Whole Earth Center — Local services in Princeton

I moved to Baltimore just over a month ago and I'm taking the time to post this review just to let everyone know how awesome this homegrown store is. As the saying goes, "You don't know what you got till it's gone." Sure, Whole Earth may not be perfect, but compared to all the health food stores around here, Whole Earth is way beyond the competition.

Where else are you encouraged to bring your own containers—where you can actually measure the tare of your containers on a digital scale. (I was at a store recently where I went to so much trouble to use my container—I had to take each one to the counter to be measured and rely on the cashier to memorize the numbers; I just gave up!)?

Beyond this, Whole Earth Center simply has everything under one roof. This past week alone, I had to visit three different stores to get all my granola ingredients. Whole Earth sells bulk honey on the cheap. They have flaked coconut, sesame, sunflower, mixed nuts, almonds, exotic dried fruit. You may think, "Well, duh, this is regular fare," but believe me I haven't found a single store here with everything in the same place!

When I discovered Whole Earth, it instantly became my number 1 store. On most Sundays, after church, I'd simply stop by to get the week's supplies. The staff were always pleasant and wonderful. It felt so homey. Whole Foods is certainly on par (plus it has the brand advantage), but I'd only go to WF if WE had closed.

Overall, this is simply a wonderful natural/health/organic store. I only bought bulk ingredients here, so I cannot comment on the bakery, etc. For bulk produce, though, I would not hesitate to rank them among the top 3...

My wife and I have been shopping at Whole Earth since 1988. Over the past years we've noticed changes. We've been both experiencing disappointment now and then that we dismissed. But this time we decided to speak up to make other customers aware. I purchased 2 bags of Apricot Kernels that had a label directly beneath it of $4.99. Sometime after returning home, a 1/2 hour drive, my wife went over the receipt and discovered we were charge $12.69 each. By the time we left the store no price lable had yet placed for customers. When I brought this entire issue to the attention of the manager, whose name begins with M., he offered no customer service for the trouble caused, and only reimbursement for any package not opened. In addition, we discovered that Organic Almond Butter had been charged at $26.39, when other food stores charge $10 for organic Almond Butter. On average, we had been spending $250-$300 a week at this store. What Mr. M. does not know is that he was speaking to a Naturopathic Doctor who has also been sending his clients to Whole Earth. From this point on, I will not be spending my money at this store anymore, and also making certain that my clients are aware of what happened and to either not shop there again or at least be very careful of overpriced items and misleading...

It was my 2nd time visiting this store. The first time was uneventful, but this time I was being profiled. The manager (or who I believed to be one) was obviously over zealous and kept starring at me for no apparent reason and placing himself conspicuously in my face. I ignored him bc I was not going to allow anyone that kind of power over me that I'm not welcomed in the store. So, I was waiting patiently for him to ask me if I needed help finding something and that would have confirmed my suspicion as I wasn't the only one looking for something, but I was the only one who looked like me in the store. I was with my friend pushing the cart for her as she shopped. I continued to have conversations with the workers and was very friendly with the staff, once he noticed that I was not a threat he disappeared, but really he probably went in the back to see if he had gotten me on camera from some angle stealing. I'm glad I answer to a Higher Power. But people feel embolden these days to behave and act out. Something simple as shopping with a friend could have made the news today.

Overall, the food appeared to be very fresh, but over priced, the staff friendly and polite. I have many friends who actually shop here, but this place is not my cup of tea and today...