I was so excited when I heard that “Sprouts Farmers Market” was coming to town. But I went there twice in their first week and now I just think “bleh”.
I was really hoping to see lots of local products, when in fact I found none at all.
- Their vitamins/supplements/toiletries section is tiny – maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the size of the same section in Vitamin Cottage.
- The produce section takes up a large part of the store, right in the middle. But I didn’t see anything there I couldn’t get at Safeway. Whole Foods’ produce section is way nicer because they clearly mark what’s organic, what’s “conventionally” grown, and where everything comes from. At Sprouts you have to really look hard to find that level of detail.
- The bakery section is also small. While they do have a few natural and organic and vegan options, it’s no better than Vitamin Cottage. And I don’t think a single thing was locally baked. Boo!
- The meat section was nice, and they had a lot of choices – definitely more than Vitamin Cottage, but no better than Whole Foods. And again I didn’t get a sense that any of it was local.
So, I guess my opinion is that it’s somewhere between King Soopers and Whole Foods. But Sprouts is nothing to write home about. And I didn’t see anything that would lead me to believe their products are any closer to a real farmer than those of Safeway or King Soopers.