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| - How many vegans does it take to change a light bulb?
I'm better than you.
Wake one of our nation's free-range, hacky-sack kickers from a sound sleep, ask him where he shops, and the muttered response will be, "Whole Foods, man, now give me back my buckwheat husk neck pillow!"
Or, in the suburban sprawl between Cleveland and Akron, his response could well be, "The SEED! Mustard, that is, now give me back my Earth Therapeutics sleep mask, brah!"
Now, there is a third choice. In one of our area's many, many soul-less strip malls you'll find Earth Fare, the latest attempt to suck another couple grand annually from the way above average household in the area. Now, don't get me wrong: the place is clean. It has WAY more room than Mustard Seed. A previous reviewer's take that the employees are devoid of that certain "I work in an organic market, worship me" attitude is spot-on. (I moved here from a small town with TWO Whole Food markets, a mile-and-a-half apart, so I have health food store cred. Oh, and a severely diminished net worth.)
(An aside: My dear, departed Mother shopped once a week, for the eight of us. Take a look at the average purchase at one of these stores. They must be shopping, what? Ten, fifteen times a week? For a certain number of Whole/Seed/Fare shoppers, it is a social event, a way to fill the day, a less-awkward singles bar. Curious.)
So, there is much to recommend. But the bottom line is this: You are paying for all those smiling, uber-informed market workers. You are paying for the globe-spanning food, wine, beer and merch selection. And you are paying, dearly.
Is it worth it? (Can't wait to see if this moves the Mustard Seed to clean up their act, although, with the die-hard customers that worship... uh, I mean shop there, they may see no need to change anything.)
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