up here. This is the first store that I have worked at as a General Manager, and I am excited and humbled to be a part of such a welcoming community.
In my short time working here, I’ve seen how the store has a strong and vibrant history in our neighborhood, so I would most like to ensure that we continue to serve the community. I believe grocery stores are a wonderful cross section of the communities they serve, and our most important task is ensuring that we remain a good neighbor and steward of our “Northeast Neighborhood.” I have fond memories of trekking to the grocery store with my mom growing up in St. Paul, and I’d like to make sure that I can help create similar experiences for others here.
Q: How much leeway do you have to personalize the customer experience at your location of Lunds & Byerlys? Will you host special events?
A: We have leeway to customize the shopping experience at each of our locations, although our “look and feel” is very similar between each of our stores. One thing that I am excited about is a recurring “Meet the Maker” event our Food Expert, Cynthia, is putting together for this summer. We hope to have local vendors at our store one day each weekend for a couple months to highlight their products and be able to spend time meeting people – more to come!
Q: What's new for Spring, Easter and Passover at Lunds & Byerlys?
A: It’s so nice to see that the snow is finally melted and revealed grass underneath! We have a Kosher for Passover display located at the end of Aisle 1 that we just built, and there is already lots of Easter candy throughout our store. Hams are just around the corner, too!
Q: I know you have a lot of choices - do you have a favorite prepared food from the store? How about from the bakery?
A: This one is a tough one for me, because we have all sorts of tasty food. I’d have to say my favorite prepared food throughout the store right now is our Mexican Street Corn salad. I like a little bit of a kick, and it tastes like warmer weather! If I had to select something in the Bakery, I’m a sucker for our new bundt cakes.
Q: Any food or grocery innovations on the horizon from Lunds & Byerlys Northeast?
A: We are always looking to improve the shopping experience at our stores by creating new and flavorful food combinations. Some recent examples are our produce potato steamers, or the bundt cakes that I mentioned earlier. We are constantly rolling out new products that we developed in our test kitchen, which adds some fun surprises when coming in to work each day.
Q: How may we follow your news?
A: Stop by and say hello, or visit us on our store’s Facebook page!
