Helping Lakewinds Shine: Veronica Penson

Veronica Penson has worked at the Lakewinds store in Richfield since the day it opened its doors. She shared her story of how she came to Lakewinds, why she loves her work, and why work IS her family.

Q: Where are you from, originally?

A: I was born in Chicago, the oldest of six kids. I came to Minnesota in 1990 and lived with my sister for a few months until I got my own apartment. I have a daughter and a grandbaby!

Q: Your story of getting the job at Lakewinds is impressive – tell us!

A: I live in the apartments across the street from Lakewinds. I saw that they were going to build something, so every day I went over to see what they were building. One day I saw the sign on the front door talking about jobs available. I was unemployed at the time, so I called the number. I mailed in an application and applied for every single department in the store!

The day of the interviews, I got up at 4:45 a.m. I don’t have a car, so I took the bus to one stop, waited 30 minutes, got on another bus to a transit station, waited there for another 30 minutes, then took the last bus to the Lakewinds business office in Eden Prairie. I was an hour early, so I just waited. That day, I talked to every single department manager – produce, meat, grocery, deli. My field is housekeeping, so that’s the job I really wanted.

A couple weeks later I got a call: They wanted me to work at Lakewinds! So I got up in the dark again, took three buses, and spent the day learning about my new job.

Every day after that, I walked across the street to see how they were doing on “My Store.” I started two weeks before the store opened for business, and I helped get it clean and beautiful for the customers.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about working at Lakewinds?

A: This is my family. I always worked alone before, but now I work with the biggest and best family. I have a lot of respect for the people here, because they respect me. I know a lot of people that don’t have a job, and I feel privileged to have such a good one. I work hard for what I earn. If I need help with something, I ask. I ask my manager for a meeting and we talk about special jobs I can do, and anything that needs fixing, and I get the help I need.

I love cleaning everything, but my favorite part is the parking lot in the summer. I wash out the trash cans, I hose off the shopping carts, I use the blaster to clean the sidewalks. Outside is the first thing the customer sees, and I want it to look the best.

Q: Have a favorite day at work?

A: The meat sale! I got to help bag up and carry out so many bags of meat. One customer bought $3,100 worth of meat, and I got to help them with it. That day was so much fun. Being busy is the best, and seeing happy people buying good food is a good day.

My other favorite was a day of really hard rain. I spent most of the day walking people out to their cars with an umbrella, carrying their grocery bag for them. I didn’t want them to get wet, and everyone was so glad I did that.

Q: Have a favorite Lakewinds food?

A: All the food is so good! My doctor says I’m healthier than I have ever been since I started working at Lakewinds. I love the Asian Noodle Salad from the deli. Sometimes I put shrimp in it, sometimes I buy a grilled chicken breast from the deli to have with it. I could eat it every day.

I also love the Jerk Chicken from the Meat Department. The meat guys are so helpful, they’ll tell me how to cook something or what to have with it. I’ll cook the Jerk Chicken with spinach, green peppers, onions, cauliflower and carrots. Know what makes it good? Get some vegetable broth from Grocery and add a little bit to the chicken while it cooks. Delicious!

I am blessed to have this job. I want to be with the people here at Lakewinds because they are my family. Being at work was what I want to do.

Learn more about what makes Lakewinds different by reading about our quality standards.