Sprouts

[Pete]

Here are some photos:

[mcca7596]

They responded to someone on their facebook page that while the grand opening festivities are tomorrow, they are open for business today.

[Dustin]

Do they have regular isles to buy chips and drinks, spices? I don't see any.

[Pete]

Yes, they carry all those items.

[Larry OKC]

The are open to the public right now. Nice new store, plenty of helpful friendly employees. parking lot is near capacity and they were low on carts (but never ran out as far as I could tell). Open lanes if more than 3 in line, quicj checkout. Looked around and got dome of their Cheddar Cheese soup (very tasy, large 32 oz @ $4.99). 6 variries available. They do sell about 20 different Boar's Heads meats (looked like the only brand they carry?). Sale prices seemed to be in line with other grocery store on produce etc. Didn't see too many name brand products, no Pepsi or Coke (I know this isn't a "regular" grocery store). One particular item seemed high, it was the Lofthouse Cookies at either $3.99 or $4.99), find them often for $2.50 to $3 that are available at Wal-Mart etc. Hard to say about other things since I saw brands that I hadn't seen before. Did notice they had a larger selection of Amy's organic frozen dinners than what Buy 4 Less carries, but not familiar with the prices. Multiple bulk food type dispensers for candies, coffee, nuts etc. Overall a positive rating and they should do ok here. Presume they are along the same lines of Whole Foods and by getting opened in advance, they might be able to get a customer base built?

[Dustin]

Just got home from a visit here. This place is amazing! The bulk nuts selection is extensive and you can pick from organic or non-organic! They have my buisness from now on!

[bluedogok]

I buy a big bag of the bulk peanut clusters....they're great. In fact I need to stop by the one here and pick up some more.

[easternobserver]

I was very impressed. The bakery had a very good selection of fresh breads, the produce was very fresh, and the prices were outstanding. Two deals in particular stood out -- Muir Glenn Pasta Sauce was $2/jar and a large container with three enormous skewers of random fruits was $4.99. Also had great looking corn at 8 ears for a dollar, and green bell peppers 3 for 2 dollars. I was expecting higher than average prices, but some were very low. There were at least three other people feeling the green peppers and commenting on how they actually smelled like peppers, not like bland waxy things you find at Homeland or Wal Mart. I was a little disappointed in the meat selection -- not exactly Central Market, but the house made sausages looked great and were awfully cheap. The cold cut prices were very reasonable for Boars Head. Best french bread of any grocery store in the city for 99 cents. I wonder how many of these prices were introductory and how many were actual prices.

[Dustin]

I forgot to add... You can make your own peanut/almond butter!!!!!!! How freaking cool is that!

[metro]

I forgot to add... You can make your own peanut/almond butter!!!!!!! How freaking cool is that!

They copied the idea from Whole Foods......

[SoonerQueen]

We shopped at the new Sunflower Market today.It's a nice store. Kinda like a smaller Whole Foods. It's nice to have a grocery store in the neighborhood again.

[soonerguru]

They copied the idea from Whole Foods......

Buzzkill.

;(

[okcisok]

Drove by there this morning before 7:00 on the way to work. The parking lot was already packed.

[pickles]

They copied the idea from Whole Foods......

lol

[Pete]

Hope this place is wild success and I think it will be.

If it, Whole Foods and the new upscale concept in Edmond all do well, I'm sure we'll get more upscale/specialty grocers and start to break down Wal-Mart's stranglehold on the local market.

[Turanacus]

Kinda like a larger small Whole Foods.

[foodiefan]

They copied the idea from Whole Foods......

who copied it from. . . .well, don't know for certain, but (much as I love me some WF), I'm pretty sure it wasn't "invented" by WF!

[foodiefan]

. . . but back to Sunflower Farmers Market. . . STILL packed this afternoon. Parking lot overflowing. . . I parked about 2 blocks away in a residential area. Deli is full, full of Boar's Head meats. . .and they have the " standard" OKC stock of Farrell Family Breads (would love it if they expand their Farrell array) in addition to Big Sky and their own bakery products. A welcome and much-needed addition to the grocery store scene!

[redrunner]

who copied it from. . . .well, don't know for certain, but (much as I love me some WF), I'm pretty sure it wasn't "invented" by WF!

I don't think there was a point to metro's comment except to name drop Whole Foods and remind us that every time he's in Tulsa or Dallas (must be Parklane flagship location) he shops at Whole Foods.

