Whole Foods Market

stealthq

Verdenal wrote: »

The chain I've been disappointed by is Trade Joe's. I haven't bought anything especially good there. But many people sing its praises.

+1

I've found a couple of frozen meals I like, but on the whole I find it underwhelming. Especially the produce which is worse than any other grocery store I've been to in the last couple of years. I don't even like their frozen broccoli. It's fibrous and seems to have been harvested a bit past its prime.

lemurcat12

AnnPT77 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

That's not my impression of WF shoppers at all. No one here thinks they are all precious to be shopping at WF, and most of the mainstream groceries have tons of organics (and if organic is your thing the Green City Market is a better option -- I love it, but the crowd there really can be annoying).

I'm really interested to see how the WF that is soon to be opening in the Englewood neighborhood here fares. It seems like a worthwhile project.

Perhaps life and pretensions are different here in the backwaters. (No, I don't really think this is the backwaters . . . but I know some folks who do.) I'm in a mid-sized city in mid-Michigan.

Ironically, the most pretentious grocery store here is headquartered in MI (Plum Market, which I call WF on steroids). Different part of MI, yes (I peeked at where you are from). (Disclosure: I have a degree from a school in one of the towns in which Plum Market is located -- I expect you can guess which one -- and I am familiar with Bloomfield Hills, since I know people from there.)

Ws2016

Calories are calories. They just want your money.

vikinglander

After reading through all of your comments, I have a couple of additional thoughts beyond my earlier response to OP.

The way to get value out of WFM is to be a conscientious shopper and know what the market price is for a particular item. If you're buying grass-fed beef for instance, you should do some research first and find out if the source (ranch/farm) is reputable, and what other sellers are charging. Typically, WFM gets $9.99 a pound, and the butcher at the meat counter at my local store knows the farmer that they buy from and has signage posted with the grower's info...all good stuff; BUT the local farmers market has a seller that charges $8.99, and he's more local, AND his product is better. On the other hand, Fairway Market has grass-fed beef on sale for $4.99 this weekend, but I know nothing about the producer or their practices.

There are some brands and items that are just not available anywhere else, for example, Westbrae ketchup, made with no sugar...great product BTW...can't find it in any other store, and WFM actually has it cheaper than online...go figyah!

As for the quandary of what is actually being debated here, I think that WFM is struggling to find the right balance between quality and price and promoting their brand of sustainable, local, organic and natural foods, and we all are expecting to be treated fairly and respectfully as customers. WFM has typically located their stores in neighborhoods that are demographically high-income and highly educated, but they are slowly realizing that there are plenty of us out here who don't have the MBA or the 6-figure income that also want to eat well and don't want to be ripped off trying to do it.

NaturalNancy

Agreed!
I only buy items I can get any where else!
Organic kombucha, some organic veggies, etc!

arditarose

I live in NYC where everything costs a fortune and a half. Whole Foods is not really expensive to me. The foods I chose to eat cost a crap ton anywhere I go. I do try to support my mom and pop grocery store, but sometimes Whole Foods is even cheaper and I need the break.

ibamosaserreinas

When I lived near Whole Foods I LOVED their deli. Kung Pow tofu I didn't have to cook myself. Various types of quinoa salad all delicious. Latkes.

Gluten free desserts. I actually have Celiac disease and despise the process of finding a decent recipe, buying all of the ingredients, baking the damn thing...

Whole Foods has its uses.

I never did my major shopping there but for special items absolutely.

lithezebra

Whole Foods has great meat and seafood.

Francl27

I went to WF the other day and the woman in front of me spent $770 for her cart of groceries.

Just boggles my mind. Never in a million years would I spend so much on food.

I usually go for a few frozen products (Liege waffles, as Shop Rite stopped carrying them) or their bakery section (but that one really depends on the store too). Halo Top is cheaper at Wegmans and WF is always out anyway.

Gallowmere1984

Francl27 wrote: »

I went to WF the other day and the woman in front of me spent $770 for her cart of groceries.

Just boggles my mind. Never in a million years would I spend so much on food.

I usually go for a few frozen products (Liege waffles, as Shop Rite stopped carrying them) or their bakery section (but that one really depends on the store too). Halo Top is cheaper at Wegmans and WF is always out anyway.

JFC! I thought I was bad when the ex and I were hitting like $300 (including Quest bars at the time).

lemurcat12

I go to WF all the time and can't imagine how you'd get to $770, but of course it depends on how many you are buying for and for how long. (If I was buying that much I'd finally join Costco, though.)

WinoGelato

Francl27 wrote: »

I went to WF the other day and the woman in front of me spent $770 for her cart of groceries.

Just boggles my mind. Never in a million years would I spend so much on food.

I usually go for a few frozen products (Liege waffles, as Shop Rite stopped carrying them) or their bakery section (but that one really depends on the store too). Halo Top is cheaper at Wegmans and WF is always out anyway.

