11 Plus Exams Forum

Funny question! American supermarket, but I loved loved loved it in Florida (I'm sad lie, that, liking supermarkets!) so wondering if it's worth popping in next time my car takes me that way! The USA ones full of gorgeous good food.

I too fell in love with Whole Foods in the states. It's very similar in Cheltenham. Worth a coffee and a shop.

Yeah it's expensive and IMHO much of the stuff is massively overpriced but the loose nuts and beans are quite fun. Have seen kids dipping their fingers in the loose spices and I reckon there must be a fair bit of wastage. It's on the same site as Sainsburys, Boots, Next etc so masses of traffic at peak times. It looks pretty but somehow doesn't quite do it for me.

I loved it the first time I went. The spices were really good and there were some good deals on meat. However, the last time I went ( about 3 months ago) I was really disappointed. The veg, which had previously been wonderful , were awful - the radishes and pak choi were yellowing and the meat was nothing special; even the traiteur type dishes were sad looking, obviously the through put is not sufficient. We gave up on the veg and went to SAinsbury's opposite

Sad, because having gone to Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia and Dallas I was expecting something wonderful

Hmmmmm, a mixed bag then, and maybe a bit like Disney, better in the USA! Think might be worth a visit then, but not to get too excited (I really should get out more!). I did see they had mad redundancies so maybe not been so successful. Over here we have waitrose don't you know, not much an compete with that! But beans and seeds and ready cooked healthy food? Oh, I'm still hoping........

We have Waitrose too - a really big one with a lot of John Lewis lines in technology, homeware etc as well as a cafe and cooking studio; and an M and S Simply Food all within a short distance of Wholefoods. We also use a brilliant organic butcher so don't really need much from another shop trying to position itself in the middle class conscience market. Maybe that's why it isn't doing so well, if indeed it isn't. Last time I was in there it was half empty and I opted against the bread as it was just sooo expensive.

I wish there were weigh and saves around every corner again.....I have student nostalgia.
Nothing like a bit of spittle in your cornflakes and belly button fluff in your soup mix beans.
I have fond recollections of making sure the chocolate cereal hoops were not really dog mixer, and also copying down the instructions for various pre mixed ingredients, from the lids of the tubs. You had to be really diligent about decanting into labelled jars, otherwise you were never really sure if the stripey bag full of lumpy dust was a pizza dough mix, short crust pastry or sponge cake!
I am sure there lurked five year old crumbs and silverfish at the bottom of those barrels, but we didn't care, it was sooo cheap and where else could you get kilo bags of broken biscuits alongside 100g of fairy washing powder (just enough for one wash)

There are a few in London too, they're not the cheapest, but great! We buy a picnic from their Camden branch and take it to the zoo as an indulgence:)

southbucks3 wrote:I wish there were weigh and saves around every corner again.....I have student nostalgia.
Nothing like a bit of spittle in your cornflakes and belly button fluff in your soup mix beans.
I have fond recollections of making sure the chocolate cereal hoops were not really dog mixer, and also copying down the instructions for various pre mixed ingredients, from the lids of the tubs. You had to be really diligent about decanting into labelled jars, otherwise you were never really sure if the stripey bag full of lumpy dust was a pizza dough mix, short crust pastry or sponge cake!
I am sure there lurked five year old crumbs and silverfish at the bottom of those barrels, but we didn't care, it was sooo cheap and where else could you get kilo bags of broken biscuits alongside 100g of fairy washing powder (just enough for one wash)

Still have them in New Zealand, PAC n save as I recall. I miss them too, I'd love tobe able to do that