Whole Foods

Photo by Michael

Lisa and I walked over to the grand opening of our Whole Foods this morning, arriving a little bit before the speeches and bread-breaking. It is beautiful inside, and actually doesn’t look real yet because everything is so perfectly arranged. The meats section is only wrapped meats—no butcher counter—but they wrap the meat in the back of the store and can get you a custom quantity of something if you find the right person to ask. Everything else is pretty much ideal. The aisles are wide and well-lit, and the overall layout is not as confusing as many Whole Foods locations. There’s a huge prepared foods area, a florist who is really excited about her job and is happy to do custom work of simple bouquets up to weddings, a cheese counter where they are eager to serve samples, a small bakery section, and plenty of produce. Lisa and I shop the periphery of grocery stores far more than the interior aisles, and we are delighted with what we are seeing. And they gave us goodie bags as we left, which was certainly a nice reward for going over for the opening. After so much anticipation, and so many years of disappointments with Wild Oats, it is amazing to have this Whole Foods in our neighborhood. Walking distance from our house!


Bread-breaking, photo by Michael

By the way, non-press photography is not allowed inside Whole Foods. No, really. Especially when every person in local and regional management is walking around the store. As I explained about a dozen times over 45 minutes, [redacted] gave me permission. To their credit, every single person immediately said “Oh, it’s ok then!”


Wide aisles, photo by Michael


Fresh fish, photo by Michael


Fresh fruit, photo by Michael


Bakery, photo by Michael


Fresh flowers, photo by Michael