Red_Dragon wrote: 
my whole foods is full of hot exotic babes, a few people with crohn's and freaks who insist on overpaying for produce

 Proclivities wrote: 
Self-entitled yuppies.

America’s Angriest Store
How Whole Foods Attracts Complete Sh*theads.

Having spent a few years working in a Whole Foods, I can say that this piece is pretty accurate.

"...We watched as he marched to the Customer Service desk and button-holed some unsuspecting manager. The conversation seemed to start well enough. Birdman spoke passionately, but not disrespectfully. The manager listened thoughtfully, nodding in all the right places, absorbing all of Birdman’s self-important, self-indulgent demands. When it was his turn to speak though, Birdman afforded the manager no such courtesy. He interrupted every five seconds, his arms flailing like an inflatable dancing man on the roof of a mattress superstore, his head involuntarily thrusting toward the manager like a clucking chicken to emphasize his point..."

 Steve wrote:  yes, it does.  we got a fresh free range turkey breast there for thanksgiving last year and it was extra good!  i'd never had a fresh OR a free range turkey before that!  i SOLD them by the hundred when i worked for the health food store years ago, but i could never justify the expense.  this one was really cheap!!

also love it when they have grass fed beef on sale, or organic chicken.  we invested in a little bitty chest freezer and a vacuum packer for just such occasions. 

the produce rocks, if you don't hit it after the rush.  we also find that they're out of certain things now and again. for a while, they stopped carrying their OWN BRAND of coconut milk.  wtf?  but they brought it back.  it's WAY cheaper than thai kitchen, and way better quality than the ones at the asian store.

we don't do bakery, but i've heard it's great.

i just watch the sales and plan accordingly, and we spend about the same there that we were spending at the conventional super market!

 triskele wrote: 
Cool!
 
Their meat counter ROCKS. I get my free range turkeys (parts too) there exclusively. Their produce and bakery stuff are also always good.

 Steve wrote: 
YES!  we have two sprouts in the okc metro area, and i LOVE THEM!! they just opened up in the last year and i am a devoted fan. we shop there every week for the majority of our groceries.  i don't miss TJ's as much anymore.  we do also have a whole paycheck, but without the wine section.

 winter wrote: 
sigh...oh well.   i wasn't awake yet! 

 triskele wrote: 


I was going to post the very same thing until I noticed the date.  

 triskele wrote: 
Have you ever been to a Sprouts Market? IMO they're much better than TJ's or WholePaycheck. It looks like they've got some locations in OK.

 JrzyTmata wrote: 

 triskele wrote: 
it's still relevant

 JrzyTmata wrote: 
i tend to agree with that...but i enjoy so many of their specialty items that it was worth the trip, when i had access. 
(wow, just noticed that i am replying to an old post....so....nevermind....)

Whole Foods in SoCal is going to sell records. Vinyl. Records. At a grocery store.

JrzyTmata wrote: 

I have a few things I regularly get there: coffee, milk, halfnhalf, unfiltered apple juice and toothpaste.
I would never buy fresh produce or bakery there - everything spoils within a day or two. And, yeah,
the parking is a nightmare.  

I think TJ's is a bit over-rated. they have some nice specialty stuff but the produce selection is lacking. not worth the trip for me.

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
yes, this Texas so when I say near it's more like 1/4 mile.  Within walking distance, but not for lugging your bags back to the car.  The TJ's is closer to the new "upscale" housing there (shops on bottom, four stories of "condos" on top) so they are probably depending on the residents to walk and shop there instead of having to wait at a light to cross a busy street and walk through a large shopping complex to the WF.

 kurtster wrote: 



I think trader joes is now owned by the discount chain Aldi ( which is Danish o think?). Looks like Tescos effort at breaking the American market with fresh and easy has failed. Glad to hear it myself, although British supermarkets are pretty impressive (except for not holding a candle to the awesome ice cream aisles in the USa) I don't want Tescos domination of the world. Try to avoid intercostal myself as they take something like 25% of the grocery market spend in this country. Now if waitrose and marks and spencer were seeking world domination I'd be all for it.

We got a Whole Foods a couple of years ago, up on the near northwest side in a swanky new commercial area. It's just like any other Whole Foods store except that it has no wine section. Stupid state law. We've checked it out but in most cases it's hideously expensive relative to what we pay at Sprouts. A Trader Joe's is something P prays for, but we're not holding our breath. Her sister back sends us occasional care packages of Trader Joe's stuff.

Never been in a WF, but have been in TJ's, both here and in SoCal, where they began.

The ones in SoCal have so much more to choose from and are as ubiquitous as 7 / 11's.  The ones that have sprouted up back east are half the size with half the selections.  The ones in SoCal do have many values and bargains.  They are more of an over priced novelty back east than anything else.