When I received an email inviting me to an opening of a new Whole Foods store in Chevy Chase, MD, I was intrigued. I first must admit that I do 99.9% of my grocery shopping at Harris Teeter, which is just a few blocks away from my apartment.
Occasionally, however, when I can't find certain ingredients for my freelancing job for Robyn Webb, I make a trip to Whole Foods. Still, who can pass up an invitation to check out a brand new store and stroll the aisles with mere 20 people vs hundreds of people pushing their way with their carts, crying children and long lines at the registers?
This is going to be mostly a "look at the photos" post. But I'll tell you a few things that stood out for me during the tour of the new Whole Foods.
1) Immediately, I was greeted by the sea of orchids. Orchids are my favorite flowers in the world! In fact, my email address contains a word orchid! These were absolutely gorgeous, and on sale for $9.99! Alas, I wasn't able to purchase an orchid plant because the registers weren't open.
2) There were at least 3 varieties of tomatoes, most on sale as well. They were so pretty and neatly stacked.
3) Whole Foods bakes their own macarons! I tried a lemon and a chocolate one. Lemon flavor definitely was better.
4) The store has professional butchers: this is such a plus. At my grocery store, the guy at the butcher department did not know how many ounces there are in a pound (16!).
5) The seafood department can cut/skin/etc your fish any way you want. And on top of it, it provides you a free marinade.
6) If you are not a baker, check out the bakery department: gorgeous cupcakes, eclairs, cakes and all at very reasonable prices.
7) In the health & beauty department, you can buy bath salts by weight and cut your own soap.
8) At the end of the tour, we were treated to some finger foods and received a gift bag, which I absolutely loved. This was a really fun experience.
and now picture time! (I have no idea why the photos are not aligned: I try to fix the html code, but it did not help)
What is YOUR favorite grocery store and WHY?
9 comments:
awww, i wish the whole foods by me in clarendon was this awesome! it seems that whenever a new whole foods is made, it's more snazzy and awesome than the last!
it's great that they're always improving, but I want the snazzy things by us!
Great pictures! I LOVE Whole Foods. I would be completely happy shopping there for the rest of my life. Ha ha. It has to be a decent-sized WF though. The closest one to me is teeny tiny, so I only go there if I don't feel like driving to a nicer one. I walk in happy and leave wanting to strangle someone. But when I go to River Street in Cambridge or Dedham (Mass.), I'm in heaven. Both stores are huge and offer all of the ingredients I'm looking for... fresh, local produce, etc. I love the butcher counters there too. The meat and fish are truly better than what you get a Stop & Shop or Shaw's. We've done taste comparisons! Lucky you to have been invited to a preview!
my fave grocery...after the farmers market of course...but great pictures...:)
Ciao!
I'm curious about the fish... was all the fish on display whole? Meaning not filleted? It drives me insane that I can't find a good source for fish that hasn't already been tampered with.
Gorgeous photos, but the tomatoes are all so uniform looking, don't you wonder how they get them to be exactly the same size and ripeness?
OMG! Those are some gorgeous cakes and pastries!
blowing peachkisses
The Peach Kitchen
peach and things
Looks like a Whole Foods I need to check out, But seems like overkill since they have one in Tenleytown. Do they need one that close together? I love Wegmans for a grocery store. More often than not, the produce is fresher than Whole Foods.
Why must you taunt me with those dessert images?!?!?! Looks like it was a FABULOUS time :)
I do love a good trip to the grocery store. If I let myself I can spend hours inside...
We don't have anywhere quite as nifty near me; just your typical Kroger and Jewel stores. I love our local natural foods store, though. When I get time to go up to Naperville area I love to go into H-Mart! I can hear those red bean cakes calling my name..
Nothing compares to Wegmans.
Post a Comment