Whole Foods Market

Reviews 3

JE

Jenny Clark

Update: I visited again on Wednesday morning and the store had calmed down since opening weekend. I upgraded my rating and provided the following updated comments as well: - The store does sell organic cucumbers that were decent quality!! Yes! - There are more than 3 egg brands. Not sure if I missed them the first time or if they added them after I first visited. Still not sure if they are Cornucopia graded. They do have organic Vital Farms eggs @ $8.99/doz....yikes! But, I dont think these are graded. Vital Farms can be confusing as they do have a strictly Vital Farms pasture-raised organic brand that does have a 4-egg rating but that is not the one this Whole Food sells. More to follow on this. -They didnt have organic grapes which was a little disappointing since I have bought them at other local stores recently and grapes are on the EWGs "Dirty Dozen" list for 2016. -Again, staff was very friendly and willing to go above and beyond to help. -And again, hoping for organic grass-raised beef products. I dont eat red meat but my family does once per week so hoping to buy high quality and safer meat. Currently, buying locally when available from the Farmers Market. Original post: Just went to this store yesterday and I was so excited for its opening. I guess my expectations exceeded what I actually saw. I wish they had more organic and non-GMO verified foods. I was hoping for organic grass-fed beef but I only saw grass-fed beef. This is just not good enough. I was hoping for trusted egg brands. The store was really busy but I only saw 3 brands. Maybe they had more somewhere else?? The brands were advertised as cage free but are not from verified pastured chickens. I wont be able to buy eggs there unless they expand their selection:-( Wish they would carry "Cornucopia" ranked brands (4 or 5 rating). They were pushing farm-raised salmon a lot but I wont touch farm-raised. I did buy $38 in wild-caught salmon. The fish must have been cut wrong or something. There were bones throughout. I buy wild-caught salmon all the time and have never had this problem. We had company for dinner and it was so embarrassing because we spend half the meal picking out bones. I also have little kids and had to carefully go through their fish so they didnt choke. By the time I ate my meal, it was cold. Huge disappointment. Was hoping they would have organic cucumbers and zucchini there but I did not see any. I can get organic zucchini at Publix but it is extremely hard to find organic cucumbers that are good quality. I was also disappointed in their medicine section. Was hoping to find more allergy medicines/treatments. Their selection was very small. I bought a supposed cough suppressant but it hasnt done anything. Was also hoping they would have W3LLPEOPLE makeup as I have heard Whole Foods carries this brand but I did not see it. They do have a great selection of Frontier Spices which I loved. The store itself is beautiful. Their prepared foods looked and smelled amazing. I do plan to approach these with caution though since Whole Foods has had such a problem with having their food recalled. Im super cautious of food safety since I have a child under 5. That was another thing I didnt like about the seafood department. Their fish is what I call market style where it isnt really protected from public germs/contact. My daughter was riding in the buggy and almost put her foot in the raw shrimp. Overall, I am really hoping Whole Foods grows on me, but my first impression wasnt that great. I will say too, that once the newness wears off, shopping in the store will be more enjoyable because after being opened for only 2 days it was just too crazy. Will revisit later this month. I will also mention that the staff was very friendly and helpful.

TI

Timothy Goolsby

This store is like a novelty food store, smoke and mirror kind of place. Although many of the products are of decent quality, the price range is off the mark. These stores are only located in high income areas, their slogan should be "your health matters to us, if you are wealthy". A 4 serving container of Bone broth costs 5 dollars here, an even smaller "high end brand" costs 7,that is insane. You can shop at walmart, buy intelligently, still coming out healthy and with more money saved. To me the Earthfare we already had was much better, the store looked nicer and had a genuine feel about it, this store has a corporate get rich feel. If you are wealthy and can spend extra I would still take notice of what im saying, price compare, see the prices an idividual can buy the same products online. It is evident to me why I have heard rumors of Wholefoods losing buisness. There is also a Freshmarket off Perry Hill that offers all the needs of a conscious shopper, with a better variety of wine and beer, along with many of the exact same if not better products as whole foods. Overall sumarry, Wholefoods is a store with the display of an organic market, yet has the feel of a corporate marketing scheme, as far as the stores already available in the area, especially with product comparison. I also see a lot of people commenting on the hotbar, about food setting out or them not keeping things stocked, I bet money its because of the price they charge, a few people may purchase, but id imagine much goes to waste, simply because of the lack in demand. If they dont restructure this store, I foresee them taking losses in the future with this location.

LO

Lori Collier

This Whole Foods isn’t going to make it and I’m really sad about that. They don’t have anything to draw customers in like Whole Foods do in other locations. The Birmingham, AL location has a wine “center” where you can get samples and talk to an expert about wine. Alpharetta, GA has a phenomenal prepared food section that shows customers really great recipes for foods you’ve looked at but never thought about purchasing. For instance, last time I was there they had Kale prepared several different ways. I’ve copy-catted some of those recipes at home ever since. Also, they have a big hot pizza and hot foods bar that is always busy so you know it’s fresh. The one in Montgomery, AL is just a high-priced grocery store with no spark. For the produce, I stopped going. I go to Costco and I get double or triple the size of their brussels sprouts and asparagus for way less per pound. The wine section is not well merchandised. It’s not labeled which wine is going to be sweet, bitter, or fruity. I used to go in and get their prepared white cheese queso, pico de gallo, and flour tortilla chips but they stopped making everything except the pico de gallo. I’m guessing not enough people were purchasing it to continue making it fresh. I love Whole Foods and I’m pissed that when things come here locally it’s done half-way. I really wish the store was constructed to have an attraction to some department to get shoppers involved and I wish management would have used that grand opening crowd to catch and maintain interest with ideas like out-of-the-box recipes where associates were handing out samples and recipe cards. Come on, it’s not that difficult!