Whole Foods Market

Reviews 5

HO

hotnin yrag

Ive been shopping at Whole foods since before the big move and I have decided to write a comparative review. The first time I ever shopped at Whole Foods was at Rodney Parham. It was a smaller place but somehow everything seemed to work well. Some points: There was plenty of space to cue up behind the registers; the isles that were not cluttered and constantly well stocked with a great variety of products; THE FOOD BAR/SALAD BAR featured food that actually tasted FRESH and delicious; and finaly THE STAFF seemed to genuinely love being apart of the experience. I got to know many of them well including the "head chef," and several managers. The fact is, Whole foods Rodney Parham had something vital. It had HEART. (I recently visited two other WFM in other states that were well established and both had that same warmth) Fast forward to the move to Bowman and I look at my previous points with sadness. The "heart" I spoke of is not there anymore. Many of the staff that still remain from RP dont have that same excitement or happiness they once had and the newer staff members are not as happy either. I havent seen the same chef, no staffer can tell me where he is but I can tell one thing. THE FOOD IS NOT GREAT, not terrible though. Its usually the same thing on repeat every time I go in and if im decidedly suicidal Ill try only to be disappointed by under/over seasoning. No soul at all. The new smokehouse.... i could cry.... its always dry... old meat... at peak hours... The isles are pretty cramped and stocked with large amounts of popular items only, so much less variety. The packaged breads for instance have a small space but far too much store brand white bread (I wont even start on the bakery which is a problem much like the pizza/hotbar/smokehouse. point is... Whole Foods Bowman has become another cog in a heartless machine... perhaps its local management who focus more on the numbers instead of the little things... perhaps its a larger move by the Austin office to streamline and make everything the same... Who knows All I know... is if I want to be excited to go to WF and spend my money on things other than what I need.... Alot needs to change... Start by making your staff happy again... then... alow a proper chef to do what he does without crippling constraints... Then work on offering more of a variety Id be happy to spend more then... and so should every other customer... TL;DR: WF Bowman has lost the heart and warmth of the older store. This is mostly because everything the old store had right.... is now... not... thx Harrison

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AN

Andrea Schmidt

I do not have such a generous income as to warrant purchasing ALL of my groceries here, this is the only reason I am giving 4 stars and not 5 ..It is costly. It is, however, worth it for several reasons. The store itself is clean and the folks working here are friendly and helpful. The produce variety is quite large and the freshness is hard to beat. The meat section or rather the raw meat and fish section is always fresh and delicious and again very hard to beat. The cheese variety is better than you can find anywhere else unless you go to a cheese shop specifically. They have fresh Whole Foods brand treats as well like lemon hummus and alfredo sauce. There are many grass-fed and grass finished products to include meat and milk. Their Bakery is pretty good as well and they sell loaves of brioche which are delicious on its own as a treat straight out of the bag or turned into French toast. Tgey sell natural cosmetics and skin care products. They carry a vast selection of natural vegan and vegetarian health supplements. There is a fresh hot foods section as well as a soup and pizza and salad bar area for some ready made meals. There is even a fresh barbecued foods bar in the back for more ready made meals. Again, I purchase only a few select items from here and nearly always spend over $100 but its always worth it for the best meats, cheese, coffee and bread treats I buy.

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MA

Mark Smith

A few concerns having shopped here recently. On comparing to Whole-foods stores in Dallas, St Louis, Memphis and New Orleans, this store need to up its game for the following reasons 1.Fresh baked bread is rarely available before 11 am 2. The barbecue counter meats are dried out and overpriced. The pizza is often cold 3. Some items that should be in stock are hit and miss 4. Never see any management making routine checks 5. Some staff members ok but some hostile and may try to ignore you at the deli counter 6. One of the staff on the pizza counter is very unhelpful and you feel like it is a bother to him when you ask for help 7. Some pre-cooked meats are mouldy 8. Have often purchased berries and found half of them rotten and covers in mould 9. Out of date products are often left on sale 10. One brand of apple juice out of stock here for over a month - baffling how they cant get the stock orders right 11. The cracked pepper beef is often out of stock I am under the impression that unwanted or lower grade products are sent to this store having compared with 8 other stores. On a more positive note, the staff on checkout are often very nice and helpful To summarise, produce in this store is far too expensive to be hit and miss. There needs to be much better quality control for the customers. Head office take note.

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DA

Dadul Maharaj

Always over priced and the produce is not the best. The mangoes at the self serving bar smelled like dead fish. Also they always brainwash people with cage free, humane animal welfare, etc nonsense. The fact that they have to use that marketing strategy should tell you that its wrong. They might as well sell cage free cucumbers too! Plus the most barbaric sales tactic I ever seen topping the compassionate slaughter crap was dead animal flesh in the shape of a heart for Valentines Day. How psychotic can the meat industry get? The only reason I give it 2 stars is because they do off "some" vegan options. I still find it impossible for fruits and vegetables to be more expensive than animal products. They only do this to keep people eating flesh, blood and bones along with breastfeeding from a cow and eating the periods of hens. I expect backlash and people getting offended because the truth hurts. Will never understand why people dont get outraged by what they do to innocent animals?

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PA

Paul Hodge

TERRIBLE... I have been drawn to Whole Foods for the precooked meals; otherwise, I could less expensively purchase all their shelf products from Drug Emporium. Unfortunately, the new Whole Foods has less precooked meals than their old store. For example, they now have a barbecue meat section - it is terrible, very little variety and always over cooked. At the old store, they cooked the meats various ways -- this new store; its the same old story day after day, week after week, month after month. Another example is their hot food bar. Why dont they just copy the menu from the Whole Foods in Jackson MS or Memphis TN... this store manager obviously does not know and does not care to understand anything about his return guests. Final note: I am writing this because I spoke with two other of my single friends this week who also would have preferred relying on Whole Foods as their one stop shop. They, like me, have stopped going together.

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