I love this. Must come to Annapolis, MD!

I really do love this idea, but its also kinda scary if you have food allergies.

I have to agree - I like the idea, but it scares the heck out of me. Not because of allergies, but rather because I have OCD. No sooner than I finished thinking "Oh, what a nice idea", my mind started racing with avenues of contamination for giant communal vats of milk, wine, and beer. Don't get me wrong - I know my cosy little plastic jug of milk could kill me just as easily as sucking it straight out of the cow, but there just seem to be so many more opportunities for mishandling when it's not sealed at the original point of distribution. Obviously, it can be done right, or the UK officials would have shut down theirs by now, but I don't think I'd ever manage to walk through the place without twitching.

My son has food allergies and I'm a germaphobe so I agree with Justin and Lacy, this would not work for me.

I would be all over this. I like my grocery stores to have a good bulk section. Whole Foods usually has a decent bulk section, but the one near me only has a tiny one. Berkeley Bowl has an amazing bulk section and is probably the best grocery store I've ever seen. Too bad it's on the wrong side of the country.

Great idea, but I'd be concerned about the sheer weight of the containers that you'd have to carry back and forth.

I tend to think that allergies are from being in a too clean environment, so even though this might not work for people who have already developed allergies... younger kids it might be okay for?

However, this sounds awesome.

It would be awesome! I used to pretty much do this in college at the co-op anyway. They let you bring your containers, we'd just write the tare weight on the bottom on masking tape or with permanent marker. It was pretty amazing how little trash we produced by only buying in bulk + buying veggies sans packaging.

This is fabulous. I would love to shop there. I hope it becomes a wildly successful store, like the last grocery store I remember starting up in Austin TX.... It's like Whole Foods, but actually whole foods.

For the folks worrying about germs, I don't understand how this is different from buying produce at a typical grocery. The greater danger of contamination is at the farm, not the store. Just wash your food properly. Or am I missing something? If they sell bulk milk, I'd assume it comes out of a spigot, not an open vat. They still have to pass health inspections.

I shop at a co-op where you have the option of bringing your own containers for a lot of things. They have bulk dispensers holding everything from the typical grains/beans to candies, flours, oils, vanilla, honey, olive oil, yeast etc. And of course there is no reason to put, say, three apples in a plastic bag, or five carrots, or whatever. So I usually don't end up using any kind of garbage for my food at all when I shop there.

It is not hard to bring my own containers (I keep a canvas bag full of jars/tupperware in my car). It is simple to weigh the container + lid and write the tare on the container with a sharpie. There is a simple little scale in the store, for exactly that reason. Once I've brought a container in once, I don't have to weigh it again (unless the sharpie rubs off of course).

This concept gives me the hebe-gebes. I have seen people reach into these type of food dispensers with their hands to get the exact food they wanted. One mom encouraged her kids to 'play' with this food and they had a great time stirring the flour, nuts, cereal, etc. even eating as they went. They were eventually thrown out of the store but in the meantime they contaminated a lot of the store's food.

I love the concept and wish it were coming to Chicago sometime soon. But I know it's no possible right now as the city just spoke out against places that let you bring your own containers to stores. Crap, if you as me. Something about contamination possibilities. How it's any different than using a store-bought container is beyond me.

Wow, what a great idea! I do buy a lot of bulk items from my local co-op, but I'd love a larger selection of bulk items, especially beer!. I do bring my own containers to hold my purchases. The first time I bring in a new container to use, the staff weights it and writes the weight on a piece of tape on the container. When I go to pay, the cashier subtracts the weight of the container from the weight of the purchase so I'm not paying extra for the container.

This is my DREAM! Too bad it will be years and years before it makes it's way to the rural parts of Illinois: (

We already have Bulk Barn in Canada where you can buy a lot of food staples. Works for me. We can't bring our own containers though.

