Sprouts Farmers Market — Local services in Cape Coral

Update:

I am changing my review to 2 stars. The cologne smell is still present, but has reduced. Maybe the employee was asked to wear ‘less’ cologne? Still hoping for zero cologne on my groceries!

Ever notice your food smells and tastes like cologne from this store? Smell the bags and food next time you get home. One of the male employees wears more cologne than I have ever smelled in my life and the chemical molecules 100% sprinkle off him all day as he stocks the food.

Artificial fragrance is not only neurotoxic, a neuroendocrine disruptor and carcinogenic, but it has also never been tested for safety in terms of literally consuming it on our food. I have called the store twice about this issue and the manager gave a halfhearted response saying he could talk to the employee but can’t require him to stop wearing cologne. How is this acceptable for a “healthy” food store? People like myself with a physical disability experience severe neurological effects from artificial fragrance and others with chemical sensitivities can experience asthma and anaphylaxis from it.

You absolutely CAN require your employees to forgo fragrance as a matter of employee and customer safety and many companies now are doing just that. To be very clear, chemical sensitivities and allergies are a little known but growing disability worldwide. The manager’s response was synonymous to a disabled wheelchair using customer telling him “I am unable to get around your store due to the way the employees block the aisles leading to lack of access for my wheelchair” and his response being “well I can talk to the employees about it but I can’t require them to do anything.”

Chemical sensitivities ARE a disability and people who have them should be able to shop in your store and eat the food without being made sicker or being unable to tolerate the store at all due to fragrance. America still has a long way to go with regulating fragrance exposures and while I do understand we can’t prevent customers with fragrance coming to the store, it’s very different than an employee who is doused with cologne spending 8 hours a day in close contact with the food 5 days a week.

Most companies and workplaces eagerly implement fragrance free policies amongst their staff as soon as they learn that fragrance is causing physical suffering or a barrier in accessibility to their disabled employees or customers. Sometimes the ADA or a lawyer has to get involved but that is rare. I was really disheartened by the manager’s flippant response to the health effects his employees cologne is causing and his lack of enthusiasm or dedication to resolving this issue. I am sure I am not the only one being affected by it and even customers without chemical sensitivities would appreciate not having artificial fragrance molecules scattered all over their groceries. You can do a google search - yes fragrance is composed of many microscopic molecules that detach from the surface they are on float around in the air and land on everything nearby. They do not just stick on the original surface.

Please, do better. a human just trying to eat her food without extra...

I was there yesterday (10/28) for their Grand Opening.. The store itself is clean and beautiful. I think it's a nice addition to what Cape Coral has to offer. My 'complaint' however is about the lady running the cash register at the front of the store. This was approximately 2:00pm. She looked to be in her 60's with short, grey hair and was manning the checkout lane closest to the entry doors. The couple in front of me were buying some produce. I guess the cashier wasn't sure what was in one of their bags, so she opened it up, took out the entire contents (it was cilantro) of the bag with her bare hand (which had been handling money all afternoon) and put the cilantro right up under her nose and took a huge whiff of it!! I couldn't believe my eyes and the couple just looked at each other in horror and disbelief that she actually had done that. The woman (customer) said "Umm.. That's cilantro.", to which the cashier happily agreed and said "I know, I could smell it!" How filthy.. Then it was my turn.. I had some bulk chocolates in a bag and as she scanned them, she asked me what it was. I replied "They're chocolate covered gummy bears." She stops what she's doing and stares at me straight-faced for a second, then makes an expression as if she was totally disgusted at the thought of putting chocolate on gummy bears.. And that's okay if she didn't like the sound of it, but you don't do that when you're working in customer service. Would a server at a restaurant make a gross face if a patron ordered something she didn't like? No. I wouldn't have even written a review about the gummy bear incident, but since it was coupled with the filthy cilantro incident, I thought I should bring it to your attention. Maybe take her off of the registers, where she has direct contact with the customers and find a job for her behind the scenes. It really made what was going to be a great experience, much less than great.. I'll never forget the sight of her grabbing the bunch of cilantro with her bare hand and holding it mere millimeters from her nose and mouth. My God.. WHO does that? I'm possibly just going to stick with Publix and Farmer Joes...

I used to really love this store and was so thrilled they brought one to the cape even though it is a little smaller than some other stores so it's less of a "one stop shop" but regardless, I've always loved the vibe and the employees have always been so kind and helpful.. until recently. I think they're trying to phase out the actual checkout and force everyone on to self checkout but I usually have a decent amount of stuff and it's frustrating when there is a group of staff just standing at the front chatting and I'm struggling to ring everything up on the teeny self checkout. It seems they have a new manager, a younger woman, maybe in her late 30s or so, but constantly just chatting with the team up front about whatever personal this or that, but it's feels rude and lazy tbh. I'll probably just start to make a weekend trip over to the FM location because they have more options anyway and although I LOVED the team at this one I really don't love a whole group of people (3 or 4) just standing there chatting when I'm not on the clock but doing more work than anyone that works there. Also, my bagged fruit this week was completely rotten. FUZZY thick mold on my peachtarines, shame on me for not opening the bag and inspecting them before purchase but I expect better from sprouts....