Newark Natural Foods — Local services in Newark

I used to be a member of this co-op years ago, and I've really come to hate it and what it has become. It is incredibly overpriced and the people running this simply do not make affordability a priority. And it's all the more unconscionable how the prices are given that this store has access to both volunteer labor and membership pay-in from members, something most groceries do not have access to. The prices here are such that you really need to be in a privileged demographic to make this your go-to shopping place. The quality of the produce is also lacking. I prefer to buy smaller items (i.e. apples, onions, etc.) and this place often sells really massive items which is just no good. I don't want to eat a whole mega-apple, I want to eat a small apple and then vary up the fruit I eat throughout the day. On top of this, this store has discontinued products I care about and buy regularly, and I notice a clear pattern: it discontinues the cheapest products and keeps stocking the expensive ones. I also get the sense that this store is not efficiently run. The store always seems fully-stocked, but I wonder if behind-the-scenes, a lot of stuff gets thrown out. The store seems to stock expensive, specialized products on the whims of members, while discontinuing staple products that I used to buy in quantity. The image is all about health and sustainability but I'm not convinced that shopping here actually is good for the environment. If this place were efficiently run, it would have low waste, and would buy products with an efficient supply chain which would mean both lower carbon footprint from less shipping, and lower prices. The fact that the prices here are astronomical leads me to believe that this place has a massive environmental footprint, hiding behind its "green" image. I have no use for this business model. This place needs to be gutted, it needs a completely different way of being run. I have shopped at natural food stores in other regions that had lower prices and they did it by having lower waste and greater efficiency, and most importantly, they made the low prices a priority. The fact that this place doesn't, testifies to the failure and poor value system and lack of commitment to underprivileged people, from the management of this store. Even when I want to buy products here, I don't feel good about shopping here because I hate what this store stands for. It's everything I hate about smug, upper-class "progressivism". Virtue-signaling on the outside, and internally rotten to the core. I miss what this place used to be, when there were more affordable products and the store used the volunteer labor from members to actually keep the prices down. I just can't wrap my mind around this store and what it has become. I hope this review can be a wake-up call and whoever is running this place these days can turn this store around. It pains me every time I...

Attended a member meeting via zoom and many of our members were ignored while an important vote to remove a board member transpired. Jerry (the president) was extremely rude to in person and zoom attendees, one of the financial people is doing something shady that was unaddressed, and there is no clear signage in the store of how to attend meetings or where/when they are.

On top of that prices have steadily increased even for local farmers/products that are stocked here and at the big stores. Not by $1-2 either. In the past 3 years the prices have increased so much that we only go here for specific items, and after this board meeting I want to cancel our membership going forward. Not while jerry or the unaddressed financial business is...

It's unfortunate that Newark Natural Foods seems to have significantly higher prices compared to other grocery stores. A quick comparison on any grocery app will reveal the noticeable price difference. This is especially surprising given that many of their customers are college students. The cafe always seems to be empty, likely due to the high prices—paying over $10 for a small, ready-to-eat meal doesn't seem reasonable. Unless it's Sunday, the store is usually deserted. One positive aspect is their vitamin section, which offers a wide variety of brands at competitive prices. My suggestion would be to either wait for the co-op farmers market on Sundays for better quality and prices, or consider going to ACME, which is much...