If there is one thing that should motivate you to move to a new town, it should be Whole Foods.
I remember a few weeks ago when the realtor was showing us houses in this area, she said, “Ooh, and they are building a brand new Whole Foods here. It should be open in a few days. We are all VERY excited.” Laura and I were sitting there like, “Uh huh. What in the heck is Whole Foods?” Of course we nodded because we knew our realtor wouldn’t lead us astray.
So, what is Whole Foods? Here is a clip from their website: “Our motto – Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet – emphasizes that our vision reaches far beyond just being a food retailer. Our success in fulfilling our vision is measured by customer satisfaction, Team Member excellence and happiness, return on capital investment, improvement in the state of the environment, and local and larger community support.” Let me just tell you, they live up to their motto.
A few days ago, Laura informed me that we should make a visit to this new grocery store. We still don’t have natural gas (next Monday), so we have to eat items that can be cooked in the microwave or cold, such as our famous wraps or sandwiches. You really should try them. I was pretty excited because Whole Foods is located in Glastonbury and if you have never visited, Glastonbury is my kind of town…well off.
Well, today was the day. We drove over to the store and started walking to the entrance. One of our all time most favorite stores in the world is Wegmans. We were wondering if this one would be better or worse. When we got inside, I asked a woman from the florist section if they have plastic bag recycling. I have had a pile in my back seat for a few weeks now. She walked me over to the recycling area. I put the bags in the bin and from that point on, we were in heaven. You should see the place. Ok, you know the organic section at regular supermarkets? Well, this whole store is like that. Up and down every single isle is the highest quality food you have ever seen. We were looking for Folgers coffee and they didn’t have it…too regular. We had to buy a different (twice as expensive) brand. I will say that the shopping experience unexpectedly cost much more than anticipated, but it is kind of worth it. I don’t think we will be doing all our food shopping there, but as far as fun and healthy food shopping goes, this is the place. What a niche.
When we were done putting all our items in our cart, we wandered over to the check out register. The first question the girl asked us was how many bags we had, meaning reusable bags. Man, what a trip. Just the way she assumed that we had them told me I was among my kind of folk. Unfortunately, we only had one bag. As it turned out, that was all we needed because we stuffed it to the gills.
Oh, before I forget, Whole Foods has a realy good micro brew area. I was looking through it when I said that we should leave the isle before I buy something. Just as we turned around and started to leave, something sucked me back to the beer like it was a huge magnet and I had an iron plate in my chest. I bought “Fuel Cafe Coffee Flavored Stout” by Lakefront Brewery. I am drinking it right now and it tastes a lot like Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout, but without that bite. It’s much smoother and very good.
After we left the food store, we drove over to Home Depot for a few things. Then, we traveled back to the hometown to drop something off at the post office. What a pleasant day. Over and out.
Sounds a bit like Trader Joes (which I really enjoy). They do things like… enter you into a contest for a gift card when you bring your own reusable bags. TJ also has a great beer and wine selection. Ever heard of “two buck chuck”? Anyway, never been to a Whole Food but sounds like a great place.
Actually, when we were walking around in Whole Foods, we mentioned that it was like a huge Trader Joes. We used to visit the one in Danbury every Friday night and then head over to Starbucks for coffee. I never heard of Two Buck Chuck though…
Two buck chuck is the nick-name given to a wine brand. The real name is Charles Shaw. Someone correct me if I’m wrong…. but he buys grapes leftover from the big brand vineyards and makes wine just as good but sells it really cheap (used to be $2 but now about $3). Loving called two buck chuck. And Trader Joe’s carries this wine.