I have never even seen a Whole Foods. - Page 2

[jeca]

I have never seen a trader joe's but we do have a WF here in town but it's at the north part of town which is a 45 minute drive from me.

[kimnt]

I also prefer local natural foods stores - they support the local farmers. Whole Foods is way yuppie to me. It's the supermarket of natural foods stores. They put a lot of pressure on the local farmers to lower their prices, or they threaten to go to the bigger producers. If you ever are near one, it's worth checking out to see how slick it is inside.
Trader Joe's has a lot of processed foods. If you cook almost everything from scratch, you have not much need for TJ's. They have a few very nice items for good prices though, like organic butter.

[LeighB]

Whole Foods is only great for specialty items. The produce I can get for half the price at a local store.
I'd love a Trader Joes here though!

[redclover]

i don't know if its true or not, but a few years back i heard a rumour about tj's using GM ingredients...so i don't have anything to do with them...does anybody know if that is really true?
as for that other place...too overwhelming. i love my little local co-ops and the farmers who know me by name. but we do have a weakness for greek yoghurt...

[hippiewitchie]

I have never been to a WF or TJ's either. There is one Hf store about 30 minutes from me I hit on occasion, but it's not that great. I had to stop buying milk there because it was always spoiled. Lucckily the other grocery stores near me do carry some organics and if the prices are OK I'll buy. There is a new HF store opening up 10 minutes from me. Hopefully it will be nice and not just another glorified vitamin shop!

[MrsMike]

I love our Whole Foods but I try to shop at local stores when I get the chance. I have found, in my area, that the homeopathic stuff at WF generally runs cheaper than my local health food stores. Plus, they now carry bumgenius. Awesome! The one we frequent is in a super upscale area and it's loaded with yuppies. My husband and I play a silly little game where whoever counts the most Mercedes in the parking lot wins. Still, I find a lot of regular, crunchy hippie-folk like myself there. Their staff is extremely nice and helpful. This is just one store, though.
Now Trader Joe's....we only have on in our area and I didn't see the what the big deal was about. We've only visited once and walked out with tissues and deodorant. I went in expecting to find loads of stuff based on what I'd heard. Our TJ is more expensive than our WF and I wasn't crazy about the selection. Is the selection something that changes often?

[csrabine]

Whole Foods is nice, and has a lot of options, but it can be a bit expensive. My local organic store (MOM's) usually has better prices and is a lot closer, so I shop there instead. Trader Joe's is even cheaper, but doesn't have as many organic options as MOM's, so I still buy from MOM's. If your local grocery store has organic options, that's still better than driving a long way to buy stuff at Whole Foods...

[TripMom]

I had to go to Vons to get something the other day. I hadn't been there in awhile, I guess - and I couldn't believe how surprised I was by the shopping selection? I've been spoiled going to groceries that specialize in more natural, organic foods - and now Vons seems really weird to me???