Whole Foods Market Inc., working to shed its "Whole Paycheck" image, has become one of the cheaper chains for grocery shopping in Manhattan, according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence.
A basket of 97 items, including orange juice and frozen pizza, was $391.39 at Whole Foods, compared with $398.44 from Fresh Direct and $458.84 at Gristedes, according to the study ...
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They also sell bullshit but I'm not buying that either.
ReplyDeleteYeah, well, Bloomberg's mouthpiece shill WOULD say so...
ReplyDeleteThat's great news, so now we can just call them Almost Whole Paycheck.
ReplyDeleteOf course Bloomberg, media or otherwise, would say this.
ReplyDeleteIf Whole Foods is one of the cheaper chains, then NYC has become really not for the rich, but for the ultra rich.
I still call call them WholeMart™.
ReplyDeleteFine Fare for the win
ReplyDeleteI believe it. During the Hurricane Sandy blackout I went uptown, into a "Morton Williams" store to get some provisions to bring back to Darktown. I could hardly believe the prices, as well as the shoddiness of the produce. WF does carry some stupidly priced high end stuff for the idiots with too much disposable income, but on the whole it's a way better value (and selection) than the old-hat grocery stores. Not even close.
ReplyDeleteWhole Foods produce is cheaper than Associated on Avenue C.
ReplyDeleteGristedes has been a rip-off for decades. No surprise there.
ReplyDelete@ 4:09
ReplyDeleteA lot of the fruit is of comparable price, and it is much better at Whole Foods. Most of the fruit at the Associated on C tastes like soap. I'll suck it up and go to WF for the quality at the same price.
Regardless, who spends $391.39 at Whole Food?! Is that for a whole family or a single person?
ReplyDeleteWhole Foods (esp their in-house 265 brand) definitely has the cheapest prices around on vegetarian staples like tofu, almond/soy milk, peanut butter, nuts, honey/agave, etc. Also baking/cooking needs like flours, oils, spices.
ReplyDeleteI go there to stock up and maybe get 1-2 expensive items (like fancy olives!!), and buy most of my fruit from fruit carts and my greens from Associated. This idea that Whole Foods is "whole paycheck" is only if you buy everything there. Or like when I see people buying fancy "green" toilet paper, I think, You have too much money.
Just curious- I've never really been too happy with any of the grocery store selections in the EV... any fan favorites the amongst the commenters?
ReplyDeleteperhaps Bloomberg and the fine folks that post on EV are missing the high costs of provisions. WholeFoods along with Trader Joes "provide" small savings because they ain't strangled by the local produce 491whatever Union shop.
ReplyDeleteWhole foods is definitely the most expensive option in the area. Trader Joe's used to be the cheapest option, but Key Foods wisened up. Key Foods is now the least expensive choice in my area. I went into Union Market once, and that was enough. For that whole thing, the selection and the prices are better at Whole Foods. Key Foods used to be a horror, but they renovated, and they started being more selective with their produce, and more sophisticated in their outlook. I stopped shopping at Key Foods when Whole Foods and Trader Joe became an option, But I confess that after the Key Food renovation, and after the upgrade on the selections, I find them the best option in the hood, all things considered.
ReplyDeleteThe 4th Street Food Co-op is a great place to buy local and organic produce, grains and other bulk items. Working members put in a 2-and-a-quarter-hour shift a week and get a 20% discount every time they shop.
ReplyDeleteCommodities on 1st avenue near 10th street has a decent selection and good prices; I'd always try them before WholeMart™. They'll also special-order things for you if you request them.
265 Whole Foods brand is to the Equate Walmart brand. Whole Foods is just an overpriced Walmart; both treat their suppliers and employees the same way -- squeeze them out of their profit margin and paycheck,respectively. But hey, anything to be trendy or have that "high-class" status for the bourgees.
ReplyDeleteNearly $400 for a grocery trip? Is the zucchini gold-plated????
ReplyDelete- East Villager
Those gum stains on the sidewalk are disgusting. Why is NYC covered with these? I've never noticed this in other cities.
ReplyDelete- East Villager
@ 7:48 p.m
ReplyDeleteIt's fine to hate on WF. But you're reasoning is pure bullshit. Better off going with Mackey himself being a right wing dickhead. But for product ingredients and for (very) local sourcing, they're on cue.
In fact, they're so local you shouldn't have any trouble finding local producers who feel ripped off by them. So, hop to it.
Truth hurts, and of course someone will get angry when it is shown to them.
ReplyDeleteand to highlight:
-They feel empty and express their aggression through oral rage, shopping compulsively and consuming aggressively.
- Their hidden, deep belief in their own worthlessness makes them strive for high-status jobs and condo lifestyles, where a false sense of power temporarily lifts them up.
Also, Whole Foods is like Vegas. You go there to feel good but you leave broke, disoriented...
And I meant Walmart's Great Value Foods and Equate = Whole Food's 265.
But please do enjoy the kale, quinoa, hakuna matata salad bar, the marzipan apples... at the stomping ground for the entitled, free-range bourgees, who flaunt their 'wealth' by purchasing microscopic, six-dollar bags of potato chips. To each his own.
Unfortunately you need to shop at multiple stores for reasonable prices. If you buy cage free eggs union mkt is the cheapest hands down
ReplyDeleteThe blueberries and strawberries are less expensive at WF than at Key or Associated. And they taste better.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you got me, 7:48 -- I buy store-brand tofu to be high-class and trendy. Even though basically no one ever sees my groceries except for me. I'm sure people on the street can just ~sense~ that high-class trendy bean curd radiating from inside my bag as I walk home.
