I was pretty excited when I learned that Whole Foods was opening up a location in University Place (Chambers Bay Whole Foods, 3515 Bridgeport Way West, University Place, WA 98466). We had a Whole Foods near us (kind of) when we lived in Dallas and I’ve always enjoyed shopping there. My day to day shopping is elsewhere, but Whole Foods was a pleasure for a once in a while treat.
I went to Chambers Bay Whole Food’s grand opening with live music and free samples. It was a lively event! But yesterday I went back to see how they are doing now that the opening is over and the US Open has left town.
The good points are.
- Their employees are helpful, cheerful and knowledgeable.
- Free samples! Lots of delicious fresh fruit and even a little wine.
- There is plenty of parking and an entire underground parking lot also.
- Plenty of ‘to go’ meal options including pizza by the slice, salad bar, hot food bar, juice bar, coffee bar with adjacent bakery, a bar bar (yes, you can have beer or wine with your pizza there in the store!) and other made to order goods.
- They have a lovely Facebook Page.
- Their website is also well done.
- They have a good selection of local produce and other goods. For example there is an upcoming brewer’s night with local beer brewers.
- All kinds of products that I don’t see elsewhere.
- I love the octopus on the narrows bridge art over the cheese shop!
The less than good points are:
- Well, they are expensive. For example the leg cramp medicine my husband uses was 1/3 more expensive than it is on Amazon. Though I found quite a few reasonably priced items and some of the sale items (I love their soaps) were a steal!
- This location doesn’t carry Tom’s Shoes, which is what brought me there. In fact they have very little in the way of clothes. That’s OK, if I want clothes with my groceries I go to Fred Meyers. Though I really wanted to check the fit on the new Tom’s sneakers.
- Like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods doesn’t stock most day to day items, so if I want Pepsi or Oreo Cookies, I need to go elsewhere. They do have healthy options to sodas and sweets.
- I was looking forward to taking a class or two there and they don’t seem to be set up for that. Maybe in the future.
The good outweighs the not so good and I’m delighted that they are here.