Sprouts, Mountain View

[Al Eisner]

I noticed that a Sprouts Farmers Market has moved into the space at the
corner of San Antonio Road and El Camino formerly occupied by Rasputin
(and before that by Tower Records). Is there any reason to investigate
this place? It't too far for me for routine shopping, and I don't need
either a place for produce or for a Whole-Foods-like store. But
since there's one in Sunnyvale, maybe someone here can say if there's
something special about it.
--

Al Eisner
San Mateo Co., CA

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <alpine.LRH.2.00.1...@iris03.slac.stanford.edu>,

Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>I noticed that a Sprouts Farmers Market has moved into the space
>at the corner of San Antonio Road and El Camino formerly occupied
>by Rasputin (and before that by Tower Records).

It's been a couple of years, hasn't it? I've never actually checked
it out, although they send us the flyers every week.

Once the construction in that area is finally finished, I might
start going there again, but it's such a mess, and seems super
dangerous.

[Peter Lawrence]

Super dangerous, really?

If you want to bike to Sprouts and avoid the construction (which is starting
to wrap up) just take California Street to Del Medio to Fayette where the
back entrance to the Sprouts parking lot is located.


- Peter

[spamtrap1888]

I've been to the ones in Westgate and at Branham and Almaden (Former
OSH) Unfortunately for you, it's like a poor man's Whole Foods, but
with good prices on produce. A quarter of the store is what I think of
as health food store type stuff. They also have packets of Seeds of
Change seeds right now. Wednesdays both the current week's sale flyer
and the previous week's sale flyer are in effect.

[SMS]

It's quickly replaced other stores as our main supermarket. While the
regular prices

[(null)]

In article <alpine.LRH.2.00.1...@iris03.slac.stanford.edu>,
Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:

>But since there's one in Sunnyvale, maybe someone here can say if there's
>something special about it.

Sunnyvale and MV are about equidistant from both home and work for me so I
alternate between the two. I didn't measure, but Sunnyvale seems to have
more sqft than MV. It also seems to have proportionally more shelf space, too.

MV seems to see a little less traffic so checkout is a little faster
and there seems to be more items on clearance and "manager special".
Booze in MV has its own room, so things in that dept. are easier to find.

A year ago they used different flyers and oftentimes things would be a little
cheaper in MV. Sometimes they were more expensive. They've since consolidated.
Up until a couple weeks ago, MV had the advantage of not charging for bags.

Other than that, they're pretty much the same.

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <klmdae$mhj$1...@dont-email.me>,

Peter Lawrence <humm...@aol.com> wrote:
>If you want to bike to Sprouts and avoid the construction (which
>is starting to wrap up) just take California Street to Del Medio
>to Fayette where the back entrance to the Sprouts parking lot is
>located.

Yes, you're right, that's a reasonable current route specifically
to Sprouts. However, I was accustomed to making multiple errand
stops in that area, and it's a lot more complicated now. Also,
construction along California itself should be ramping up, so I
don't think it's going to be a friendly place to be any time soon.
We'll see.

[sms]

Sorry about that.

Anyway, Sprouts has excellent quality produce and if you stick to what's
on sale the prices are very good. I thought there was going to be a riot
in the store when they appeared to have run out of the oranges at
19�/pound, but they brought out a lot more (I bought a whole case for
$7.60).

They typically will have one or two selections of wild fish on sale for
less than even Costco, and you don't have to buy such a large quantity.
They sell USDA Choice meat while Safeway and Lucky sell ungraded meat
which is probably equivalent to Select grade or less. I rarely buy any
of the canned or packaged foods there. Yogurt and other dairy is no
bargain. Eggs are no bargain. I rarely buy any of their "health and
beauty" stuff. Sometimes the bulk items go on sale but I hate their bins
which are very unsanitary.

The negative I have found is that they run out of sale items far too
often. I have a stack of rain checks from Sprouts because they're so bad
about having sufficient stock.

You really have to go to the store at exactly the right time. Mid
morning is good, after they have unloaded deliveries and had time to get
the items on the shelves. By the afternoon it's hopeless, they'll be out
of so many items that it's not worth going.

[Al Eisner]

On Mon, 29 Apr 2013, Todd Michel McComb wrote:

> In article <alpine.LRH.2.00.1...@iris03.slac.stanford.edu>,
> Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>> I noticed that a Sprouts Farmers Market has moved into the space
>> at the corner of San Antonio Road and El Camino formerly occupied
>> by Rasputin (and before that by Tower Records).
>
> It's been a couple of years, hasn't it? I've never actually checked
> it out, although they send us the flyers every week.

