Today was opening day for the new Whole Foods on 97th Street and Columbus Avenue, and we walked through the doors at 8:30 a.m. First up: a latte from the coffee bar, followed by a long stare at the gelato counter (yes, a gelato counter).
Like the Union Square store, this one is two levels, with prepared foods, bakery, and specialty items upstairs and the produce and grocery downstairs. A few highlights:
• Did we mention the gelato? It's all Ciao Bella, which, yes, you can buy by the pint. But it might be a nice thing to walk over for after dinner.
• There's a beer bar. You can buy a Whole Foods growler and have it refilled with the beers on tap. It's not as big as the beer room at the Bowery location, but it's a nice addition.
• We saw goat cheese-stuffed peppadews at the olive bar. Have they been reading the Kitchn?
• There are bulk bins! No spices, unfortunately, but even grains and nuts are an upgrade from the Columbus Circle store, which doesn't have a bulk section.
• Cheap chicken. We bought a (non-organic) vegetarian-fed, antibiotic-free, farm-traceable whole chicken for $3. It was 99 cents a pound, and it wasn't on sale. We've never seen this option at the other stores.
• New compostable packaging. We saw a lot of meat packaged in compostable trays, which we haven't noticed much in other stores yet.
• A large eating area. We occasionally like to grab lunch or a quick dinner at Whole Foods, but last time we were at the Chelsea store (no seating area), we had to take it to go. This store has a nice, airy eating area.
• There's a wine store next door. It's been open a week already, actually. It's not huge, but it's got a good selection and a cooler for instantly chilling a bottle you want to drink right away.
There was no line at the checkout—yet—so it wasn't a big deal that employee ringing us up had a little trouble. We'll be interested to see how they handle traffic flow when it's packed.
In our haste to get out the door this morning, we forgot our camera. Fortunately, someone else hit the store early: photographer Jamie Beck. We found her photos on Flickr, but you can see more of her work on her blog: From Me to You.
Anyone else in the neighborhood checked out the new store? What do you think?
Related: How to Save Money by Shopping at Whole Foods
(Images: Jamie Beck of From Me to You. Used with permission.)
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Whole Foods...I'll let you know after equitable health care legislation gets passed.
And when's Brooklyn getting one?
I'm checking it out after work tonight, so excited! Can't wait to have that butcher within a block of my apartment.
With John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, not only denying his employees health coverage (the effect of the high-deductible plan he offers his low-wage workers) actively campaigning against healthcare reform and universal healthcare, Whole Foods is a whole lot less appetizing.
Denying his employees health coverage? How so? Whole Foods pays 100% of the premiums for all employees who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all employees) in addition to paying $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars that they can use before they hit that $2,500 deductible. Mackey's a compassionate (his pay is $1 annually, he donates his stock portfolio to charities & set up a $100K fund to help employees with personal problems) and brilliant CEO as shown by his enormously successful company and innumerable happy employees.
I shop at Whole Foods BECAUSE of Mackey.
i went this evening during after-work rush. it's lovely, and i love the gelato counter. the store felt less chaotic than columbus circle and union square. and i didn't wait long in line at all! so happy to have a WF within walking distance, those the 12 blocks up to my apartment felt pretty long with my heavy bags tonight...still much better than columbus circle though.
Whole Foods has an anti-photography policy. I know because I've been told so by WF management. I wasn't even using a real camera--it was a camera phone. There are other people on Flickr who have been stopped as well. That's ok, it just makes taking photos at WF that much more exciting! Living on the edge.
There is a coffee bar at this WF? My WF doesn't serve coffee. They roast their own coffee and it's great.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/3362811337/in/set-72157615411474911/
But they don't serve it. I just assumed that because WF is often located in big commercial complexes there might be some sort of stipulation that they can't serve coffee to compete with someone like Starbucks that is probably considered an attractive tenant.
I went this morning. No protestors outside from the bodega lovers on the UWS. The store was well laid-out, clean, inviting and filled with friendly employees. The food looked delicious. I picked up a basket and began frantically stuffing things into it...Reggiano Parmagiano for $9.99 a pound, deep red Coho salmon for $15.99 a pound, some organic ground beef from a small purveyor in Skillman NJ ($7.99/pound). Where do people get the idea that WF is a rip off? If you want rip off, go to Gristedes.
Oh and when my basket got heavy, I simply began pulling it along, as their baskets have wheels. A nice touch I hadn't seen before.
I stood in line at the checkout for about 8 seconds before being sent to a friendly girl who processed my order. She told me they don't have plastic bags. I liked that. I paid 99 cents for a reusable bag made from recyclables and got a 10 cent rebate on it, so it was 89 cents.
It was, in sum, the polar opposite of the Gristedes and Associated experience. Upper West Siders (especially those north of 86th St) have been getting the shaft from grocery stores for decades. No longer. This WF is a total game changer as far as I'm concerned. It makes me happier to live here and makes our neighborhood a better place.
Of course there will always be whiners who say this is a negative. Many are reverse snobs who look down on people who like good food and clean stores. They have an inferiority complex and simply feel more at home in a filthy bodega.
They are the same people who say NYC was better when there were 2,400 murders a year. You just can't account for crazy folk.
Welcome, Whole Foods. May you live long and prosper.
Just chiming in as one of those happy employees. I've never (thankfully) spent more than the $1800/year (which rolls over) that WFM gives me for health expenses. Even if I did, a $700 effective deductible is better than my parents in manufacturing or my husband, a state employee, get. Not to mention that with the employee discount I'm probably saving around $700 in grocery costs annually anyway.
And, at least in Northern CA, there was recently (last 6 months or so) a change in policy and photography is allowed -- although I'm sure it's not necessarily encouraged.