Jenny Z.
Yelp
This place is totally overrated. I can't believe all the 4-5 stars on here. First of all - I love organic food, and totally believe in organic farming and products with quality ingredients. So I it's not that I don't know how to appreciate good food or a well organized store - it's purely the fact that everything in Whole Foods can be found somewhere else for much much less.
Take organic milk and eggs for example, these are what economists call homogeneous goods - as in organic milk between different brands are not different. Now, Kroger's sells organic milk for around $2.79 a half gallon - which is cheaper than any other place. Why would you go to Whole Foods to pay more?
Whole Foods also has their 365 brand - which not all of those products are even organic and is definitely not better quality than say generic Walmart crap on many levels! If you really compare the ingredients - they often use inferior ingredients against the other brands, like wet cat food for example. The Newmann's brand used whole pieces of chicken, fish, etc. while 365 used animal by-products.
I'm not saying Whole Foods is evil - just that people think it's so amazing because of how the store is set up, when in reality, you can get the same stuff from many other places, you just might have to go to 2 stores instead of 1 for everything, but you save a lot more. As far as their paper bags that someone mentioned - if you care about what your bag is, why not bring your own to be truly green?
Whole Foods desserts are also terrible. All of them look very pretty, but taste extremely sugary rather than nice rich milk creams and true chocolates. The only thing that's still tolerable for me there is their fruit tarts - but I've found way cheaper at Shatila Bakery in Dearborn (which btw also has way better desserts than Whole Foods as Arabic people have French influences so they make great French inspired desserts).
Their quick serve sushi is overpriced. They charge over $30 (I think last time I paid $31.99) a pound for sashimi salmon while Noble Fish charges $23/lb for the same quality, that's a $10/lb difference! Their pre-made sushi is $9.99 for very basic rolls while One World Market (Novi) charges $3.50 to $4 for much better rolls.
As far as processed foods goes, organic pasta? Cheaper on Amazon in bulk (and since it doesn't go bad because it's dried, why not buy in bulk and store?).
But what about all the fruits and vegetables? They're so wonderfully displayed because that's what you're paying so much for. Well, you should go to Trader Joe's for a fraction of the cost, or Randazzo's which has far greater selection. You might say: but Randazzo's Market isn't all organic - well look closer, neither is Whole Foods, half their stuff isn't organic. Personally, I think Randazzo's has fresher produce if you go early in the day when it's freshly stocked.
Whole Foods isn't a bad store - it's just overrated and gives you the impression of this amazing place that's all happy and healthy. Their service is superb - no argument there, I grew up on Whole Foods and my dad was such a frequent customer he had them special order cactus leaves (I guess they were supposed to be nutritious, tasted awful). I also like their cheese display and quick serve sandwiches which are really yummy - but that certainly isn't enough of a reason to go there regularly.
So while you should know about Whole Foods, and go occasionally, there is no reason to be such an oogling fan of this place - it's just a very well marketed store with great displays, organized shelves, and well paid employees - but again, half of those things are just appearances, not substance. You definitely pay for the pretty sights.