Toledo Talk - First Take: The Fresh Market

From JJFad's workspace

First Take: The Fresh Market

I was excited to go to the opening of TFM. I've never been to one, and was hoping that the selection would be on par with Whole Foods.

Deli: I bought small samples of the majority of their deli salads. They are some of the worst salads I've had! The baked beans had pulled beef in them, the macaroni & cheese was spit out by my wife, the chicken salads were way below expectation. $8 for a chef's salad??? $5 for a croissant sandwich??? Some prices were just way out of whack with the offerings in other delis. Cheese selection was relatively weak. Good price on Parm though!

Meat: They seem to have a nice selection of meat, and they offer higher quality meat -- even though I've never had a problem with the quality/taste of meat offered by House of Meats. It was difficult to get a look because SO MANY people were there for the opening.

Seafood: They seem to shine in seafood. Great selection of seafood.

Bakery/breads: A large selection of breads. I tried a couple different kinds and can't honestly say that I will spend the money again -- they were on par with the higher-end selection of breads you find at Kroger. The cookies were great, and some of the pastries looked like they would be tasty.

Wine: No one can compete with Anderson's. A good selection, but nothing startling.

Produce: Absolutely the most disappointing produce section. $7 for 4 one-inch slices of watermelon?!?! $10 for a two pound container of mixed berries? The produce prices were ridiculous, and the selection was below Meijers and maybe Krogers.

Grocery: Some stuff you wouldn't find in other stores. There are some great buys in grocery dept. I love the selection of packaged trail mixes.

Service: ABSOLUTELY THE MOST INCOMPETENT STAFF EVER ASSEMBLED IN A GROCERY STORE! Have a question about a unique product? Don't expect an answer. Even the store manager left me waiting for ten minutes before he got an answer to my question... and his answer was wrong, but I had wasted enough of my time to not enquire any further.

Overall, I will not be shopping at Fresh Market because their prices on many of the products that I buy are outrageous -- $1-3 more on almost everything I bought. If you are expecting an experience that even resembles Whole Foods, then you will be very disappointed. The Fresh Market is an Anderson's with inferior selection and prices.

created by JJFad on Sep 19, 2008 at 11:46:46 am Comments: 21

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Comments ... #

i for one am going to give them a few weeks to work out the kinks before i pass judgment, but thanks for the review! :)

posted by upso on Sep 19, 2008 at 11:52:06 am     #

Thank You. I'll just stick with Anderson's market in Sylvania. It's always good. The Anderson's deli is far superior to any other in town.

posted by holland on Sep 19, 2008 at 12:26:43 pm     #

I walked in couple days ago and it was PACKED. note to self: go during the day when everyone is at work. picked up a great dozen of roses for 6-something. cheaper than kroger by half. didn't spend much time checking things out because, like i said, it was packed.

posted by toledolen on Sep 19, 2008 at 12:28:32 pm     #

Where is this located, and where is Whole Foods? I've been to neither. Love Andersons though and House of Meats :)

posted by jshriver on Sep 19, 2008 at 02:58:41 pm     #

Its at Westgate - I don't think there is a Whole Foods anywhere close to us....yet.

posted by Ryan on Sep 19, 2008 at 03:23:59 pm     #

Closest Whole Foods is in Ann Arbor. Worth stopping if you're ever in the area. Rumors have been around for a long time that one will be popping up around Toledo, but nothing yet.

posted by JJFad on Sep 19, 2008 at 03:42:35 pm     #

A Whole Foods exists in Ann Arbor.

At a Phoenix Earth Food Co-Op meeting last month, it was mentioned that a Trader Joe's would open in the Toledo area next year.

posted by jr on Sep 19, 2008 at 03:45:10 pm     #

Trader Joes would be awesome. They have the best prices on good food, and their super cheap wine is a hobos dream.

posted by JJFad on Sep 19, 2008 at 03:49:05 pm     #

It was either they "would" open or "may" open. I can't remember.

posted by jr on Sep 19, 2008 at 04:01:16 pm     #

trader joes is owned by aldis. it makes sense that we'd get a traders eventually since we have aldis and therefor the supply route is already set

posted by upso on Sep 19, 2008 at 04:48:20 pm     #

I went on Wed., the day of their opening and again today. It is what it is, a higher end specialty store. Everything looked good, albeit rather pricey. I don't beleive they try to mislead however sf far as their marketing goes. They don't claim to be cheap or have the "best prices in town" so kudos for that.

posted by angryconsumer on Sep 19, 2008 at 10:17:51 pm     #

just stopped through and boy oh boy was it packed. the store doesnt really offer anything we don't already have in the area (ie: anderson's fresh market in sylvania and churchill's in maumee) but it's location is great. the parking lot is a nightmare, but the store itself is nice.

the prices are high.. so I cant imagine it being a good choice for many people. the staff all seemed very nice, and happy. i hope they do well for themselves, and it IS nice to see companies investing in toledo.

that being said, I think im going to stick with the Andersons and keep my money local.

posted by upso on Sep 20, 2008 at 03:35:40 pm     #

HOLD THE PHONE? Trader Joe's is owned by Aldis? No way.

posted by corky on Sep 20, 2008 at 08:59:22 pm     #

Yes. If you look at the way they purchase inventory, then you will notice that Trader Joe's and Aldi's both purchase bulk, over-production inventory. Thats why Trader Joe's is able to give such a low price on merchandise, like Aldi's.

posted by JJFad on Sep 20, 2008 at 11:26:36 pm     #

yup!

posted by upso on Sep 21, 2008 at 01:53:23 am     #

Actually Trader Joe's is owned by Theo Albrecht, who owns part of Aldis and it's not the North American Aldi owned by his brother Karl.

They are separate companies. Separate operations.

It's just like Anderson's without any of the cool junk.

I just went to a bulk food store in Tiffin that was pretty cool. They had a bunch of cool stuff.... clove oil, lecithin, bulk herbs/spices, grains....

posted by charlatan on Sep 21, 2008 at 11:10:51 am     #

i had no idea! thats interesting

where is the store in tiffin and what is it called?

posted by upso on Sep 21, 2008 at 03:59:46 pm     #

Across from the Walmart where 18 and 224 come together. Down from all the closed big boxes. That town is fuxxored.

I don't know where anyplace around here is.

But Trader Joe's kinda has that Aldi feel.

posted by charlatan on Sep 21, 2008 at 10:03:06 pm     #

agree with jj's original post completely. i thought the new market might shut down schorlings and possibly churchill's but their pricing and overall product mix won't compete long term. they are not an everyday type grocery store - we need a "fresh farms"

posted by enjoyeverysandwich on Sep 22, 2008 at 09:30:45 am     #

Store in Tiffin is Call Rock Run Bulk Foods

http://www.rockrunonline.com/

Corner of 18 and 224. I have not been there in along time but they have a ton of stuff.

posted by transcom on Sep 22, 2008 at 12:32:49 pm     #

several things....first off in response to "everysandwich" I'd like to know what it is they were missing from their product mix aside from the obvious grocery store items which is something they never claimed to be. For the record they are a chain that has about 90 stores...not likely to close anytime soon.

in response to the original poster...some fair points to be made although it seemed to be negatively tinged from the jump...anything positive you had to say was brief and anything negative was highlighted at length or even went as far as to put it in caps. I guess I would think that a business who actually chose Toledo as a place to open up would be treated a touch more fairly.

posted by x_factor on Sep 22, 2008 at 10:45:38 pm     #