Natural Grocers — Attraction in Cedar Rapids

My favorite! Small store, but literally has everything you need or want.

Best produce in town; best prices, too.

Most thorough assortment of vitamins & supplements you'll find anywhere. Plus, specifically trained Vitamin/Supplement staff to answer all your questions & make recommendations as needed. Shelby is amazing; she knows all the things.

Best selection of items for special diets, no matter which diet you follow. I can't eat gluten, and they have more options for my diet than anywhere else in town.

Clean, well-lit store. Very shoppable, well-organized + easy to find what you need. And, if you do need help locating an item, staff is readily available, super friendly, and knowledgeable.

Speaking of staff -- this crew is the best!!! I'm in a couple times per week, so I know most staff by name, and they recognize me as well. The whole staff is friendly, kind, helpful, knowledgeable. Not only that, but they really strive to make the shopping experience feel like you are part of something. Like they value you as a customer and have a connection with you.

Best of all, the food is all organic, but the prices are certainly no worse (most often, much better!) than your...

When shopping exclusively for sale items, one can leave here with quite an impressive haul for a surprisingly low bill.

...but finding the sales is an experience that resembles a scavenger hunt as they are randomly placed throughout the store. Other Natural Grocers organize their sales into particular sections. This one...not so much (despite having dedicated sections).

And don't expect to be greeted, helped, or encouraged to purchase anything here. Other Natural Grocers have helpful enough staff, often times the cashiers are almost too talkative. Here, at the Cedar Rapids store, you mostly just get stares. Like, the cashier will stare at you while you box/bag up your own purchases. And that cashier will be the assistant store manager, leaving you with some sense of why no one talks to anyone else if the management acts like this. Someone call corporate.

So prepare yourself mentally to be completely autonomous in this space and then, if you're like us, you'll just sigh a sigh of relief that it's all over when you leave...until you go back because those sales...

Natural Grocers has a well-kept, organized environment, the shopkeepers are friendly and helpful, and they are quick to help you find anything you need no matter what it is. Their prices are competitive for organic/natural products, and their freshness is something I trust. My favorite part of this grocery store is the vitamin section and the dried herb section. They have a variety of grass-fed organic meats, milks, and eggs, vegan meat, milk, and baking options, good vegan cheeses, milks, and other natural/organic foods. They even have an Asian cooking section with sushi making ingredients, dashi flakes, miso paste, etc. No other natural foods store can compare, and I say that because they hit the mark more consistently and I always leave happy and...