3 weeks ago I drove down from Manchester to Wiltshire for my friends wedding (I was a Bridesmaid) and we stopped off on the way at Cheltenham to visit Whole Foods. I was beyond excited to go here as I’d heard such great things about the selection of Vegan food that they stock. Not only that, it is such a lovely store to shop in, it’s bright and full of fresh, local and organic produce. I thought you might like to see some photos I took.
The security guard thought I was mental taking so many photos but I was really excited to be there (clearly I don’t get out very often).
Sorry this is a little picture heavy but It was such a nice store. As I said I went to the one in Cheltenham and I know there are a few Whole Food Stores in the UK, mostly in London and one in Glasgow. They had so many lovely organic beauty products I wish I’d picked up some more things. I am planning on going to the Glasgow store when I drive up to Dundee in a couple of weeks.
Whole Foods is very different to the normal supermarkets we get in the UK. It has more of a marketplace feel, rather than the generic aisle after aisle feel of most supermarkets. the first thing that strikes you when walking into the store is just how friendly the staff are. We where greeted by a lovely man who offered us a range of freebies to taste (we instantly picked up a box of Korean spicy bites, good marketing). As soon as you enter the store you are in the fresh produce section. The fruit & vegetables are presented really nicely & it’s all so fresh.
Further into the store you have the spices & the wines. An amazing array of wines & beers and even a small bar area to fill up your own bottles (how cute) and taste some of the beers & wines. The butchery, fishmongers & cheese counters all look amazing (even if I’m on a vegan diet now). They also have separate areas for the bakery, fresh coffee & grinding & fresh juices. The rest of the shop is more like a traditional supermarket, but with a great selection of fair trade & locally sourced brands.
The staff are amazing, they pack all your shopping for you at the till into paper bags & our cashier even gave us a recipe based on the foods we had selected. Amazing.
Finally they have a cute cafe area where you can site & eat produce you have picked up in the store. We had pea & mint soup with fresh rolls & elderflower juice. So yummy.Here is some of what we bought.