This morning a Whole Foods store (or, as my brother-in-law waggishly puts it, “Whole Paycheck”) opened two blocks from our home. I’d show you pictures of the interior but, as I was cautioned by a store employee, one must have written permission from headquarters in Texas to take pictures of the interior of a Whole Foods store. Perhaps later after the opening.
The store was packed with curious Chicagoans and had a dizzying array of beautiful fruits, vegetables, meats, and seafood, frequently at equally dizzying prices. But not always. For example I bought a package of McCann’s Steel Cut Oatmeal for about half the price I’ve been paying. I suppose I could find it even cheaper elsewhere but not two blocks away.
There’s also a wonderful selection of often hard-to-find ingredients used in a variety of foreign cuisines. I use such things so this is likely to be a great time-saver for me. There’s also a huge array of ready-to-eat foods so this might be a convenient lunch place for me every couple of weeks.
I got out of the store with a bill of about $20, most of which was spent on a chunk of Cottswold cheese. My wife loves Cottswold cheese.
Have no fear, Happy Foods! I will remain faithful. The prime beef sold at your butcher counter beats anything at Whole Foods and the price is certainly right. I like your wine selection better, too. I’ll continue to do most of my shopping at your conveniently-located store, roughly a mile from home.
However, having a Whole Foods so close by will make it unnecessary for me to go farther afield in search of a whole array of consumables.
Kudos to Alderman Marge Laurino, whose efforts must certainly have been significant in securing this plum!
I basically like Whole Foods and use them for particular products that other grocers don’t carry. Things like 1/2-pint containers of plain, unflavored, full-fat yoghurt, or smoked mackerel (a habit acquired in the UK).
But when it comes to fresh meat or fish, I just don’t need to pay three or four times the price of my ordinary, middle-high end grocer. Why should I pay $20 for a pound of Whole Food cod when I can get it for $6.99 at my Sweet Bay (formerly Cash & Carry)? Sure, if I want Buffalo burgers, Whole Foods is the only place in town, but that’s a specialty, not a regular part of my diet, and I might pay premium prices because there’s no option.
Whole Foods does have a good selection of cheeses, but those are on the pricey end, too. But gluttony isn’t all bad, I guess.
Also, they have Pacific Rim coffee beans that are only about $9 for a big bag—i want to say pound and a half, two pounds? It is REALLY GOOD. We like their 360 brand fruit flavored sparkling water—it’s like orangina or lemoncina, not too sweet, packed with flavor.
But by far the most wonderfullest thing about Whole Foods—for which we will go out of our way—is the Seedalicious/Seeduction bread. I could eat the whole loaf at one sitting, with unsalted butter slathered on it.
Enjoy, and please know that Whole Foods does stick by its pledge of giving you wholesome, non-additive foods: one time the local Whole Foods called me at Our Little Haven—they wanted to donated crates of Happy Apples (caramel apples) to us, because the had artificial flavoring in addition to the natural flavoring. needless to say, we all enjoyed them, kids and staff!
Ann
Ah, smoked mackerel. Something I’m fond of, too. Also smoked haddock.
Something they don’t appear to have is loose tea. My wife is an enormous consumer of loose tea. I recall that the first time we came back from the UK my wife startled the U. S. customs agent by carrying five pounds of tea. She also got a look when, in response to the question “What was the most expensive item you purchased?” she responded “Yarn”. She’d bought some really gorgeous cashmere yarn IIRC.
Our last few visits at Whole Foods have been dissapointing. The Whole Foods in walking distance of Loyola University had stale baked good. On the other hand, I understand that many of the chefs on http://www.foodnetwork.com shop at Whole Foods a lot for the taping of their shows. Our favorite is http://www.pusateris.com in Toronto. It really recreated a feeling of being in Paris. Apparently, there is an amazing gourmet store in Paris with the same square footage of Whole Foods and it is magnificent. Now that would be FUN!!!
Whole Foods is a pleasure to shop at, especially when you don’t spend any money. A friend and I used to enjoy going there just to buy little things and enjoy some free samples.
They’ll probably get the loose tea in eventually, by the way. The one I used to frequent in Atlanta had a very good selection, at mostly-reasonable prices.
The Newshour on PBS had an interesting segment on Whole Foods and some of it’s competitors a few nights ago:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june07/wholefoods_02-20.html