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| - I started shopping at Sprouts when I was looking for a cheaper alternative to Whole Foods.
The Pros: They have killer specials on a lot of processed foods that are always pretty expensive at Whole Foods (Lara Bars, Late July, Emergen-C). Overall the store is reasonably priced. Shopping at Sprouts cut my usual grocery bill in half. I just don't think it is worth it.
The Cons:
They promote local(ish) meats, meat raised in the US, as if this is something to set them apart from other groceries. But they are vague about the origin of the meat. The last time I purchased meat at Sprouts, I returned it only 2 days later (2 days before the sell by date) because both cuts were spoiled already. Badly spoiled. This is a deal breaker for me. If I buy spoiled meat from your "butchered fresh daily" butcher, I can't go back.
Their produce is supposed to be local, but much of it is the same that you will find in any grocery. Their non-organic produce is very reasonably priced, and they have some good deals on the organic stuff too, but it is nothing special and certainly not worthy of the "farmer's market" spin that they put on it.
They don't always have what you bought last week. Their stock seems to shift, based on what they can get at a discount (to sell to you at a discount), but this is really inconvenient when you come to rely on certain grocery items weekly. (Edamame and other frozen veggies change regularly. The other day I went and they were completely out of pretzels, completely).
Bottom line, I don't like that Sprouts markets itself as a local farmer's market type store. I have not found this to be true and it isn't up to snuff as far as quality grocers go.
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