Whole Foods Market South Street

Look Whole Foods is a known quantity. It has a lot of good things, a few bad things, and isn't breaking new ground. But its prepared foods are never cloying like Wegmans for example, its produce is extremely fresh, and of course it has a groovy selection. Delivery has declined since they started charging a fee (the inverse of what I expected), I have basically given up. Their delivery people are by and large very good, but the shoppers are either given a weird algorithm or there is something wrong with them, I get only a fraction of what I order, with improbable omissions. This branch is almost never crowded, unlike the chaotic Pennsylvania Av branch, and there is very little traffic, again the opposite of its bigger brother. Staff are nice, I have never been treated gruffly at this store, and the clientele is a pleasant mix. This isn't Di Bruno's or one of the NYC specialty markets like Fairway. But it is a relaxed and easy place to do a big shopping trip. Quirks? Their chicken salad is like crack, it is that good. And they don't have unpackaged smoked salmon and their packaged smoke salmon is of variable quality (I have tried them all). Which highlights the worst property of Whole Foods, that they only sell their own brands. I know they are supposed to be expensive, I only notice that they push more expensive things (like organic produce), rather than their being more expensive for precisely the same items. Produce is a good place to see this. Packaged items are harder to compare, because they are pushing their own or exotic brands.

This Whole Foods Market is located nearby Philadelphia's Magic Garden, in which I had just finished visiting and highly recommend checking it out if you haven't done so before. It is well worth the affordable admission price $10 for adults and $8 for students with ID). My husband and I decided to come in here this afternoon to take a break from the heat, grab something to eat and relax a bit before heading out to another adventure of Philadelphia. I really love shopping at Whole Foods and thought this was probably the smallest location that I have been to. But anyway, I really love Whole Food's dessert section, cookie bar, hot and cold food bar and also their in store bar. On this visit, we ended up picking up a few different desserts, which I thought was interesting to pick and place in a to go container myself, as opposed to having to order at a display case in which that is how I have always done it at other Whole Foods locations). I ended up getting a cheesecake, a pistachio tart, a cannoli my husband really wanted that) and a fruit tart. I love the consistency of these $2 desserts from one location to another. After we paid for our items, we headed to the small eating area, which is next to their little bar. My husband ended up ordering a beer, Blueblood, $7. This hard cider has guava and passion fruit, making it a little sour. I thought it wasn't bad and my husband liked it. If I lived in this area, I would definitely try to take advantage of the happy hour where you save $1 on a 16 oz beer or wine by the glass, Monday- Thursday, 4-6 pm. Service with both cashiers were nice and friendly. Have no complains.Just thought this location was on the small side. Please note that there are 2 restrooms by the store room, in the back of the store. You will need a code to use it, so be sure to ask the employee I think the code that I used today is 245 but cannot fully recall if that it is for sure).

I knew right when it happened that Amazon 's acquisition of Whole Foods would be the end of an all-time run. One can 't help but draw a parallel to when a 34 year old Kobe Bryant blew out his Achilles. Everyone wanted to believe he would come back the same, but deep down, we all knew. It was over. To be clear, there is no hate in my heart towards Amazon. I am a prime member and that two day guaranteed shipping has saved me more times than I can count when the Holidays come around. It has been a godsend at times. However, I knew that their data-driven approach that puts consistency and profit over everything would not mesh with everything I had come to know and love about the Whole Foods culture. One thing I loved about prime Whole Foods was that every store you went to was different and had a unique feel. It had such a personal touch that I imagine was a reflection of the local community and the team members. When I would travel or be in a new city, I 'd do my best to get to the Whole Foods there just to see what the vibe was. You could really get a feel for what the city was like. Different produce, different meats, different niche brands that you couldn 't find anywhere else, different food at the hot bar, different local merchants, etc. I will never forget the Whole Foods in Hillcrest, San Diego and their $5 brussel sprouts happy hour. My college roommate and I were LIVING in there in 2015. We got to know the servers, coffee bar and juice bar workers, employees working the checkout register, etc. I need to shout out Nancy, who was a server at the restaurant in the back. We 'd walk in and she 'd shoot us a big smile and point at us while saying brussel sprouts? She 'd ask about our lives and how our classes were going and all that. Damn I wonder what Nancy is up to now lol big shoutout to Nancy. My roommate got a Whole Foods hat from a friend he made at the juice bar and it was too small for his head so he gave it to me...it was also too small for my head ahahaha but I wore it with so much pride. Y 'all don 't have a Whole Foods Hillcrest hat!?!?!?! Couldn 't be me!!!! We returned in 2019, and I 'm sure you can guess. No brussel sprouts happy hour. No restaurant in the back. No familiar faces. No familiar products. No Nancy........... You get where this is going. Walking into this Whole Foods on South Street yesterday felt no different than walking into a Ralph 's. There is no character, there is no local community feel. Everything is the same as it is at every other Whole Foods. The cool local brands seemed to have disappeared entirely from the shelves. They have seemed to stop the war they were waging on GMOs. Perhaps this is just anecdotal evidence, but the employees don 't seem to enjoy being there like they used to. People used to genuinely enjoy working there, or at least were great at faking it ahahaha. Now, it just feels like any other grocery store with slightly better products but at a much higher cost. I used to get inspired walking into a Whole Foods, like damn what cool new snacks, produce, drinks, meats, or hot bar items am I gonna find today!? Now, I just get sad. It reminds me of that band or artist that you grew up loving when they are on the come up. They are young and hungry and speak to you and your soul... but then they have that hit album or get that big record deal, and they just aren 't relatable anymore. They lost the hunger and the fire. But maybe that 's just the way life goes. Every star in the solar system will die at some point. Okay sorry I 'm getting a bit dramatic, let me close this up. The golden age of Whole Foods is something that may never be duplicated. Jordan 's Bulls come to mind. But even the great Michael Jordan ended up playing for the Wizards... IG @jnov_ Tiktok @jnov_

I can't get enough of their tangerines and fresh mozzarella. The organic vegetables are wonderful. The staff is very helpful. Fast check out.

Great selection, fresh, fully stocked and organized. Staff always willing to help. One stop shopping; something for everyone, especially those with dietary restrictions. Items available to eat on location, to go or prepare. Don't forget to use your Prime Code for discounts. You can download the Wholefoods app and link to Prime for easy access to your barcode.