Health Foods in Alabama (Birmingham, Huntsville: budget, wages, work)

[harry chickpea]

There has been some thread drift in the thread "AL Here we come..." onto Whole Foods and health food stores. I'm starting this one to give people a thread about the subject that is easier to find.

Whole Foods - We used to regularly visit a Whole Foods in Coral Springs FL, after it effectively closed the local health food store. The changes in direction that WF has made over the years since then are probably great for profits, but not friendly for anyone on a budget or with special dietary needs. I hadn't realized just how much the concept of the stores had changed until we stopped into the new one in Birmingham last week.

In short, forget the bulk spices or bulk foods that used to be a drawing point to co-op health food stores like Erwhon in Cambridge MA. WF pulled the bulk spices completely and the bulk foods seems more oriented towards carob-yogurt candies than the traditional grains and pulses.

A lot of us know about the medicinal values of various herb teas, but the WF in B'ham has only a poor selection of those and is overloaded with chai and other fad teas that command high prices. Speaking of prices, we probably won't return to that store, since we ended up paying about $250 for two small bags of items that we could have purchased for 1/2 the price or less on the internet, at dotcom places like Vitacost, Betterlife, and Tunies.

WF seems to be going into a mainstream "healthy Starbucks" fresh meat and produce at incredible markups mode. Even in Florida, it seemed like I could buy the same box of alfalfa sprouts for 99 cents at a dollar store, $2 at Publix, and $3 at WF.

There is another health food store in the Hoover area called "Organic Harvest" which is locally owned and seemed to have a better selection of real health foods in a smaller store than WF. Prices are still higher than internet prices, but that is to be expected.

Having worked in a health food store many years ago, I understand that the small stores had to have a 100% markup on many items just to cover rent, utilities, and wages. WF has taken the advantages of price available to a major seller and instead of reducing the markup, continued with it or even increased it.

Now that we are living in an area that has never been health food aware, where pork fat is almost a major food group, we are trying to frequent the smaller stores like "Herbs & More" in Athens, and point out items that could be good ones for the stores to stock.

Since WF bought out Wild Oats and most of their major competition, feeding the monopoly that is now WF can only lead to another big box store and loss of more mom&pop businesses.

[sunshine226]

I, for one, am incredibly grateful that Whole Foods has made it to Alabama. I do understand that there are some things that are more expensive, but I also know that I have found EmergenC, smartwater, Kashi cereal/crackers/cookies/etc., and olive oil for less at WFM than at any other area grocery store (even less expensive than WalMart). I did wonder about the bulk as well, but they seem to have a pretty reasonable explanation. It had to do with cross contamination and germs.

[MsMuir]

[quote=harry chickpea;1053133] Even in Florida, it seemed like I could buy the same box of alfalfa sprouts for 99 cents at a dollar store, $2 at Publix, and $3 at WF.


Careful harry....I wouldn't buy sprouts at the 99 cents store...they
could be from China and you know about the recall on toothpaste that was sold there...yep, from China!

Just teasing you, harry chickpea!

[boomer]

Does anyone here know of a Whole Foods in Huntsville. If not, are there any rumors of a future Whole Foods in the Huntsville area. Also, is there health foods stores in northern Al worth mentioning?

[VMH2507]

There is a store called Fresh Market at the corner of Airport and Whiteburg that is a similar concept to Whole Foods.

[tuxedocat]

There is a really good health food store in Birmingham on Southside--The Golden Temple. They have lots of bulk spices including a large selection of sodium free spices that are hard to find like chili powders and barbecue powders sodium free. They have some organic produce and lots of herbal products and vitamins. There is also a restaurant there. They have a lot of books that look interesting -- health related and natural foods.

[harry chickpea]

For those on the north end of I-65 in AL, Franklin has a Whole Foods ne Wild Oats. The drive is about an hour.

Golden Temple is kinda nice. They don't have a great medicinal tea section, but they do have most of the basics.

[Bravo35223]

Originally Posted by tuxedocat

There is a really good health food store in Birmingham on Southside--The Golden Temple. They have lots of bulk spices including a large selection of sodium free spices that are hard to find like chili powders and barbecue powders sodium free. They have some organic produce and lots of herbal products and vitamins. There is also a restaurant there. They have a lot of books that look interesting -- health related and natural foods.

Yes the Golden Temple has been at this location for a quarter of a century....going strong.

[Reactionary]

harry - my health food comes from the ol' Farmer's Market :-)

In addition to 'Fresh Market', HSV has the friendly 'Garden Cove' (Pratt and Meridian) and the venerable 'Pearly Gates' on the Parkway (between Governors and Bob Wallace).

[NicoleC]

There's no Whole Foods in Huntsville, but there is Garden Cove as Reactionary mentioned, which I highly recommend.

I haven't shopped at a Whole Foods in Alabama, but Harry's comments don't sound like the Whole Foods I shopped at in California. Regional differences are to be expected somewhat, but there, the produce was mostly local and you could get organic produce for the price of trucked-in Chilean conventional produce at the other chains. And while they did have a selection of high priced specialty items, the shelves were mostly stocked with items the same price or less for the same item than the other chains. And the selection of alternative foods (like gluten free, etc.) was always excellent.

Personally, I never thought of Whole Foods for things like herbs; that was more an item for the co-ops. I wouldn't touch the bulk food bins at Whole Foods. You do not see the same level of respect from the patrons you would see in a health food store or co-op, and some of the WF employees I have known have advise me to stay well away from those bins.

Perhaps the issue here is lack of both demand and competition. I find Publix to be an overpriced joke, and overall the same items I am used to buying are twice as much here. That's not a surprise with produce, but is for other items that I know don't cost any more to ship in here than they did CA.

With the diversity of residents in Huntsville, I think more competition will come in to N. Al.