Is Whole Foods worth it?
Posted by virginiah on Jul 31, 2008 · Member since Jan 2008 · 139 posts
I do not have a Whole Foods in my town. Yeah, we suck. The nearest one is 1.5 hrs away, which is also the home of the ONLY vegan restaurant in our state. In a few months my husband and I are gonna have a day out away from the kids. His mom is going to watch them from morning until next morning and we get a hotel room and spend the day out. Would it be worth the 1.5 hour drive to do some whole foods shopping? We would also prob have lunch at the vegan restaurant, too. I always see people talking on here about buying nooch and seeds and stuff there. I can only get nooch at the local health food store, and it is slim pickens there. What do you think? I have no idea what all they have.
Good question! The town I am moving to has two Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. I've never shopped at either one, except to pop into a Trader Joe's very quick.
Trader Joe's is another store I want our town to get! >:( Maybe one day.
IMO, it's worth a 1.5 hour drive. Especially if your town is limited in its health food shopping options. There is a WF where I live, 20 minutes away, and they are opening a new store that is just over an hour away from me. It is supposed to be the largest WF in the state, I'm told double the size of the one where I live. I do plan to make the drive on occasion. If you go, don't forget to take a cooler.
:)
I think it depends on how good your local health food store is. I like Whole Foods a lot, but for me, it just happens to be the closest health food store (that I know of) to me. I do 99% of my shopping at Kroger, Whole Foods is kind of expensive, but it is where I get my NY and other specialty stuff. I really like their bulk section though. But DONT get the "unsweetened chocolate covered raisins"! Oh, those are NASTY!
However, sometimes it is worth the trip just to get out of the town, and get a change of routine. That can be fun. I think you should. If you have never been to one, then this is a great opportunity for you to find out what everyone is talking about.
Watch out for their tofu in the deli case, it has CILANTRO in it! YUK!!!! Well, at least down here it does, the land of Cilantro, that is what TX is. If you hate cilantro, you will hate TX! Nightmares about cilantro, little cilantro leaves with fangs, and razor sharp claws taking over the world...I really hate cilantro!
we have a whole foods, but it is on the other side of town, about 35 min from house. I go every sunday. It is definitely worth it for alot of stuff but also expensive so I just try to get the stuff I can't find anywhere else.
we are getter a Trader Joe's in nov. and I can't wait!
Is the Whole Foods worth the 1.5-hour drive? That depends on what you want or need.
I'd say yes, if:
--You and your husband's activity is centered around a vegan-friendly city.
--You need to stock up on food. The selection at Whole Foods is very vegan-friendly and a little overwhelming. Hold off on much produce shopping, unless they have something that's hard to find or on sale. The prices are good but I can oftentimes find fruit and veggies cheaper at my Farmers Market or Trader Joe's.
--You are feeling adventurous and want to try new and delicious food for fun. The selection at Whole Foods includes separate bulk bin sections, nut bar, wine bar, fruit/veggie juice bar, soup bar, coffee bar, etc. Indulge in samples. Ask for assistance on samples from the delis, bins, chocolates, and any unopened packaged stuff. The employees are usually really willing to let you try anything at the store so you don't have to waste money on something you don't like. Curious about an ingredient or need a recipe or vegan vitamin supplement? Ask an employee.
--You enjoy wine-tasting, want get a massage, maybe try a cooking class, have a great brunch. Check the Whole Foods calendar because they have a lot of themed activity days, many vegan-friendly, gluten-free day, chocolate, cooking classes, wine-tasting, etc.
--It's hard to please the palates of both you and your husband. Whole Foods offers a brunch buffet, multicultural foods, deli and hot/cold sections, pizzas, soup and salad bars, etc.
Oh man, I'm starting to sound like the Whole Foods PR machine. I don't work for them. But I have a Whole Foods, several Trader Joe's, Vons, Ralphs grocery stores near me and I find myself at shopping at Whole Foods more than the other stores out there because they're so vegan-friendly.
Enjoy your day trip with your husband. :)
I say go and experience it. Bring some bags for groceries and a cooler for frozen foods and see what they have to offer.
It really depends on your location and how the store is run if it is phenomenal or not. And you wont know that until you go and walk through it.
My recommendation would be to note down prices of things you are buying now. Does your local health food store charge over $10 a pound for Nutritional Yeast? How much is a months supply of vitamins? Soy yogurt for $2.51? (Yes, these are actual prices my local charge an arm and a leg HFS charges, ugh!)
Take the price list with you and go have fun. Check out the cool bulk section. Buy some neat flour or nuts or candies. Scoop up some fresh ground peanut butter. Look at the bath supplies or cookbooks or yoga goodies. You can totally spend hours enjoying the store. And get an awesome meal!
This theory that every store, even in the same chain, is different is important to remember. My local TJ's is a nice store but NOT vegan friendly. They have a few basic vegan staples but not a whole lot. Those stores in other cities that have TJ brand vegan foods are way way lucky!
