Upscale Grocery Shopping in Edmond?

[noiseradiostar]

We went and checked out Uptown Grocery yesterday. And the verdict is what some have elluded too: it's a giant, fancy Buy for Less.

I had such high hopes for the place after hearing about the New York style architecture, the HEB Grocery references (HEB's in Texas are the mecca of grocery stores to me), the prepared foods and sit down eating section, etc. I was hoping they'd have a lot of brands you could only find in Texas or at a Whole Foods or something like that. But no...it's your run of the mill Crest/Homeland brands for the most part. As someone mentioned the deli section is really small. No cured meats or anything like that. Cheese section was fine...about the size of Whole Foods. The hot food section was ok, but it has chicken wings, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, everyday food items. No gourmet type stuff.

Two positives: the floral section was great. You can get a lot of exotic single stem flowers. And the bakery/dessert bar looked pretty big, although I'm not a bread or sweets type of person.

But honestly...it's a slightly bigger NW Expressway Buy for Less with a fancier shell on it. It's pretty close to my house so I'll shop there every now and then. Just wish it was a little better.

[cjohnson.405]

Beer singles?

[metro]

Talked to a friend of mine that went to the soft opening yesterday. She specifically mentioned the fresh produce. According to her, they had lots of unusual produce, like what you would find in WH. She said it was very nice and that she liked it much better than Sunflower.

Yeah after going to Sunflower a couple dozen times, I am really underwhelmed. Glad they are here, but the quality for the price is just not there. Some stuff they are higher than Whole Foods, but the quality and selection isn't even close. SF is nice when I am in a hurry and don't want to fight the disaster that is Belle Isle Walmart, not to mention the store is actually clean.

[Scotty22]

I was pleased by what I saw. I went in not expecting it to be Whole Foods, and it's not. It's a very nice grocery store with organic substitutes, lots of gluten free options etc. The store is designed well in my opinion but don't expect the isles to be anything like some Super Grocery store like a target.

When you walk there are TONS of flower options, lots of exotic single stem type of flowers. The bread/deli/hot food section to order dinner from is on your left when you walk in. There is a nice checkout counter on that side of the building which is a nice touch. The amount of bread they have is very nice, the counter to order sandwiches had a nice variety though I liked WF selection more. I was really underwhelmed by the hot foods section. They had a couple of gourmet type dishes such as a salmon, asparagus fettechini which was excellent but some of the other stuff was just 'fried chicken, macaroni and cheese" and some other very basic types of hot foods.

The meat area was precut stuff though some of it looked very well cut, for the price though on the meat I would probably goto the Meathouse right down the road at Sante Fe and Danforth.

I love the grocery area. It had a very nice mix of having Organic type foods, but then also regular every day items you would find at a grocery store. It was nice that I could get something that was rather hard to find, organic crackers, or some blue corn chips, and right next to it could get some Baked Lays.

I will definitely be returning often.

[sacolton]

I was disappointed that they didn't offer a soup island where you can pick from a large variety of different to-go soups. Instead, you have to wait in line and have someone serve it to you. We waited ten minutes just to get one cup of soup to-go. Sunflower Market and Whole Foods lets the customers serve their own soups and they both have a bigger selection. Really was hoping Uptown had the same.

No cart return in the parking lot? Seriously? Didn't see one and people were having to take their shopping carts all the way back inside the store. (groan)

Prices seemed higher too. Didn't seem competitive to Crest Foods at all.

[cjohnson.405]

Went by this weekend and thought it was good to very good.

It is not intended to be a competitor to Crest. You won't do the bulk of your shopping here and they don't expect you to....take a look at the size of their shopping carts they are much smaller than normal carts.

Uptown's focus is on high margin grocery items: meats, floral, bakery, organic and prepared meals. That's why more than half of their square footage is just for these items. The rest of the items are there just because you may need something else while you are in the store. Don't go to the store thinking this is Wal-Mart and you're going to do you're bi-weekly shopping here at a low price. No doubt, you're going to pay higher prices.

