I can't say I was impressed...



We were out and about so we dropped in on Sprouts Farmers Market. Uh... I guess it was OK? It was really more of an IGA with soymilk and tofu. They had signs up everywhere touting their "natural grocery", but they carry products with artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners. They do have some natural grocery items like Kettle Chips and Simply Organic, but they sell Daddy Ray's cookies (the ones at 99 cents only) along side the Newman's Own. From what I could tell (and I know a little bit about the grocery industry and vegetables) nothing in their produce section was local or organic. The sign said "Farm Fresh Produce"... sure, Factory Farm Fresh. It looked just the like the produce at Fiesta, only not as cheap. At least Fiesta labels the country of origin on all of their fruit and veg.

Ultimately, I think Sprouts is a fantastic example of the minimum that conventional grocers should be doing. I understand that it is not their intention to compete with us, but instead to compete as a regular grocery store. However, billing themselves as a "Farmers Market and Natural Grocery" is a joke at best and negligent to consumers at worst. Does that seem inflammatory? Good, it was meant to. Sprouts gives the customer the impression that the things they carry are in some way better for one's health. No natural grocers explicitly state that all their food is healthy, but they all know that customers walk through the doors with that in mind. Knowing this and unabashedly selling Fig Newman's right next to cookies made with HFCS, hydrogenated oil, bleached white flour, artificial flavors and red dye #2 is misleading to shoppers and misrepresentative of the actually natural brands you carry. That's fucked up. Krogers selling crap next to quality doesn't matter because you don't go in with any expectations about the quality of product they stock. So Sprouts should do one of two things: drop the natural image (which is the basis of their business model), or stop selling chemicals disguised as food.



We ordered two deli sandwiches for lunch. The veggies were tasty and fresh, but the sourdough bread was fucking crap. At least it was only 3.99, almost half the price of our sandwiches, but about 1/10th as good. I would definitely not order one again.

I will say that they had a great setup for their bulk section:



- posted by Mason @ 4:10 PM