Coborn’s Employee Participates in Statewide Best Bagger Competition

(KNSI) – Last weekend, the Minnesota Grocers Association held its annual Best Bagger Competition, bringing six grocery store employees from around the state to St. Paul to compete. That cohort included the best bagger for Coborn’s this year, Emily Dauw.

Dauw said she’s been bagging groceries for a year and a half at the Coborn’s location in Sartell and, though she didn’t win the contest, she said she had a good time.

“It was just cool to see all these other people, like a lot of people were older so it was cool to see different age levels and how different stores do things,” Dauw said. “It was fun.”

She said she initially participated in the company-wide bagging competition because she thought it would be a fun opportunity, too. At Saturday’s contest in St. Paul, the MGA also hosted its annual Bipartisan Bag-Off, where two Republicans and two DFLers from the state legislature and a state administrator try their hand at grocery bagging.

“It was really cool,” Dauw said. “They, obviously, are not the best baggers, but they all tried really hard and it was just fun to see each of them and their different bagging styles.”

An unexpected part of bagging groceries, Dauw said, is the pressure.

“Not only do you have the customer, but you also have the cashier waiting on you, so it’s kind of like fast-paced, you want to make sure you’re doing it right, but you also want to make sure you’re getting guests out the door,” Dauw said.

Justin Marshall of Kowalski’s Lyndale Market took first place in the MGA’s Best Bagger Contest this year. He’ll go on to compete in the national contest in 2022.

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