WHOLE FOODS Just Opened Near Me! My Yuppie Status Is Certified!

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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I feel much shame.

Sorry, I focused on the ingredient issues part of your post.

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Hmmm… the side panel of the Cheerios box does state that they are made with non-GMO oats… maybe WF is acknowledging that as a good move by General Mills…

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Odd, I was not aware students, and elderly represented a race. People need to grow a thicker skin and stop looking for things that are not there.

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Hard to find a more Asian-sounding name than Bronstein :wink:. But maybe it’s on your mother’s side? Not that it matters…

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No oats are GMO. They reformulated to use other ingredients that were GMO.

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You’re not one of the Canton Bronsteins? Learn something everyday.

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Nope, from my father’s side. I’m adopted. I keep forgetting only a few Berserkers have met me in person and are aware of what I look like. [wow.gif]

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Well that’s godawful stupid – seems to me that kills the whole point of using non-GMO oats in the first place, no? [swearing.gif]

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Mea culpa. The side panel on the Cheerios box says “not made with generically modified ingredients” and that’s what I should have said. I plead exhaustion/sloppiness, as I was trundling off to bed after a long day.

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It didn’t sound racist to me, just stating what he saw.

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Like whole foods for specific things, but mostly shop at Sprouts. Kind of a cheaper version but not as many options.

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The Sprouts CEO was on CNBC yesterday discussing this very topic. They are not trying to clone Whole Foods; they are going after a more middle market and trying to take share away from Kroger, Albertson’s, and even Wal-Mart. All of them are doing an organics program to some degree. Sprouts also arranges their stores differently. Their next foray will be into the SE United States. Interesting interview and strategy.

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Speaking of organics, I saw a local big screen king on TV last night pitching ORGANIC LED televisions. A quick bit of research shows that this is a device that exploits the bioluminescence of some organic compounds but his pitch was more like “Hey, you eat organic food, you have money, you watch TV, you need one of these…”

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What’s really funny is that Sprouts used to be Henry’s Farmers Market. They sold out Henry’s to Whole Foods. They then went and created another market brand called Sprouts which looks EXACTLY like Henry’s. Henry’s was then aquired by the Apollo Capital that owns Smart & Final in 2011.

Whole foods had sold Henry’s to Smart and Final in 2007. Smart & Final was purchased by Apollo Management in 2007.

After acquiring both Henry’s and Sprouts, they merged everything under the Sprouts umbrella.


As a frequent visitor to Sprouts (it’s .2 miles from whole foods next to my house), they are not even close to each other in competition. Sprouts quality of produce is pretty crappy in comparison to Whole Foods. The idea of whole foods is local/organic. Sprouts will just find whatever is cheapest, whether it be from Mexico or what not. Sprouts is more akin to Trader Joes to me.

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one has to target shop at sprouts. sometimes they will have mary’s air chilled organic chicken on sale.
their beer and wine selection sucks, even for a super market.

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Agreed on produce and limitations… Although the idea of local/ organic without knowing specifically the farms is a big can of worms IMO. We buy mostly packaged goods at sprouts - eggs, milk, juices, nuts, some grass fed beef/ chicken and limited produce. Middle ground between Traders and Whole Foods IMO. I agree Whole Foods produce is far better than sprouts.

I used to be a vendor at many farmers markets, and the amount of produce passed off as organic yet wasn’t astounded me. Then there’s organic farms in close proximity to farms that spray pesticides, etc. I’m not saying either brick and mortar store operates in a similar way, but the issue can be various shades of grey.

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in DTLA we had a farmer’s market next to my office, it was a decent size. One week 4 vendors were gone. They all listed as organic but weren’t… and all 4 were owned by the same people.

oops.

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There are lots of ingredients that almost every other food retailer in the US thinks is okay even though there are known health issues. Here’s a list of ingredients not allowed for anything for sale at Whole Foods: Browse Products by Aisle and Section - Whole Foods Market. Also, if something says “organic” on the front, all ingredients must be organic so that it isn’t misleading. That is very unusual. Plus, no GMO’s anywhere in the store. I understand that it’s a big business and that some things come down to marketing, but knowing how selective they are about these things makes me believe that someone high up actually cares.

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We have been shopping quite a bit at Sprouts. For us, as previously mentioned, it has replaced Trader Joe’s for many products. The produce is decent and I like their dairy products far better from TJ’s. I have always been annoyed with how quickly the dairy from TJ’s turns. I, personally, don’t believe their expiration dates are accurate. As far as meats, I think Sprouts has very good pork but am not a fan of their beef. The chicken, as previously mentioned, varies. We are equidistant to Whole Foods and I don’t see them as competition to Sprouts…Totally different model. The interesting thing to me is how much the Whole Foods markets vary…site to site. Our closest one is small and so so while another newer flagship store ( a few miles away) is on another planet. Throw in Costco and you have my entire shopping “circuit.”


Cheers!
Marshall champagne.gif

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