I go once a month to pick up things not easily found at My local supermarket (Kroger or Publix)

As mentioned above its CEO is just about the biggest Looneytarian asshole on earth after the Koch brothers and Rand Paul.

I tend to not buy a lot of brands where I am happy to buy what is in the farmers market or local shoprite. I used to go there for lunch when I worked near one but we have a large organic section and locally grown food section in our shoprite, they are all individually owned and the owner is a neighbor of mine.

I get coffee and breakfast there when I go to my eye doctor, as it's practically next door. I like Trader Joe, Costco, and Safeway much better. I minimize my shopping there because of the owner. But I will give them credit that they opened a store where one was desperately needed, not in a poverty area, though.

I shop there because I live in a city and don't drive and it's a 5 minute walk from where I live, so I don't have much of a choice. I love the assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables and their proprietary brand (365) is pretty cheap. I actually like it, but then I am only shopping for myself. It might be different if you are shopping for a whole family. If you are smart about it, you can shop there pretty reasonably compared to most corporate grocery stores.

Although the produce section looks enticing be aware that most of the produce is the same stuff you can get at any regular grocery store but priced at about twice the cost. Be very careful. If it says conventional or even local it is no different than the stuff at your local Safeway, Giant, etc. The organics are marked organic. Organics are few and far between and way overpriced. I think a lot of people don't realize this.

Fish is better than the grocery store but the prices make it out of the question. Meat is OK if you stick to sales and again carefully read labels. One item that I particularly like at Whole Foods are the sausages. They are lean and tasty and have some unusual varieties. You can make a veggie dish very tasty by adding some sausage. I particularly like the lamb and mint. With eggplant and tomatoes. yum (not vegetarian).

I used to like their big bag of coffee beans. It was a reasonable price but then they changed it and it's not good anymore. Whole Foods does that a lot lately. I know for a fact that the CEO Mackey is also a good buddy of the Wal-mart folks so they seem to have taken the model of telling people something until they believe it then make it crap and people will still buy it.

Baked goods are another high point. Prices are terrible but it's sooooo good.

The last thing I will say about Whole Foods is this. I do like the fact that I can return items I don't like. This is super important to me because I have multiple chemical sensitivities and I can buy a soap or shampoo and if I react to it I can take it back. I dropped our local co-op because they wouldn't let me return things that I reacted to. I am very careful and try not to buy stuff unless I think I can use and sometimes I just eat it. But now and then if I have paid 20 bucks for something that should be natural and it's not I want my money back.

I love whole foods, but I buy mostly prepared foods. Really good, high quality food.

Sometimes I have to go to WF to get a product.

If I steel myself, I will stick to my list and come out OK
pricewise.

But that place is designed to get you to buy stuff, very
expensive overpriced stuff that you can get for much less
elsewhere.

It is definitely expensive. I consider Publix and Kroger at the high end for pricing and they are far above them. Even for the same brands. Last week it was exposed that they were mis weighing their prepackaged meals and over charging $3 and more for them. The poster above who said bring a scale, even though joking was spot on.

The (much more than) salad bar is great and a decent value (even at $8 or $9/lb). Love their saag panner, chicken tikka masala and naan. Also the couscous and cranberry salad thing.

Beautiful store but not for the cost-sensitive. I go pretty much only for the one meal (salad bar).

the food is great but be a carefull shopper .

One thing they do that I applaud is they carry no chicken from chickens who are caged. I freaking hate that idea and refuse to buy chicken that is not specified as free-range, and that goes for restaurants, too. You may reasonably deduce that I rarely have chicken at a restaurant.

Furthermore, the poster upthread who talked about the sausages had a good point. Terrific sausage; no comparison to anything else on the market.

I shop there, but selectively because I can't stand the politics of their CEO. I only buy loss-leaders, and since I buy nothing else, they lost on me as a customer.

Also, take a notepad or a recorder to note good food ideas. No iPhones! They politely stop people from taking photographs, at least at my WF.


Cher

And at better all round prices. I can buy antibiotic and hormone free meat and free range chickens for about 40% less.
Better bread at lower prices and much cheaper prices on veggies.

I only buy on sale. Hardly ever veggies, just chicken and sausage.

Unfortunately, here we only have one option at the other grocery stores if we want free-range. On occasion, they get in D'Artagnan, but that's a once in a while deal.

I looked up that one Whole Foods alternative store you mentioned a month or two ago and was shocked at your prices. You are very lucky there in Texas, at least in that regard.


Cher

The hot bar food can do serious damage to your wallet

I go to whole foods for a few things. I like that I can by a small quantity of fresh spices and flour. I also like to buy the organic oat meal and a few other dry goods. I don't need large quantities and this way I can by just what I need instead of large quantities.