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SuperShelf

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Creating dignified food spaces across Minnesota

Creating dignified food spaces across Minnesota

Based on over a decade of research and experience working with food shelves across Minnesota, our team has helped 98 food shelves reduce stigma and promote shopper choice by improving the layout of their physical spaces. 

The SuperShelf model helps food shelf managers create a dignified shopping experience. This growing network of hunger relief leaders believes ensuring the best possible experience for food shelf shoppers leads to overall transformational health in our communities.

A man and a woman picking fresh fruit

SuperShelf Values: Good food and respect for all

Historically, the narrative about what food shelf shoppers might call “good food” was perceived to be quick-cooking, shelf-stable food items and overall less nutritious options. However, since the initiation of the Minnesota Food Shelf Survey in 2017, which was part of the first SuperShelf research study, that narrative has been upended. 

Overwhelmingly, food shelf shoppers have consistently voiced their desire for fresh, appealing and nutritious items like produce, meat and poultry, dairy, eggs and cooking items, redefining Good Food. This is why SuperShelf methods prioritize these items and increase their prominence in food shelf spaces. 

Similarly, the need to use food shelves has carried a level of stigma which is compounded by a lack of autonomy. SuperShelf aims to change these experiences by promoting practices that make it easy to honor individual choice during the shopping experience. SuperShelf environments are shopper-centered, welcoming, and easy to navigate.

Celebrating 98 SuperShelf sites across Minnesota

Our aim at SuperShelf is for food shelf shoppers to access a variety of nutritious food in the easiest and most dignified way possible. 

Everything we do at SuperShelf, from our methods to our standards, exists to ensure positive experiences for food shelf shoppers. We do this by:

  • Creating a food shelf environment that is shopper-centered by respecting individual food choices.
  • Increasing access to a variety of healthy and culturally connected foods.
  • Transforming existing food shelf spaces to emulate retail grocery environments
  • Meeting specific SuperShelf standards, methods, and values.

Certified SuperShelf locations

These SuperShelf sites have passed certification benchmarks and meet SuperShelf standards.

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SuperShelf shoutout: NEAR food shelf

North Suburban Emergency Assistance Response (NEAR) is a newer SuperShelf in Crystal, Minnesota. Grant funding received in 2024 enabled the food shelf to make many physical updates, with construction touching almost every area. 

NEAR Supershelf before and after photos
NEAR food shelf before and after SuperShelf renovations.

With a new full choice model, shoppers efficiently move through the SuperShelf layout and actually take less food now that they are choosing what they will use. In addition, extra items are stocked on a community table which is available to anyone stopping by. Food Shelf Director Thea Bruley reports that "people are blown away by the inviting atmosphere. It is less intimidating and brings back dignity to their shopping experience." 

Discover more success stories, events, and resources in our monthly SuperShelf newsletter.

A decade of community-led partnerships 

SuperShelf started as a grassroots collaboration of hunger relief and healthcare organizations, and the University of Minnesota. 

In 2012, a partnership between Lakeview Health Partners and Valley Outreach in Stillwater, called Better Shelf for Better Health, led to the transformation of Valley Outreach's food shelf. The methods were shared with several other local food shelves that sought to provide dignified food access, honor choice, and challenge stereotypes about food shelf needs. This led to the SuperShelf model and the Statewide Food Shelf Survey.

SuperShelf lives on through a multi-organizational partnership that continues to promote the SuperShelf values and provide leadership in the Minnesota food assistance community.

Is your Minnesota food shelf interested in SuperShelf?

The first step in your SuperShelf transformation is completing an application. 

For more information reach out to [email protected].

Complete an application

Reviewed in 2026

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© 2026 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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