Was she buying wine/beer in addition to food products? When I go to Whole Foods I tend to "shop the perimeter", not because I'm trying to eat clean but because that's where the fun stuff is that I don't get at my regular store. That includes produce, the cheese counter, seafood counter, meat counter, wine, frozen products, and all the prepared foods. Then I take a pass by the bakery case before I check out. If I buy wine, on any grocery trip, that can easily add $100 depending one what I select, as I usually buy 6 bottles at a time to get a discount.

So yeah, if I didn't restrain myself at WF and bought a lot of meat and seafood, wine, beer, fancy cheeses, etc - I bet I could top $500 easily.

Gallowmere1984

joshperson195 wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

I went to WF the other day and the woman in front of me spent $770 for her cart of groceries.

Just boggles my mind. Never in a million years would I spend so much on food.

I usually go for a few frozen products (Liege waffles, as Shop Rite stopped carrying them) or their bakery section (but that one really depends on the store too). Halo Top is cheaper at Wegmans and WF is always out anyway.

WHAT?! I know someone who used to work at WF and she had a customer pay $900. It's crazy.

That would literally buy three months of my current food types. And people *kitten* about how expensive meats are? xD

Francl27

lemurcat12 wrote: »

I go to WF all the time and can't imagine how you'd get to $770, but of course it depends on how many you are buying for and for how long. (If I was buying that much I'd finally join Costco, though.)

She was pregnant, classy dressed, and her cart was full.

But still. My worst shopping trips are usually around $200 and that's maybe twice a year when I stock up on paper and/or cleaning products...

Shana67

NorthCascades wrote: »

I don't buy produce at Trader Joe's. It's almost always lackluster. Every time I buy fresh raspberries there, I get halfway through them and find moldy ones. Sometimes it's a good place to get flowers for my girlfriend though.

Agreed. As much as I love TJs, their produce leaves much to be desired. We buy our fresh produce at Sprouts (Colorado). At TJs, it's the flowers, their frozen food is INCREDIBLE. To name a few. the mahi mahi burgers, tuna burgers, all of their Indian frozen entrees, their appetizers, desserts, I could go on and on and ooonnnnnn. All wonderful.

I buy 2 bags of the white cheddar corn puffs per week, measure out my 28 grams and that is my nightly snack Along with my few ounces of TJs (gluten free) vodka (I have celiac). And we buy all of our wine at TJs, as well. Not that "2 buck Chuck" stuff - that is gross. But all of their other wines are wonderful

LokiGrrl

I've lived in Austin almost my whole life (bar 6 years in Amarillo), and I remember my mom shopping almost exclusively at the original location on Guadalupe (the sight of the tofu swimming in the tubs at 7, after moving here from Amarillo, was nightmarish). I was so mortified by the Whole Foods lunches she packed for me, with the black bread and oily *kitten* peanut butter and carob chips and what I think might have been soy milk, but I knew she'd spent a lot of money that she didn't really have trying to be healthy for us all so I never said a word to her. Most days I just said I wasn't hungry and covertly dumped my lunchbox in the trash, until some nosy person at school noticed and made a hassle for her, after which I had to actually eat it and pretend I liked it. I was glad when she gave up WF.

Due to my childhood experience I never wanted to set foot in there again (I believe the last time I was there was about 25 years ago, when a friend dragged me there and insisted I try juiced wheatgrass, which was gross as hell) and always shopped at Sun Harvest. Sun Harvest went out of business, but now we have Central Market and Sprouts, which have everything Whole Paycheck claims to have without the snooty attitude, hideous prices, and smarmy employment practices. We also have Wheatsville Coop, which is consumer/employee-owned, or something like that. My (super conservative) sister is a member. And now I think we have Trader Joe's too, although I've never been.

Seriously, if you can only get it at WF, I don't want it. Sprouts has a wide selection of grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, and heritage pork, their deli is fantastic, and their prices on produce (which is high quality) are a freaking broken drum. And all of Central Market's meat is humanely raised without all the crap in it. Plus they always have interesting new stuff to try (I love the little ends of expensive cheeses you can try for cheap, so delicious).

I'll leave out my Views on the founder and what he says/does and the way the company is run, but those, along with my childhood experience, are the reason I refuse to spend a penny there.

On a completely unrelated note I remember kissing my first boyfriend across the street from that original Guadalupe location (although I'm pretty sure they had moved by then), and it was utterly divine. Sigh. Happy memories.

NorthCascades

Francl27 wrote: »

I went to WF the other day and the woman in front of me spent $770 for her cart of groceries.

Without knowing what and how much she bought, none of us can say if that's a good deal or if she got ripped off. I mean I spent $200 on socks once, nice wool ones, discounted from $15 a pair down to $5, they're great to have in a rainy place like Seattle but they wear out eventually. I'll never have to buy socks again as long as I live. The only way I'd ever spend $770 at a time on groceries is if something I use all the time was massively discounted and I wanted to take full advantage; maybe that's what she was doing.