Mountain People's Co-op — Local services in Nederland

My dog and I are from another state, and are staying here in Ned for 12 days. I was so excited to learn of the co-op and even more excited to try it. As dogs aren’t typically allowed in actual stores (everywhere outside is OK) I had to leave him in the car while I ran into the store to look for a few items I needed. While It is true I was in a bit of a rush because of this, I did not see the area where fresh soup was made. When I asked the gentleman behind the cash register if they had any fresh soup he was very rude and I felt like I was bothering him. It felt very clear this place was not friendly to outsiders. I had a small carry basket from the store, and had filled it with 7-8 items, and then went to get the soup. When I got to the register, the gentleman rudely informed me that I had put the soup in the coffee containers. I was not aware there was a difference. Perhaps I overlooked a sign in my hurry due to leaving my dog in the car, but it wasn’t intentional, and I apologized profusely to the gentleman, even telling him I would pay for the difference, or be happy to transfer it into the proper container. While he was very rude, he told me not to worry about it “this time”. He rang up my items and I was appalled at how expensive the bill was when I hadn’t purchased more than 7 to 8 items. I decided it best to say as least as possible, as it was more than blatantly obvious he didn’t care for outsiders. After I paid, he left all my items on the counter and just stared at me. Once again, I had no knowledge that the store doesn’t offer bags or anything to put your items in once you pay for them, and I had to inquire as to what I could put everything in to take to my car. And once again, he was very put out, and just stared at me like he could care less, and basically told me “he didn’t know what to tell me”. I inquired as to if I could borrow the hand basket to take my items to the car and bring it right back in to him. He agreed to “let” me do that, and very rudely stated, “Only if you bring it back.” I quickly took my items to the car, threw them in, and ran to return the hand basket to him, informing him that I was returning it. He did say “thank you”. To say I was appalled at this gentleman‘s behavior is putting it lightly, as my father was in the grocery business for numerous years and would have never let an employee treat someone in this manner, whether they were in-state or from out-of-state. This sort of unprofessional and selective behavior is not warranted and reflects terribly on a business. While I have been in Ned, I have found many helpful, friendly people at many places, however, sadly this was not the case at this co-op. I will not...

It's so sad that this place is such a rip off to those who are not aware of the false shelf price. The shelf prices are a good example of false advertising. Normally, the price on the shelf is the guest price and then members receive their discount when checking out. After checking out - unaware of how we were overcharged - we went to the patio and tried our purchases. A bit later, we realized what we had been charged upon checking out and the cashier told us there was a sign to inform us of their "method" of pricing. This is a total rip off. No one reads that sign. It's high above your head engraved in wood. This is false pricing, and the tourists and visiting neighbors are paying dearly. It's a shame, because you walk in to the Mountain People's Coop thinking you are patronizing an establishment of hard working, honest, integritous, mountain people. It's not true. It's a rip off. (Not to mention, the new inclusion of Costco re-sales ...)

Everyone knows ... when you are a card carrying member of any store - the discount comes at the register. This is down right trickery. It should actually be reported to the BBB in my opinion. And,...

We were so excited to come here as traveling vegans and found some great food. When we got to checkout, the person at the register was unfriendly. Later when I opened my sandwich there was tempeh on it which as a vegan I have in fact seen a lot and know what it’s supposed to look like. There was fuzzy mold on the tempeh. When my partner brought it back another worker said “that’s tempeh, have you seen it before? That’s normal.” Instead of checking it out and just being kind. No one helped or wanted us to have a better experience so I just had to throw the sandwich out. It seems like a one-off thing because there’s no way this place is like this on a normal basis. Just was a strange experience and made us feel very unwelcome. Yes, tourists are annoying. But we felt so unwelcome and felt bad just for even coming in. We were so excited to find some good healthy vegan food. The rest of the food was great and we want to like this place, which is why I don’t want to give it 1 star. But our experience...