Note: Some of this is excerpted from my review of the Cupertino, CA review of Whole Foods that I wrote for Judy's Book. I really do like Judy's Book, and would love to see more people in my area (Sunnyvale and the greater Silicon Valley) make use of.
Here is the experiment that Young and I went through:
Young and I consider ourselves practical environmentalists in that we'll choose to do the right thing when we can, but are not willing make huge sacrifices in our lives in order to be more green. Yes, we do recycle, but are not wracked with guilt if we toss an aluminum can or plastic container in the regular garbage. If the prices of two products (one organic or sustainable produced, the other not) are close, we will always choose the more eco-friendly product. I suspect we're like many other 'practicing environmentalists', but are definitely not 'eco-zealots'.
At the time, we'd been reading quite a bit on the various private efforts that are being made to produce, identify, label and market foods that are produced in a low-impact sustainable manner. It occured to both of us that we'd be willing to pay a premium in order to shift some of our purchasing to those types of items if they were easy to identify, locate, and buy.
We knew that it was part of the Whole Foods philosophy to carry as many of those products as possible, so we decided to try the following for several weeks:
1. Purchase as much of our regular household groceries from Whole Foods.
2. Only buy from Safeway/Albertsons what we couldn't find at Whole Foods.
3. At the end of the experiement, decide if it was worth it.
For better or worse, we are back to shopping exclusively at our local Safeway store (recently remodeled, and really quite nice). Largely due to the reasons listed in the review below, we came to the conclusion that it just wasn't worth the extra time, money, or hassle in order to achieve a less environmentally impacting life.
Time: We had to make two trips instead of one because we could never find everything we wanted or needed at Whole Foods.
Money: Our average grocery expenses increased by about 20%. While not totally unreasonable, the impact was felt.
Hassle: Having to make two trips, suffer the parking shortages, and deal with the overly crowded aisles was just unbearable.
Here is a somewhat lengthy review of the Whole Foods Market store nearest our home:
I'm inclined to think that my rating of this particular Whole Foods location would be applicable to many of them. This is not to say that all Whole Foods locations are poorly run, but that the general philosphy of the Whole Foods chain seems to contribute to my disappointment.
To start, this Whole Foods has all of the organic responsibly produced products you typically expect from the retail chain. Everything from toilet paper to river salmon, beef franks to soy protein powder. Nothing wrong or at fault there.
Parking: The lot at this location is so undersized it is almost comical. During busy shopping times, my wife and I have actually given up trying to find an opening and instead stopped at Safeway on the way home.
Store Size: The store itself is also far too small to accomodate the customer traffic they experience. The aisles are much too narrow, in many cases not wide enough for two shopping carts to pass one another. The prepared foods and wine/cheese area is a particular mess, especially when poorly behaved children are in the area.
Product Selection: As I browse the goods offered for sale, I am sometimes reminded of how political the selection process must be at Whole Foods corporate. While they are willing to sell you a non-organic-certified bottle of wine, you will not be able to find a can of soda or fruit drink sweetened with aspartame or splenda. Too bad for you diabetics out there.
More on Product Selection: Although in general you could do your 'daily' shopping at a Whole Foods, there are definitely times when their lack of brand representation can make things awkward. Got a favorite brand or flavor of thoothpaste? Don't expect to find it there. How about a favorite maker of sugar-free chewing gum? Sorry, out of luck.
Prices: Yes, it is expensive. Much more so than a typical grocery store (Safeway, Albertsons). Vastly more so than a discount chain (Costco, Wal-Mart). But that is simply the price you pay for being able to consume food with a more or less clear conscience. If you are looking for competitive prices, this is not the place for you.
Service: This is defintely one place where Whole Foods does excel. The people know their store, their product, and are always available. There is never a shortage of staff at the meat/fish counter, and the checkout lanes are usually fully staffed.
So in the end, the hassles of physically shopping at this location (lack of parking, always too crowded inside) and the lack of certain products and brands was enough to send my wife and I back to the local Safeway for our daily shopping.
If we're looking for really high-end stuff for a dinner party, we'll still head to Whole Foods and suffer through the bad parts. But for regular needs, Whole Foods just doesn't quite do it for us.