I would stop shopping there. Old food, sky-high prices, a small selection. Even if it's the closest grocery, the others ones all deliver.

It might seem cheaper to skip delivery and shop in person, but when the prices are so much higher and the food quality you get is lower, it really doesn't save you anything.

Almost every department has an associated club with it. I would find the club that’s associated with your desired major and go from there. That is how I met most of the people I know.

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A friend of mine pointed this out at the Hy-Vee on sunshine to me a few months back and now I can’t unsee it. I’ve gone back to going clear across town to the other Hy-Vee because I’ve been finding food that’s now nearly a year out of date on the shelves. I know it’s probably fine in most cases, but it’s frustrating coming from a brand new store. I picked up cheese there last month and the entire under side was moldy as hell, picked up another and same issue. I decided cheese wasn’t for me that day lol

Eyebuydirect.com

I bought a pair from here and haven’t switched since! These are durable, more comfortable than the expensive Raybans I had right before these, and I believe I paid $60 for everything (and that’s with anti scratch, anti glare, blue light blocking, transition lenses, so, a lot of extras added on)

Food 4 Less in Springfield isn't associated with Kroger.

I found CHEESE at price cutter that had a 10/2022 date on it

Wholesale Grocers used to be union. Not sure if this is still the case. A family member is a UPS driver in the area and they’re union. I read a couple Starbucks in town attempted to unionize but assume this didn’t happen.

Edited to add Starbucks tidbit.

Thanks!

Price cutter is the worst about selling foods past the date. I made the mistake of doing TWO grocery pick up orders with them and both times, multiple items in my order were bad/moldy. I have never really been a fan of shopping there anyway, because they are more expensive and do seem to have expired dairy and bad produce on the shelves consistently.

Right, and I may push it if I bought it and it’s been in the house. But they are selling for 20-30% above others “new” stuff that is already past best buy dates.

BNSF is the only union that I really hear about in Springfield

If you shop deals, be careful with that at Pricecutter too. I'm always getting charged more than the prices on their ad.

There are greenway trails all over town that are wonderful to walk on. Neighborhood walks are also nice. My next door neighbors are 10-15 years older than you and they walk their dogs all over our neighborhood. If you like more hip kinda place, a nice neighborhood to walk around is the Rountree neighborhood. Has a brewery, a couple bars, a coffee shop, tacos, ramen, pizza, etc.

I don’t find Springfield dangerous and I walk or bike most places. Well, other than cars. Be aware when you’re walking of them, even if you have the right of way, make sure they are stopping. Being right doesn’t mean shit if you’re dead. There are homeless, but I’ve never had a bad experience with them here. I’m pretty approachable though so my interactions have always been from people who seem lonely and maybe don’t get looked at in the face by most people.

We have a few farmers markets that are awesome. One on Republic, one next to the mall, and one on Commercial. They’re all on Saturdays and dog friendly. My favorite one is by the mall for prices. It’s the cheapest. But the other two are great too. They all participate in double ing up for EBT so if you use food stamps you can get $10 worth of veggies for $5. Great program we have for those struggling to afford vegetables.

Edit: there’s also fastnight and urban roots farms off the top of my head for local produce during the week. Fassnight I have a special place for because they introduced me and my daughter to canary melons which are now our favorite and we grow them ourselves.

I highly suggest the student organization route also to get together with people of similar interests. I found so many new friends that way.

When I was there a long time ago they would have a big event where the student organizations would come and set up booths. Great way to see what is available.

The National/STL St. location constantly has expired cheese in their containers. I think recently I saw the specialty cheese fridge was completely empty and they restocked it. Before that every bag of fresh mozzarella was expired there. That place is full of expired food from time to time.

Worked at a grocery store a few years ago. We would routinely get a single case mixed in with the pallet that was obviously missed at the warehouse because it was a month or two older than the rest

>I've been trying to learn about Springfield through the newspaper

If you were trying the Springfield News-Leader you are likely to come up short. The Springfield Daily Citizen https://sgfcitizen.org/ is much better for this.

It’s mustard, it’s mustard seed in high acidity vinegar. As long as it’s sealed it will be good for about 2 years.

The labor unions are pretty weak in this area. I make more as a non Union electrician than I would if I joined the IBEW. Joplin is even worse for union. Unions are pretty strong in KC and StL though.

I’m not saying don’t shop there, just keep an eye out. It’s my closest grocery store as well.

As far as cultural things, we have a pretty good public library, occasionally get some good theater and music, Gillioz and Juanita K Hammons are good venues to watch. Someone mentioned Phelps Grove, we have a decent (for the size of the city imo) art museum right by the park there, and a local history and natural history museum.

Dillons used to be union, Maybe food4less might be also as they're under the Kroger umbrella.

edited to add Food4less is a Kroger company, though not all Krogers are unionized.

AWG is union, as far as manufacturing goes I think Loren Cook is still a union manufacturing shop but I could be mistaken.