Winco stores are only in the western US but they have a terrific bulk section. They don't really advertize the bulk foods but they have hundreds of items and the prices are much lower than buying the packaged items in the other stores. The person who takes care of the bulk section will also sell us unopened bags if we want to buy 25 pounds of flour at once. My favorite section is the Jelly Bellies. Each flavor is in a separate bin so you can buy a single flavor or make a custom mix.

It's about freaking time someone figured this out. Too bad we had to kill the ocean and deforest so much before we did so. On the one hand, I agree that people (rudely) let their kids reach in and play with food - but it's a no-brainer. The stores should have spigots, and signs making it clear that anyone letting their kids mess with the sanitary nature of the store will be asked to leave (and sued if necessary).

On the other hand, if you buy produce, it's the same deal. That's why I container-grow my food at home if at all possible.

Tip: Pyrex are heavy; use Chico bags, Snack Taxi produce sleeves, and Tiffins, which are amazing and light.

I would love to shop at a store like this, the only problem I potentially see is parents bringing in grubby snotty little kids in that are going to run around touching everything... which I suppose already happens, but its much easier to wash a carrot than it is to wash lets say spices.

Do realise, Justin R., that packaged food is no cleaner than unpackaged food, especially where fruit and veg are concerned. And also don't forget you should *always* wash stuff when you can, whether packaged or not.

This is awesome and I'm SO jealous that I don't live close to a co-op or bulk food store (although I do love my Trader Joe's). I wonder if stores like that also send your receipt via email as opposed to printing it out? I get so worried about our planet when my 15 item purchase solicits a 15 inch long receipt... such a waste!

Thank you for posting this newsy article; I love the Kitchn :)

We have Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, and then Berkeley Bowl as well. Not 100% packaging free by any stretch, but I've never seen better selections of bulk food items.

I'm not concerned about germs, but there's always the potential for allergen contamination.

My food coop has lots of things in bulk that you wouldn't normally think of - salsa, earth balance, kimchi, frozen peas and corn, etc - and I bring my own containers all the time. This isn't a new idea.
I don't like that they are advertising as zero-waste. I volunteered for years at the coop and know that even if consumers aren't using new containers, the food comes in boxes, bags, etc. Bananas come in boxes lined with plastic wrap. There is no plastic-free existence, even if you pursue it to the point of driving yourself nuts.
That isn't to say we shouldn't do what we can, though. I am currently living away from home temporarily and have to shop mostly at trader joe's, and I am totally disgusted at the amount of packaging I have to throw away on a daily basis!

If everything was filled by a member of staff from behind a counter, then I would consider this. The company would also have to be VERY vigilant about cleaning containers and checking for spoilage. However, I won't even touch the bulk bins at my local grocery store for two reasons 1. I've seen rotting food in some of them before...I can't get it out of my head now when I look at them elsewhere 2. Dr. OZ shared a gross-out statistic that the most common thing found in the bottom of the bread roll bins at grocery stores are fake fingernails. Even if this is not the case, I would worry about people coughing etc. near the bins. I have an autoimmune disease and do not have money for doctor visits so anything which increases my risk of getting sick is automatically out.

I think I must be confused here. A lot of people are complaining about kids running around touching things, but I don't see the problem. Do children have ebola on their hands now? You're presumably going to cook everything so aren't germs kind of a non-issue?

Oh, how I love living in Austin! Not only because this place is doing away with a lot of packaging, but because most of their products will be coming right out of central Texas :)

I once watched a man with open soars on his hands and face pick a dried aprocot out of the bulk section with a toothpick (where did he get a toothpick?!?!) and havent been able to bulk shop since.

I should offer some advice to people cringing at the thought of bulk bins: don't read the FDA's tolerance level of certain things in canned food, or any other packaged food. You'd never eat again. Buy your food locally and fewer hands will have touched the stuff. But really, you probably pick up more germs from those restrooms you use at restaurants than you ever will from a bulk grain bin.