ReplyDeleteI filled up half a bag at Whole Foods recently and it was $75, I had to look through everything but it doesn't take long if one is buying oils, balsamic, some juice, some cereal, a couple of cheeses, some almonds. I can see a family easily spending $300.
ReplyDeleteLet's deal with the elephant in the room, shall we: The main reason people shop at Whole Foods is not the food and the the price it's to be around lots of people who look just like themselves, because that makes them feel safe and special. Talk about cleansing, Whole Foods has even cleansed their customer base.
ReplyDeleteWhole Foods is the place to go when you are rich enough and self-involved enough to have dietary restrictions. Ever notice that you don't meet that many poor people with special diet needs? A gluten intolerant house cleaner? A cab driver with Candida?
Whole Foods makes sure you wont have to deal with the kind of people who go to a Gristedes or a Key Food or the local bodega, no urban ethnic types, no streetwise riff-raff or too-slow-walking ugly old people here, no poor people.
Here you just will find just lots of young affluent people frantically running from the yoga studio to the juice bar in desperate need of organic, local, sustainable help-we've-run-out-of-expensive-sounding-adjectives vegetables and probiotic, non-bovine, fermented dairy products. People just like you.
I love Commodities, but some of their items are much more expensive than Whole Foods at Union Square. But I think it's still better to support Commodities, if you can afford to, that is.
ReplyDeleteThe staff at Commodities are mean (at least at the register). I don't have time for snottiness when I'm just buying some fucking kale.
ReplyDeleteI go to Natural Green Market on 15th/3rd.
I hate encroachment and commercial globalization as much as the next guy but when it comes to the stuff I put in my mouth, it's me first. I am going to support myself and my own needs above all else. If that makes me more selfish and less of a community supporter and whatever then so be it. It would be nice to have the means to shop altruistically like some of you. But I don't and until I do I guess I will have to keep screwing over the little guy and putting more dollars into all the wrong pockets. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteOddly, I LOVE freshdirect for their produce. You can pay more for their organic, local stuff but you can buy regular things at reasonable prices. It's always good quality and hasn't been handled by half of NYC. I find that Ave C Town is pretty good for things like coffee, peanut butter and beans and Dual can't be beat for spices (I cook a lot and have about 80 spices on hand).
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like gum stains on the sidewalk try Japan
ReplyDeleteMore of an indictment of Gristedes since Whole Foods is priced the same throughout the region.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Giovanni. NAMASTE!
ReplyDeleteY'all's overlooking the real hero in this story--Fairway. Their bill for the same shit was only $347, over forty bucks cheaper than 'cheap' Wholefoods. Fairway kicked everyone's ass in this dumb little shopping cart challenge. Okay so it's not technically in the EV but... in 2014, Kips Bay, Murray Hill, EV... what's the difference really? I still can't believe there is a Fairway in the area and a particularly good one at that. There is no one market that is the best at everything but all around, Fairway is the best.
ReplyDeletepeople are bashing on WF but the tribeca store.had some.decent shellfish and salmon specials..
ReplyDeletethe meat is absurdly priced and I never shopped there much
Giovanni - there are plenty of poor/ low income folks with special diet needs. Whole foods and trader Joe's are kind enough to donate these items to the bowery mission/NYC rescue mission/ city harvest. Its.hypocritical to rip yunnies for not wanting to be around the poor homeless when 99% of you feel the same way. Please refrain from commenting when you don't have a clue. Whole foods accepts food stamps just like every other market. They also hire people who are living in the shelters and missions. Please go bash someone else.
ReplyDeleteHey Anonymass, here's a clue for you: You know what low income people are really allergic to? Malnutrition! In fact a lot of them are starving to death. Whole Foods and places like them make a mockery of malnutrition by overcharging for exotic foods for people who never had ciliac disease or the food allergies and never will. They turn food allergies and specialty items into a badge of honor and try to convince everyone they need to buy all these overpriced foods.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile millions of poor kids can't get a school lunch because Whole Paycheck doesn't donate nearly enough food to take care of the problem, do they? No, they only donate enough to make you Yunnies feel good about spending 400 bucks on a few bags of food you don't really need but that you really really want.
Because Whole Foods Completes You.
So on your very next trip go pick me up some Slow Dried Dinosaur Pasta, Vegan Cane Sugar, Fermented Probiotic Coconut Water, a packet of Ultimate Flora Vaginal Support, a pound of Air Chilled Snow Water Poultry and a bag of Chicken-less Nuggets, I'm getting hungry. And I'm fresh out of Dinosaur Pasta.
PS: Those are all actual Whole Foods products.
I. Kid. You. Not.
But you knew that already.
Now you resort to name calling. Nice and good to know that's OK here. I chose to defend whole foods because I ate a lot of their food when I was living on the street. You don't.know anything about me or being poor. I'm the person you'd ignore on the street. And people like you'd never call me an ass to my face. I volunteer at food.pantries because they kept me alive. Poor people in NYC aren't actually starving.
ReplyDeleteTheir problems stem from eating too much junk food. Donations from wf help with that. You and most here don't have a clue regarding poverty and homelessness in NYC.
Dont assume everyone Is a yunnie. Unless you've been poor or slept on the train don't lecture about.those topics.
And Giovanni its amazing how you're an expert on hunger. Maybe someday you can go visit the yorkville common pantry.on 109th bet 5/mad. Get a.food bag - attend a cooking class - get a shower/ haircut if you need them. You might learn something about the real world. Or is that too uptown and scary for you?
ReplyDeleteGiovanni, I think you would be taken seriously if you weren't so facetious about everything. You try too hard to be funny.
ReplyDelete