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| - I live in Yorkville so Whole Foods is my local supermarket.
We used to have a Loblaws over on Yorkville and Yonge but it's condos now. For a long time there was NO grocery store in the neighborhood, except for the Green Grocer at Bay and Bloor which is the Sears of grocery stores.
Along comes Whole Foods with it's eco-friendly tag lines and gourmet products like Toronto was getting a favor.
Here is what you need to know if you're looking for good organics, specialty products, vegetarian stuff and fresh food when it comes to Whole Foods:
1. The produce is crap. I get that this is good for Americans, but Americans have terrible standards when it comes to fruits and veggies. This Whole Foods is always out of staples (like onions) and it's way over priced. You want good organics try Kensington Market, the fruit stands at Spadina and Bloor or the Farmer's Market on Wednesdays at City Hall. Half the price, twice the quality.
2. If you're vegetarian like me, or health conscious at all, then Whole Foods has great selection in the staples: sugar-free peanut butter and soy milk are two things that I love, but i get frustrated when I can only find one brand in other store. Just because I don't like milk, doesn't mean I don't want variety in my soy milk choices. Similarly, spices, nuts and cereals selections are great at Whole Foods.
3. If you're not into white people food, good luck. When you can't find variety in your hot sauce in a grocery store, you're in a white neighborhood. Just deal with it. Whole Foods is great variety for its bulk customer: mainly white + rich. If you're looking for variety in your Mexican food, don't go to Whole Foods.
4. Fresh food. Here's where the trial and error really begins. The sushi is middle of the road. The salad bar is hit or miss (for example: the sesame cucumber noodles are amazing, but they couldn't cook tofu to save their lives). The soups are generally good, but it's the hot food that's the real gamble. Again, the white rule is a good one. They can make chicken, but forget their curry, it's bland. And never ever buy pre-cooked fish, fish can't be sitting under warming lights or in warming trays because it overcooks.
My favourite part of Whole Foods is their cheese guys. They really know their cheese and the fresh, wild caught fish is totally worth the price. Oooh, and finally, they have a good little bakery counter for truffles and cakes. Two things I like decadent and small. And so does Whole Foods.
My most hated thing: $17.99 for cat litter. Are you kidding? Even the President's Choice Green line is $6.99 (in comparison to $4 approx. for the others). Let's keep this in check, your cat is going to crap on this product and you wanna charge me almost $20? The joke is on you if you buy into that.
All in all: you can get 90% of the products at Whole Foods in Kensington Market or St. Lawrence for a third of the price.
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