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| - Whole Foods isn't exactly mainstream or accessible to everyone (particularly if you don't live in a city of good size), but it at least seems pretty widely known. Considering this, I'll veer from describing their products and cut to my pros and cons.
Pros:
Lots of natural (and not so natural sometimes--still need to check your labels) health and beauty products in one spot.
Impressive amount of otherwise hard to find items in these areas: grains, olives, cheeses, organic meat, organic produce, international dry goods, teas, non-HFCS drinks.
Friendly staff who are knowledgeable, or willing to track down the right person to help if you have questions about a product.
Cons:
The parking lot could never be big enough. Look for the song about this on youtube; it is true of all Whole Foods.
The vegetarian selection for the food bar has sunk really low in the past 6 months (fewer options, what is there sits out too long and isn't fresh, items that the do make aren't as good as items they removed from menu).
The food bar is super expensive...for a food bar.
Across the board, prices are too expensive for all products.
As for the three star rating, no Whole Foods will ever wow me. If you are looking for a shop to be impressed with that is similar, look to the models of 17th Street Market in Tucson, AZ or Berkeley Bowl in Oakland, CA. They do basically the same stuff and more, all for a lot less money. In Tucson, I bought strictly organic groceries and you can purchase almost twice as much fresh produce for the same price. I'll use the Whole Foods because I haven't found a good alternative in Pittsburgh, but that doesn't mean I have respect for it like the other places I named.
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