Not a couple of years, but some time last year. I probably didn't realize
quite what it was, at least not enough to inquire about it earlier.

> Once the construction in that area is finally finished, I might
> start going there again, but it's such a mess, and seems super
> dangerous.

[Al Eisner]

Thanks. If I'm in the area some morning I'll drop in to take a look.

By the way, I'm a bit surprised that the ostensibly classy looking new
development across San Antonio prominently features a Safeway. I guess
superficial appearances are deceiving.

[Todd Michel McComb]

In article <alpine.LRH.2.00.1...@iris03.slac.stanford.edu>,
Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:

>By the way, I'm a bit surprised that the ostensibly classy looking
>new development across San Antonio prominently features a Safeway.

You were thinking Safeway is poor? Take a turn in there and check
out the traffic & parking situations, and you'll be reassured.

[sms]

I'm sure that Sprouts will be moving north soon. They're opening a store
in Petaluma, now they just have to work on San Mateo and Marin county. I
doubt if they'll open a store in San Francisco.

> By the way, I'm a bit surprised that the ostensibly classy looking new
> development across San Antonio prominently features a Safeway. I guess
> superficial appearances are deceiving.

Safeway is abandoning a lot of their smaller stores and building new
ones very close to the old ones. They're also building a store in
Cupertino on Homestead where PW used to be and closing the one in
Sunnyvale on Hollenbeck. They closed two stores in Campbell/West San
Jose and built a new store nearby on the old Mervyn's property on Hamilton.

Safeway is an oddity. They want to have more upscale stores but they
want to sell downscale products. I guess the theory is that they can get
high margins by selling downscale products while maintaining the
superficial facade of an upscale store.

[(null)]

In article <klmf8d$356$1...@dont-email.me>,

sms <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>Sometimes the bulk items go on sale but I hate their bins
>which are very unsanitary.

One item from the bulk bins worth mentioning is steel cut oatmeal.
The 28oz can of McCanns from Trader Joes is $5.99
At Sprouts it is $0.99/lb from the bulk bin.

[sf]

Same brand?

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

[(null)]

In article <sesvn8ti5n387bg6g...@4ax.com>,

sf <sf.u...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 30 Apr 2013 14:59:51 GMT, dl...@sonic.net ((null)) wrote:
>
>> In article <klmf8d$356$1...@dont-email.me>,
>> sms <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>> >Sometimes the bulk items go on sale but I hate their bins
>> >which are very unsanitary.
>>
>> One item from the bulk bins worth mentioning is steel cut oatmeal.
>> The 28oz can of McCanns from Trader Joes is $5.99
>> At Sprouts it is $0.99/lb from the bulk bin.
>
>Same brand?

Because it's from a bulk bin, it'd be hard to determine without very
detailed analysis.

[Ciccio]

On Apr 30, 9:39 am, d...@sonic.net ((null)) wrote:

> Because it's from a bulk bin, it'd be hard to determine without very
> detailed analysis.

That should be pretty simple for the store manager to answer or to get
the answer.

Ciccio

[(null)]

In article <77896061-cef9-467d...@ua8g2000pbb.googlegroups.com>,

In that case, I'll be sure to ask next time I'm there.

[sf]

Probably not then. Most bulk bins tell you if it's a brand name. I
see Bob's Red Mill quite often.

[Tim May]

I think the employees can answer with great facility about what the
products are.

Determining whether they are just shining the customer or are actually
knowledgeable is another matter.

(Not casting aspersions on any stores, just noting that the "bulk bins"
don't have the "label reputation" that, for instance, some major vendor
has.)

I buy sometimes from bulk bins, but with reservations. And I certainly
don't ask store clerks to give me details. If they knew the real story,
they wouldn't be stocking shelves!

--
Tim May

[Tim May]

It works at Ranch 99!

"This am Grade 1, Number One, Premium Shrimp. I guarantee! You buy now!"


--
Tim May

[sf]

On Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:14:08 -0700, Tim May <tc...@att.net> wrote:

> (Not casting aspersions on any stores, just noting that the "bulk bins"
> don't have the "label reputation" that, for instance, some major vendor
> has.)

You don't think Bob's Red Mill is a major brand?