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| - I LOVE Whole Foods. I actually used to shop here quite a bit, but then moved down South, where it becomes much more of a trek to get to a Whole Foods. I've moved back up North, and now I can shop at this store again!
I went shopping here tonight, and I remembered why I love Whole Foods so much. All you have to do is look at the butter section understand why Whole Foods is so amazing. I counted at least 15 different kinds of butter, and each of them was unique in some way. At some point or another, I've tried each of them, and the more expensive, specialty brands are far superior to the regular butter you'd find on the shelves of most other grocers. I love Keri Gold Irish butter, which I get at Trader Joe's, but there are even better varieties of butter here. For people who are not familiar with the different varieties and qualities of butter, it may be a bit confusing to have so many different choices, but any of the butters here will do you just fine in any recipe. If you're making a special butter sauce for a hot date one night... I'd suggest that you splurge for one of the premium (and very expensive) butters. Just use it sparingly.
On the staple items: milk, bread, flour, etc, Whole Foods has reasonable prices, in line with other grocers (maybe not in line with other grocers' sale prices, but in line with the standard prices). If you want high-end specialty items, the nice thing about Whole Foods is that you can find them. The bad thing is that, if you love food like I do, you'll constantly be tempted to splurge on the better food items because... well... they're just sitting there, and on any particular item you think to yourself, "it's not THAT much more, and it's SO much better..." ... then you check out and realize that your quality-loving palate has spent you into debt on your weekly grocery shopping. My advice: go in with a plan on what you're going to get, and don't splurge on the high-end products unless it's a treat for yourself (and don't talk yourself into treating yourself on every item!), or you've got some ridiculously hot date who you're trying to impress.
I love the attitude of the people who work at the stores, and I love how responsive the store is to customer needs/wants. Several months back, I noticed that Whole Foods was getting low on Valrhona chocolate (which was the chocolate of choice at L'Orangerie Restaurant... and became a favorite of mine). I inquired about the low levels of chocolate, and was informed that they were discontinuing that product line in favor of another, lesser quality (in my mind) brand. I complained at the time. I came home with a bar of Valrhona chocolate tonight. Thank you, Whole Foods!
I love that when I buy fish they are not only happy to give me ice, but they expect that some people will ask (note: you should ALWAYS ask for ice when you buy fish), and they quickly and pleasantly retrieve ice for you. AND, when you check out (at least, here in ridiculously hot Arizona), they ask if you need ice for your groceries for the ride home. What service!
Interesting tidbit: Did you know that Whole Foods lets its employees at each store decide the decor of the store? That's why you'll find Whole Foods in some neighborhoods to be far more college-towny, while others, like this particular location (Scottsdale Rd & Mayo) are very upscale. The stores are designed to the tastes of the residents surrounding the store... and Whole Foods corporate figured out that free market principles work: the corporate office has no clue what those of us in Scottsdale want our store to look/feel like... the employees who live around that store most certainly do. They delegate that job, and the result is that each store is slightly different, and caters to the people who are going to shop there: the locals.
I am absolutely in love with Whole Foods.
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