Yeah, pre-packaged stuff seems to go through enough recalls/food scares/etc. that unpackaged really probably isn't that much worse.

We have a chain of grocery stores around here (Henry's) with a huge bulk section. I go through waves of buying/not buying.

I'm not sure I understand people's points about bulk being no worse than the farms or original sources for food. I think the point is, after you take any risk of contamination from the farm, then from the processor, then from the shipping and stocking, bulk offers another risk of contamination from customers who are free to cough, sneeze, touch, taste and do whatever else with the food. Packaged food is not guaranteed safe, but bulk food offers an additional risk of contamination. Further, bulk products have no sell by dates for you to check. You have no way of determining if the product was put out for sale a day ago or a year ago, nor how long you have to consume it before it is no longer good to eat.

Don't get me wrong, I buy in bulk very frequently and I particularly like the bulk containers that drop food down a shoot instead of those that require you to scoop your food out.

But I wonder how people recommend one wash dried fruit, nuts, crackers, spices, sauces, and other food items that can be bought in bulk and that you might otherwise want to consume directly.

This sounds wonderful. Even the local coop has a lot of packaging, and for me it's a waste. I can check almost anything online if I am worried about the health of a product.
Come to Tucson!.

@MissMarnie maybe we'll be lucky and AT will do another post on the challenges in our new world. These issues will come up unexpectedly (remember when people realized that hybrid cars could be dangerous because they're so quiet?) and if we want to keep our planet in tact, we will have to find solutions. Let's get on it.

The onus of health code standards should be on the store. The shoot is a good idea; as consumers we need to take a few seconds to pass that along to Whole Foods or whereever we get our bulk grains: we've seen unsanitary habits by customers that could put your store in jeopardy or fines by health inspectors. Fix it. We can't keep using wasteful packaging and expect the ocean to remain healthy.

You're correct, there is no way to sanitize nuts, grains, etc, and even doing so with food is iffy; once the bacteria attaches itself to a solid surface, rinsing it only feeds the bacteria, and soap at the non-toxic level is probably not sufficent; food is not the same as glass or metal (virus / bacteria have a hard time surviving on thsoe surfaces).

Innovation is what will make all the difference. Let's ask for it!

This reminds me of my grandparents' general store in Mexico. People came in and bought what they needed: one bar of soap, a couple of eggs, one stick of gum (!). I live alone and hate having to overpurchase items.

How funny... My first thought was "Oh, we'll never see that here." and then I got to the line where it was opening in my town.

It sounds like a neat concept. I already annoy the Central Market people for not bagging my veggies and fruits (except for the little stuff like snap peas and salad mix) and forcing them to type in the codes themselves.

For all those concerned about health issues, Canada already has a huge chain of stores called Bulk Barn where most everything is sold from bins... and so far as I know none of us up here are keeling over from any bulk-borne diseases!

I would definitely purchase certain things in this way. I'm curious though - how do they make sure that you only pay for the product you are purchasing (by weight, I'm sure), and not the weight of your container?
And hey, what if I need to buy flour, but I still have like 3 cups of it in my home container? Do I need to purchase a spare container just for the purchasing?

@ merricontrari, the trick is reusing paper or plastic bags - very light, easy to store in your larger shopping bags, and don't affect the purchasing weight. Then you top up your heavier (glass/plastic) containers at home. I have an assortment of these bags ready to go shopping, plus awesome little netting bags for fruit and veg that can go straight into the fridge. Until I find a local co-op (or In.Gredients!!) I have to shop at WF - sometimes they give me a little discount on all the bags I reuse...

Nope. I saw a little boy playing in the bin of nuts at Whole Foods, and that's all I can think about.

I love this concept! I always buy from the bulk bins!

I recently saw some pieces on shows like CNN and the journal with Joan Lunden that were talking about issues and solutions for industrial recycling. This eliminates even having to have the conversation. If they came to LA I'd make it my go to.