New Seasons Market - Main Street — Local services in Vancouver

We often shop at New Seasons at Fisher's Landing but live much closer to downtown Vancouver. So, we were excited to be driving by and saw that the downtown Vancouver store was open. It was thronged with probably 200 customers and many excited employees who were friendly and very helpful.

I liked many features of this store but because of one serious oversight, we're likely to continue shopping at the Fisher's Landing store. You would think that an experienced grocer like New Seasons would understand basic store design. But this place has only 2 single-seat restrooms. Customers were in line and there were even staff members waiting. Did they not install a staff restroom either? It just happened that I needed to use the restroom, so we had to leave and go to a nearby restaurant that was far smaller and had more ample facilities without a lock on the door. Crazy, huh? Especially since this attractive new store is designed as a destination, with:

Attractive hot meal options, including a brick pizza oven, and you can order custom pies. Spacious indoor and outdoor seating. Lots of items stocking the shelves, perhaps too many. Here's what I mean.

The aisles are quite narrow and the shelves are very tall to hold a large selection of branded goods, which gives it a cramped feel. And I wouldn't want to be a short person trying to reach the top two shelves. Also, the parking lot was full with limited street parking. Most high end downtown supermarkets have parking garages below the shopping area, but not here.

Also, check the prices before stuffing an item in your cart. I was looking for organic ground ginger in the bulk section, and sure enough, they had it. But it was priced at over $25/lb. That price seemed steep, so I didn't buy it. Later, I stopped by Natural Grocers in Hazel Dell. Their organic ground ginger costs about $10.50/lb. or $3.29 per 5 oz. pack. That NatGro is much smaller, but they select high quality items that are reasonably priced and don't try and carry every brand. It's a much more comfortable shopping experience, including wider aisles and lower shelves. Unlike this New Seasons, that store is stocked well for its smaller footprint. And it has more bathroom space. The New Seasons at Fisher's Landing isn't nearly so cramped in any of these ways.

I hope New Seasons fixes some of these flaws in the new store and that it won't be as crowded as it was on opening day. But it'll be awhile before we go back, and until they expand the "facilities" we...

Have you ever met a cheese monger? Well now I have and he was absolutely delightful, insightful and fun! I wandered in simply wanting some of their generously portioned and oh so scrumptious Tiramisu for my better half’s and I’s 20+ anniversary. Keep in mind we live a long ways away so this Tiramisu alone is worth the trip. However, I peered over and saw all their delicious cheeses and someone working there and I was intrigued! Especially since our next stop was going to be Trader Joe’s for their cheese section as I am a huge fan altogether and we wanted to make a nice charcuterie to savor our evening. So of course I was intrigued by said presence of a monger. With my eyes aglow at all the sizes, shapes and options, Frank was quick to jump to my aid and answered questions I had and never knew I had about cheese. How could I not soak up his years of experience and knowledge. I love Brie but have never really cared for the rind. It gives off a chlorine smell that I’ve never liked but looove the buttery gold inside. He taught me that the ammonia smell that has always made me complete the grueling task of cutting off the rind was due to how long the cheese had been in the plastic. New Seasons has a 6 day rotation on their cheese which is so refreshing. He recommended a buttery local Brie from Dundee and gave me a sample, and of course even removed the rind for me! I couldn’t help but ask for a favorite of his/top recommendation and boy did he hit it out of the park. If you love cheese you must check out his choice, the P’tit Basque. A sheeps milk cheese from France that is similar to a Manchego but oh so romantic on the tongue. I savored the sample long after we said our goodbyes and I had wandered off to peruse the vast variety of local wines. This shop is a treasure. My husband had to tug me by the base of my shirt to get me out of there especially after I spotted the cookie by the pound Cookie Bar. You are a dangerous but delectable place New Seasons. Oh and please tell Frank that I ate all that luscious Brie, rind included, and I’ll be...

So this was our first time in this new location. Spouse went in to pickup out a birthday treat for himself. I suggested this location as my neighbor had said how nice it was and I’ve enjoyed items from other New Season bakeries before. We originally were hoping for a fruit tart, but a nice guy on the phone had already explained to me they were out of those due to a large cake order that used up all their marzipan. No problem, so he popped in to select something else…a cake with a fondant outside and fruit all over the top. It looked lovely and we expected it to taste even better than it looked. It was just shy of $30 for a 6 inch cake…so the combo of everything had our expectations up. Boy…looks can be deceiving. It had to be the driest cake I’ve ever eaten. The internals were practically turning to a crumbled dust as I sliced it. It was EXTREMELY disappointing and I suppose we should have asked when it had been made. When one can get a more moist cake from a box of Betty Crocker you know something is wrong. It was so dry actually the fondant was just falling off completely.

Needlessly to say not a great first impression of this location. The friendly staff in this case will cause me to try again, but I will be real cautious with the...