Lisa K.
Yelp
I shop here weekly and love the airy, bright, open feel of this store. Even when it's extremely crowded (which is often), the vast space keeps the noise level down and the shoppers are very civil (very different than Whole Foods Manhasset). The layout is a bit confusing, with some vertical aisles and some horizontal aisles, but if since I shop there regularly, I've become familiar with it. Also, many of their products are out of reach for anyone under 5-1/2 feet tall; it's a waste of my time to have to get a store associate to help every time I need a product that's out of reach.
This store has a great variety of products and is the largest store in the area. The produce is beautifully arranged and kept up-to-stock, the fish counter, though lacking in selection, has no odor and there are some very helpful workers there. The meat and poultry section is a bit limited, but sufficient. Dairy has a lot of alternative products, like lactose-free, dairy-free, etc. However, this store is ALWAYS out-of-stock for many, many of the products--dairy, meat/poultry, packaged, health-and-beauty--and often for very common items. Some products (e.g., gluten-free pie crust) have been out of stock for months. I'm sure this is partially because they are so heavily trafficked, but it seems like the store should plan for this. There are ALWAYS lots of staff working to restock shelves, which is great, but still, it's frustrating to find so many empty shelves.
There are always tons of checkout lines, and the self-checkout is monitored and quick-moving. Definitely a plus.
The main reason I gave this review three stars is because there is a food safety issue in this story. First, I've had a repeated problem with employees putting spoiled or damaged merchandise back on the shelves. For example, two weeks ago in the pasta aisle I found a room-temperature jar of chicken livers that clearly had been there a while, and when I gave them to an associate, he attempted to put them back in the refrigerator case. I stayed on him to make sure he did not do that, but really???? I have found fully-thawed freezer food left in an aisle or near the registers, and the sales associate has flagged it to back in the case. Recently I was looking for a deodorant stone, and there were only two left. One was broken, and the other had a defect and could not be opened. I gave the broken one to the salesgirl, and she put it back on the shelf!! I suggested that was not a good idea, but she just smiled. Ironically, I received that very deodorant in my delivery order 10 days later (I sometimes order online in addition to going in-person). Sheesh. If these kinds of things have happened multiple times to me--only one person--I can only imagine how many times it happens in the store as a whole.
A second food safety issue is that I have bought poultry products from both in-case and behind the counter that have been spoiled when I opened them at home. I don't have this problem with purchases from other stores, so I can only assume it's a result of poor handling in the store. I used to by their chicken sausage that was made in-store, but after THREE bouts of spoiled sausage, I've 'lost my taste for it.'
The other reason I gave this three stars is because the staff are hit-or-miss with helpfulness and friendliness. For example, I have a shoulder injury and have asked a couple of times if someone could help put a case of water that was too high for me to lift into my cart. Each time I got such an attitude from the employee that it made me yearn for the days of mom-and-pop, carry-the-groceries-to-your-car shopping. Even big grocery chains will do better than that these days; not sure what the attitude there is all about. I was never able to get help from the staff and ended up opening the box and unloading it bottle-by-bottle into my cart.
Meanwhile, the employees who stock the aisles have been super helpful and friendly, although not always English-speaking, which poses some challenges.
Compared to the other Whole Foods in the area, this is by far the best. Parking can be daunting, though there is supposedly underground parking around the side of the building. If you go, just have alternative menu plans in case what you need is out-of-stock! Also, always take from the back of the shelf--you never know where those front products have been ;).