A new Whole Foods just opened up in my precious little neighborhood of Montrose in Houston. Anthony and I, priding ourselves on being on the cutting edge of everything hip, trendy, and cool in this city, sashayed ourselves over there for a little preview of the new "it" place. Leaving behind our beloved Pretty People Kroger felt a little traitorous at first, but we were swayed by the promise of a more accessible grocery store where we can easily find organic and sustainable options. We have an image to keep up, people.Man oh man. That is one amazing grocery store.
It has a view of downtown...
Electric car chargers out front....
A collection of cacti from the Texas Hill Country! Look at those beautiful colors. I need these in my garden.
The most gorgeous selection of sustainable fish I have ever seen.
Yes. This is a bar. A bar! In a grocery store! Where you can sip wine and order a plate of cheese and crackers while contemplating how cool you are to be drinking alcohol in Whole Foods.
A stunning flower selection. Those pink flowers in the back are proteas, the national flower of South Africa, where I spent a semester in college. I rarely see these in the U.S.
A whole wall of spices. Every one you could ever imagine. (Meredith, I found garam masala!)After this incredible first trip to the new grocery store, Anthony and I were converted. "So long, PPK, we are leaving you for your more environmentally conscious competitor." I was so excited, that I returned the very next day with a long grocery list of items to make samosas. Arriving about 12pm, I had a very different Whole Foods experience than I had the previous day.
I could barely find a parking spot.
The produce section was so crowded. People were fighting over plastic bags and ramming their carts in to each other just trying to get by.
Full of fancy business people on their lunch break, the line at the checkout counter was forever long and tempers were high.
Shopping in a new grocery store is stressful enough as it is because you don't know where to find anything. I walked around like a bewildered child, dodging angry shoppers and just trying to find a safe, quiet, peaceful spot to park my cart while I checked my list and looked for the chipotles in adobo sauce, which cost a bit more than I had ever paid before. In fact, this was a trend that I was noticing as I marked off the items on my list. I have never thought of my Pretty People Kroger as particularly cheap, but compared to these prices at Whole Foods, geez, the PPK looks like a bargain store. After finally making it to the freezer section and locating the puff pastry, my jaw hit the floor as I read the "$11.00" price tag. $11?!?!? For puff pastry?!?! I don't think so.
I'm sorry for my unfaithfulness, PPK. I will never betray you again. Your small organic section is good enough for me.
HAHA this is my favorite post so far!!
ReplyDeleteI have not been to the new Whole Foods for those very reasons- too crowded, too expensive. I will only go there for the very special things! Which won't come up often because I don't like cooking just for myself. So I never make anything super exciting that would require an exotic ingredient.
God bless the PPK! :)