[FritterGirl]

Had a work colleague get in line at 6 this morning and she got $50 worth of free groceries. Said the place looked really nice.

I'm tempted to go this afternoon.

[BillyOcean]

heard they are opening a location in edmond and 2 in tulsa next.

[foodiefan]

I don't think there was a point to metro's comment except to name drop Whole Foods and remind us that every time he's in Tulsa or Dallas (must be Parklane flagship location) he shops at Whole Foods.

RR, your right, but I just COULDN'T resist. . . .I'm delighted we are going to have both Sunflower and WF. . .a trifecta would be to add a Central Market or Trader Joe's!!

[Doug Loudenback]

I went at about 4:05 this afternoon, but unlike foodiefan I did find a parking space without difficulty (although the lot was generally full). A very talented small (3 member, I think) band was singing outside but at 105 degrees only a few were gathered around listening. I paused for about 30 seconds or so before entering the store.

Inside, the ambiance of the store was rather delightful and "fresh" feeling and a fairly good view of most of the store can be seen upon entry. Unlike the new Crest in south Okc with its huge shopping baskets, Sunflower's baskets were a little smaller than usual, which was good since the place was so crowded.

My $45.05 was spent on the following (and I may have forgotten something): a pair of huge beets with large fresh tops (my wife loves beets); a beautiful bunch of large fresh radishes; 4 huge ears of white corn (as was said, the special offering was 8 for $1 but I didn't want that many); 2 very pretty large sweet yellow onions -- the kind with a label on each onion; 2 large tomatoes (I wasn't as impressed with them as I am when buying at the Pinata Store near Reno & 3 blocks west of Western, but I thought I'd give them a try); a large piece (1 1/2 pounds) of slab-fileted fresh (I think) salmon for $11.05, very pretty; about 1 1/2 pounds of 93% lean ground beef; 1/2 gallon skim milk for my wife (Highland); 2 frozen dinners, one with low sodium, again, for my wife, and one for me without regard to sodium content -- they carry several frozen food dinner brands that I'd not seen before and several are low sodium; I wanted to try one of their breads but I was looking for pumpernickel and I couldn't find any; 4 peaches -- not yet ripe but they looked good and should ripen if not refrigerated right away; a group of organically grown bananas for my wife; a couple of large organic chicken breast fillets for my wife; a regular sized bottle of Simply Orange orange juice; and probably a few things that I do not presently recall. It looked like they had a good cheese selection but I didn't look closely as I passed by.

There were lots of friendly people on the floor to help out, and, for the smallness of the space, quite a lot of content. This is a wild guess, but I'd suppose that a typical Homeland is about double the space. That means that the isles are narrow and it was hard navigating around shoppers with so many in the store, but shoppers were in friendly moods and it wasn't a problem. At checkout, I was surprised that I'd not spent more than $45.05, particularly since the salmon was almost 1/4 of the amount at $11.05. At checkout, customers were given one free (but smaller than normal) fabric grocery-type tote bag.

I'm anxious to see if the tomatoes are highly acidic (i.e., "good") or are bland like the hot house type ("bad") ... the signs didn't give a usable description.

It was a good experience and I'm sure we'll be going there on a regular basis.

[bluedogok]

who copied it from. . . .well, don't know for certain, but (much as I love me some WF), I'm pretty sure it wasn't "invented" by WF!

The Wheatsville Co-op opened in 1976, two years before Mackey opened up SaferWay Foods (1978). They merged with the Clarksville Natural Grocery in 1980 which they renamed Whole Foods. Form what many of the long time residents here have told me that many of the ideas for Whole Foods came directly from the Wheatsville Co-op.

[foodiefan]

The Wheatsville Co-op opened in 1976, two years before Mackey opened up SaferWay Foods (1978). They merged with the Clarksville Natural Grocery in 1980 which they renamed Whole Foods. Form what many of the long time residents here have told me that many of the ideas for Whole Foods came directly from the Wheatsville Co-op.

Blue. . .as much as my Texas heritage would love the thought that "in-house grind your own peanut/nut butter" was first offered at WF. . . in Texas. . .(or the Wheatville Coop), I'm going to have to do a little research. . .it just doesn't ring true to me that this wasn't offered somewhere in the US of A. . . east coast?? California??. . . before Austin TX in the mid 70s.