What is so awesome about Whole Foods? I've never been.
I assume this varies by locality. In my area, the produce and meat are just so much better. The employees are generally friendlier. I love our meat counter guys. One of the deli workers was the highlight of my hospital lunch breaks. The prepared section has a lot more offerings.
I will admit that H's illness has sucked me into Whole Foods. We got so many gift cards that I just used the last one today, four months after H went into the hospital. I'm not sure I want to go back to the regular grocery store. LOL.
There are a few things I like better at the regular grocery store, though. Our WF has a good cheese selection but a shockingly small Wisconsin cheese selection while the regular grocery store has a TON of local cheese. The corn tortillas at WF are no bueno. The flour tortillas are good but only come in one size (soft taco), so they don't work for burritos. They carry Ben & Jerry's but not my favorite flavor (brownie batter core).
What is so awesome about Whole Foods? I've never been.
If you're into what I like to describe as pretty supermarkets, they're one of the prettiest. If you want your super special organic brand of whatever, chances are they have it. Their prepared foods are really tasty and their produce section is gorgeous (most organic fruits and vegetables are smaller, less perfect than their conventional counterparts -- not at Whole Foods.) They have cheese you can't find other places. It smells good in there.
:::shrug::: It's like the Nordstrom of supermarkets. A place where upper income people can buy pretty food.
Post by rupertpenny on Jun 18, 2017 20:36:16 GMT -5
Whole Foods has $3 wine. I served it at my wedding.
Living abroad I miss WF but I REALLY miss Amazon. Like 20 times a week I need something and I think how easy it would be to just get it on Amazon prime instead of doing an (usually unhelpful) google search and then running around to a million random store that might have what I need in what is usually awful weather. I threw B a very simple birthday party in our apartment common room last year and basically all I bought were snack, decorations, paper plates/napkins, and favors. I spent three days and about $250 doing that. If I'd had Amazon it would have taken me about 15 minutes to fill my cart and check out.
We used to be super into Whole Foods since my H has Celiac Disease and needs to be gluten free, but our local chain grocery store (Giant) now has such a large variety of gluten free products that we no longer need to go to WF. It's nice not needing to make the extra stop and it's cheaper at Giant for the same stuff. We rarely go anymore except if I need to find something more obscure. I'm also mad at them because they discontinued their gluten free pizza crusts that were excellent and reasonably priced so pooh on them.
I'm also not super into Amazon. I used to use it more when free shipping was $25 or more, but now that it's $40 or whatever it is now I rarely order from them. I don't have a need and it's easier to return stuff in store if I need to.
I am huge on ordering stuff online and returning in store. That's how I buy almost all my clothes these days.
Living a few hours away from major cities, Amazon is amazing for locating random things that aren't easy to find locally, or diversifying clothes/shoe options. However, their determination to take over shipping is getting frustrating. We ordered an easy-set pool last week, 34lbs; the size wasn't available in local stores. It was Prime, shipping free, but customer service claimed it was 'too heavy' to qualify for 2 day delivery, and it was scheduled to arrive today. Um ok, whatever. Purchased Monday night, label was created Tuesday morning. IT SAT THERE until 10:30pm Friday night when it got shipped to our town at 1am Saturday morning. Tracking confirms it was sitting at a distribution center 1 HOUR AWAY from our address for 4 DAYS. So, it's technically arriving 'on time' today. This bullshit never happened when they were contracted with UPS.
Post by irishbride2 on Jun 19, 2017 10:42:49 GMT -5
I generally do not like WF. However, I will say they are AWESOME with allergies. I treck over to ours (it's 30 minutes away) once or twice a year to get DS some special treats.
Post by irishbride2 on Jun 19, 2017 10:45:57 GMT -5
I also think WF is amazing if you live somewhere without one of the fancier grocery chains. If you have Publix, or Wegmans, or Harris Teeter, you probably think WF is not worth the upcharge (which is how I feel).
ETA I only listed East Coast chains because that is what I am familiar with. There are certainly nice chains everywhere.
Woah. 😐 Thanks for posting; H & I were just discussing last night & now I don't need to research to provide him with answers to our questions.
*Also we don't have a local Whole Foods, so I've only been twice- always visiting friends/ vacay-ish, so, um, we start the trip(s) with a drink of two FROM THEIR BAR! Thus, I'm a huuuge fan!
What is so awesome about Whole Foods? I've never been.
I have no idea. One opened here a couple of years ago and so far as I can tell, the best thing about it is the food trucks parked outside on Sundays. We struggled mightily to do our weekly grocery shopping - just bought some sweets from the bakery and decamped for another store with better prices. We don't have any special dietary needs nor a specific desire to have chia in everything, so we are not the target customers lol.
I also think WF is amazing if you live somewhere without one of the fancier grocery chains. If you have Publix, or Wegmans, or Harris Teeter, you probably think WF is not worth the upcharge (which is how I feel).
ETA I only listed East Coast chains because that is what I am familiar with. There are certainly nice chains everywhere.
This. We have a local "fancy" chain and it's way more affordable than WF IME. But they don't have the extensive allergy-friendly products as WF.
What is so awesome about Whole Foods? I've never been.
They are also pretty great if I'm on the road for work and want something a bit healthier for food options, or if I want to grab stuff to take back to my hotel. There are a couple WF's in proximity of my employer's main office, and both are near the hotels I tend to prefer when I'm visiting.
Amazon, well, I feel like the odd one out. I could take or leave it. There are some things that are easier to find on Amazon. There are things that we trend toward for consumer goods that can only be found at smaller specialty retail shops (often online, too). I have an order from one of those shops coming this week, and can't wait for it to get here!
Living overseas with an APO address for a couple years meant that Amazon was helpful for some things we couldn't get locally, but it took so long to arrive we couldn't really count on it (1-2 weeks to 1-2 months, and pretty random as to what arrived quickly and what took forever).
I also think WF is amazing if you live somewhere without one of the fancier grocery chains. If you have Publix, or Wegmans, or Harris Teeter, you probably think WF is not worth the upcharge (which is how I feel).
ETA I only listed East Coast chains because that is what I am familiar with. There are certainly nice chains everywhere.
Putting Wegmans in the same league as those other two is blasphemy. 😉
I also think WF is amazing if you live somewhere without one of the fancier grocery chains. If you have Publix, or Wegmans, or Harris Teeter, you probably think WF is not worth the upcharge (which is how I feel).
ETA I only listed East Coast chains because that is what I am familiar with. There are certainly nice chains everywhere.
Putting Wegmans in the same league as those other two is blasphemy. 😉
As someone who is really interested in the intersection of tech and business, and also automation, I thought this article was SUPERB and gives me a new appreciation of Amazon. I agree that they're not a vertical monopoly and I respect the heck out of what they've achieved but it is slightly terrifying to have so much concentrated power. I didn't fully appreciate what they've built until reading this.
I will shop online but I only do so for stores that also have a brick and mortar store for returns. I know that packing something up and shipping it takes time as does going to the store to return but I prefer the latter. That way I get my refund right away and I'm done. I use Amazon once or twice a year and only for goods I'm sure I won't return. Also I'm not a crunchy granola person but all those boxes/packaging for online goods gives me hives.