Just another rave for Penzey's. I'm so glad I finally starting buying my spices here. I resisted for years thinking the quality couldn't be that much different than what's available at the grocery store. I also wrongly assumed they would be more expensive. Thank goodness I finally saw the light.
Over the years, I've become a vegetarian and started eating whole foods diet. Weaning myself off of frozen meals means I spend a lot of my free time cooking and baking from scratch. All of the time spent in the kitchen helped me realize how important it is to use the best ingredients that I can afford.
What I love about Penzey's is that all their spices are available as 1/4 cups jars. Not only does this save a bunch of space, it's ensures that you will have faster turnover of your spice inventory. Usually a 1/4 cup is more than enough to last you for a year or two. For things I use frequently, I buy the larger bag and refill the small jars as needed. Their empty containers are also cheap. I got a 16oz jar to make it easier to measure salt when I'm cooking.
As I stated before, I really though Penzey's would be more expensive since they are a specialty shop. I was happily proven wrong. Even whole spices like cardamom pods and cumin seeds are similarly priced to Lee Lee's or Mekong. As a baker, I'm a nut for their Vietnamese cinnamon and double strength vanilla. These are definitely gourmet items so it wouldn't be fair to compare them to inferior versions found at Fry's, but Penzey's is way cheaper than Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma.