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.