Uptown is going to be for you when you want to prepare a very nice meal for your family or friends and oh, while you're here, you need a box of cereal and Dr. Pepper. Or if you want to grill better quality steaks and serve nice already made side dishes and oh, while you're here, you need face wash and bananas. It will be packed on Mother's Day with dads that need flowers and steaks. It will be packed on Father's day with dads that need a 6-pack and steaks. It will be packed around Thanksgiving with worried matriarchs buying last minute prepared sides and fancy bread to go with their turkey.

The only downer I saw was no beer singles....but I guess that's Oklahoma.

[ctchandler]

Selling single beer is an option. They don't like to, but if you take one out of a six pack chances are they will sell it along with the rest of your items. I did it for years since it kept me from drinking too many on a weeknight. My trouble with beer is that if it's in the refrigerator, I will drink it. By the way, most convenience stores sell singles.
C. T.

[BlackmoreRulz]

Drove by today a little before noon and the parking lot was absolutely packed, didn't look like there was an open spot.

[Celebrator]

Went in this afternoon with the family and we loved it. I was actually anticipating being disappointed after reading many of the posts here, but I thought it was amazing...more for look and feel if anything else. I loved the architecture/design (soaring ceilings with lots of natural light in the north end of the store in the prepared food area) of the store and thought the finishes throughout were first class. The product mix was nice with lots of mainstream grocery items mixed in with more specialty products. The floral and bakery areas seemed unlike anything else I have seen in OKC. The deli, cheese, and meat depts were similar to Whole Foods or Sunflower. The staff was very friendly as well; let's hope that's just not opening week kissing up to the new customers. I just wish the Metro could have a few more of these stores. Go take a look, I think you will be impressed.

[Pete]

Here are some photos from The Oklahoman:

[Pete]

More photos:

[ImTheDude]

I live in coffee creek and was really excited about this store, but after going a few times, have been pretty underwhelmed. They have a really nice cheese selection, but their prices are ridiculous. All I the cheeses my wife and I buy have been 40-60% more per lb than Whole Foods. I'll probably only go there when I need to just get a couple items, but our main grocery shopping will still be done at WF and meats/eggs/prepared foods will be at the Meat House.

[sacolton]

No wonder their prices are too high ... too much overhead!

[Dustin]

Beautiful store!! Wow! The sushi selection looks huge.

[catch22]

Looks like a home-run!

[dcsooner]

Looks to me like a great store and much needed in the OKC metro. Not everything has to or needs to be Walmart cheap. I am glad that when I return to the city my food choices are now more comparable to what I have in Northern Virginia

[MikeOKC]

The Edmond Sunflower/Sprouts opens in April, right?

[BrettM2]

The Edmond Sunflower/Sprouts opens in April, right?

Last I heard was March 28.

[leh]

Cheese at the Epicurean's Pantry is better quality and price! Just across the street from the Meat House!

[leh]

Epicurean's Pantry in Edmond is not a supermarket but has a good selection of "clean" natural foods and the real deal cheese selection.

[Debzkidz]

Epicureans Pantry is a great little store. They have a great cheese selection.

[wallbreaker]

Epicureans Pantry is a great little store. They have a great cheese selection.

I love the enthusiastic redneck foodie. I spend plenty of time there and asked the family for gift certificates last Christmas.

[Debzkidz]

I went back to Uptown yesterday. I must say I liked it better the second time around. It wasn't crowded, so I was able to actually look more closely at all their offerings. I found a couple of things I've not found since I moved to OK, so that was nice. Still, as noted by several others, it's not somewhere to go to buy all your staples as they are a bit pricey and the selection is limited.

[jilpil]

Ghost Town would be a better name for Uptown nowadays. Doesn't seem like they are doing a very good business lately. I just saw that they are reducing their store hours- opening later and closing earlier. Death knell? I have also noticed some food quality issues, probably due to high overhead and lack of turnover. Like some others have previously mentioned, it seems like the big old Buy For Le$$ image lurking underneath that beautiful facade may be coming back to haunt them. Sad.

[mcca7596]

Ghost Town would be a better name for Uptown nowadays. Doesn't seem like they are doing a very good business lately. I just saw that they are reducing their store hours- opening later and closing earlier. Death knell? I have also noticed some food quality issues, probably due to high overhead and lack of turnover. Like some others have previously mentioned, it seems like the big old Buy For Le$$ image lurking underneath that beautiful facade may be coming back to haunt them. Sad.

bummer