I remember the monkeys! They were in the pet department, right next to the record department. I bought my first Beach Boys record there. It was a 45; I think I paid 49 cents. I lived on 45th and Oneota; went to Shopper's City often. What fun!

I remember one poor monkey there whose behavior resembled the "Man from Nantucket" in the infamous limerick, if you get my drift.

Sloppy submarine sandwiches - created by the Shopper's City or the K-mart? I can't remember.....
But I do remember the monkeys.

That was weird, I remember that.  It looked lonely & creepy that checkout at the back.

My co-worker, who grew up in West Duluth, and I have talked about Shopper City, how our parents would shop groceries while us kids would play in the toy section.  Nobody ever bothered or approached us.  Big toy section, if I remember, with toys already pulled out of their packages so you could play with them & nobody ever seemed to clean up that area.

One time when I was with friends at a bar in St. Paul, one of us mentioned we were from Duluth & this random patron at another part of the bar yells out "Shopper City!"

Paul, this may be a dumb question -- especially since you've already indicated you weren't even born yet -- but how did Shoppers' City expect to be open on a Sunday and not get busted for selling stuff? Were you supposed to just browse on Sundays and come back during the week to purchase your items?

Stupid blue laws.

Barrett, it wasn't really "scary," but just a big wooden bridge at about 48th Avenue West and Oneota Street, near (if you looked to the right while biking west) Shopper's City (now Menard's.) I rode my bike across that bridge a lot when I was a kid (still remember the sliver I picked up as I ran my hand along the railing) and it was just a part of daily life. The SCARY part was the green "lake" under the bridge, which I remember as a bright fluorescent pond that never seemed to move. What was that stuff?

Tony,

Oh, okay, so hence the patron in St. Paul saying that.  Interesting.  So there was a Shopper's City there too.

This is too funny, I grew up with Shopper City, I remember being excited to look at the Sunday ad, then racing down there to buy my new three in one stereo complete with built in 8 track player, I heard a rumor that the mice they found in the back of the store were put in the pet shop for sale.....true or not I do not know. I also always wanted to ride down the thing they put the groceries down to go out side. Anyone else star at that when they were little? 
Thanks for putting up this site. I love it!

This sight really made me laugh. I too remember playing in the toy department while my mom & dad shopped. I remember my mom with a stack of coupons, you could give them any coupon whether you bought that item or not. I do not remember the monkeys but did spend some time in the pet store. I bought an Eric Clapton album there (with the song cocaine on it) Had to slip that out without dad seeing!!! Does anyone remember when a car that crashed through the doors? I can not remember if it was the front or back doors. This sight is awesome!!!!

Does anyone have pictures of the inside of the store? That would be fun to see.

I forgot about the pet store they had! My husband Tom who is 12 years older than me use to pack groceries there. My mom didn't have a car so we usually had my aunt or someone bring our groceries home.

I remember stealing my first training bra there; it was bright blue. I think I was embarrased to ask my mom to buy me one so I stole it!  I had a halter top on at the time but I also had a sweater with me! 
My friends and I use to go into the Tiddly Winks games and take out the tokens to use them in the gumball machines but we finally got busted by the private detective.  He had brown hair and a mustache.  That ordeal really scared me!  After that we couldn't be in there without our moms for a certain amount of time. Thanks for the memories!

Secret beatnik.