For what it's worth, I have a very good friend that works for WF corporate and they really practice what they preach on many, many levels. They took a lot of flack when they bought Wild Oats, but much of it was unfounded and reactionary. I am sure someone out there has a "I worked at WF and they treated me bad" story, but the company has a stated goal of sustainability and they practice it from their store lay-out to the food on the shelves.
I know for certain that they have a feng shui consultant on staff and they bury crystals in their store foundations. They don't even have their store shelving units out-sourced. They tend to be built by smaller companies.
I don't have a WF in my town (fortunately I have plenty of other options), but I think they are sound, from my moral perspective.
Thanks for all the great, informative answers! It definitely seems like an experience!
Am I the only one who wants to vote no here? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Whole Foods. I go there almost every day, but it is also very convenient to me. I don't think I would drive an hour & a half to go there. I would think that if I had kids, and the rare opportunity came to enjoy a full day & night alone with my husband, I would think of other things to do besides grocery shopping. But, thats just me & me two cents. I suppose if there were other things to do in the area of the WFs & that was just going to be part of the trip it would be worth it to stop by & check it out.
I LOOOOVE Whole Foods and when we have an opportunity to go to one, we do. The closes TJ's is about 50 minutes from here and even though I like some of their products, their produce in the store here is pretty lame and the quality of some items is just not up to par with WF. For example the olive tapenade you can buy at WF is heads above the stuff at TJ's IMO. I would say go for it ;), and as others have said, make sure to bring a cooler.
well, my WF seems to be very lacking. they don't have NY (in fact, I couldn't find nooch anywhere in the store last time i checked, had to pay $30 from the HFS) and they don't have beans, spices, or vital wheat gluten, and there are hardly any nuts. could there be some hidden bulk section i never see? gah! AND i've yet to see the vegan deli section i hear about from others. they have some waaaay overpriced vegan desserts, but that's it. except for the huge salad bar, which does have a very nice vegan selection. however i find that most of the stuff i try from the salad bar is absolutely NASTY. i hope people don't think tofu and tempeh and other vegan/natural foods are gross because they eat it from there and that's their only exposure to it.
virginiah, it would stink if you took the trip to realize that that WF is like mine, with sub-par selection. i mean, besides the deli and bulk section there are a lot of vegan items i get there because though kind of expensive, it's still cheaper than the HFS down the street from my house... stuff like vital wheat gluten (boxed), natural cereals, and most vegan sub kind of stuff (i.e. tofutti, fyh cheese, tofurky, ice cream). which is a plus.
so i guess if you want to stock up on stuff you can't normally get, it's worth a try! at least then you'll know. otherwise, i'm with lisaanddini-- don't go unless you can really make a fun weekend out of it!
I have a couple of good HFSs near me. Whenever I go into Whole Foods it's a let down, comparatively. At the same time, if you don't have access to nooch where you are, it'd be worth the trip. Get the vegetarian support kind with B12.
eta: After reading the last comment, I say, stay home and enjoy a quiet day.
I LOVE Whole Foods, I go occasionally and spend a good amount of time in there.
Check out their beauty/personal care isle - they carry some great natural, organic and cruelty free brands - i love MyChelle skincare.
Whole Foods is 100% worth the drive. If there wasn't one 30 minutes away from me, I would drive to the next one (which is about an hour away). It seriously rules!
i say go for it, especially if you kinda enjoy grocery shopping in general and just like wandering around the aisles looking at all the interesting things that you probably wouldnt even buy (like i do). stock up, get some vegan goodies from the bakery case and enjoy them back at your hotel room.
(the main reasons i go there is for the ny, quinoa and silken asceptic packs of tofu.. for some reason no other grocery store in my area carries shelf stable tofu.. wtf chicago??)
... and they bury crystals in their store foundations.
Huh? crystals? I don't get it, why would you want to do that? ???
(the main reasons i go there is for the ny, quinoa and silken asceptic packs of tofu.. for some reason no other grocery store in my area carries shelf stable tofu.. wtf chicago??)
have you looked at asian stores for the tofu? i get mine from the asian supermarket by me (dunno if youve heard of mitsuwa in arlington heights..its way cool. they have vegan jello mix too!) and its wayyy cheaper than the grocery store and whole foods
Coming from an area that didn't have a WF I have to say it's nice going into a store where I know I'll find a lot of great vegan food. On the other hand...it's extremely disgusting walking by the cheese and meat counters. They have some cheese in there that smells like dirty feet festering with pus. I wish I didn't have to pass through it to get from the bakery to the soymilk section.
(the main reasons i go there is for the ny, quinoa and silken asceptic packs of tofu.. for some reason no other grocery store in my area carries shelf stable tofu.. wtf chicago??)
have you looked at asian stores for the tofu? i get mine from the asian supermarket by me (dunno if youve heard of mitsuwa in arlington heights..its way cool. they have vegan jello mix too!) and its wayyy cheaper than the grocery store and whole foods
yeah the asian grocery store is up next on my list of new places to check out. that mitsuwa place sounds like a good find, unfortunately being car-less limits me getting out to the burbs for shopping.
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