Gainesville. [posts] - [more]
My favorite places to buy organic food in Gainesville, Florida are, in order: Wards, Fresh Market, Lucky's, Trader Joe's, Earth Fare, Earth Origins, Publix and the Farmer's Markets.
You have to shop around if you want the best prices. Mostly, each place has some items that are priced lower than the other places and other items priced higher.
Some places have items that you cannot find anywhere else.
I shop at a variety of places on different days, to stay stocked, get better prices and enjoy the varied scenery.
A lot of my preference is proximity to my house. Still, here are my reasons:
Ward's has a large selection of organic fresh produce and bulk foods. Ward's has most of their organic produce all together. The store is small compared to a super market, and densely packed, which I like. I can get everything visiting two small areas of the store.
Fresh Market is conveniently near my house. They have a nice produce section and often have a different variety and different prices from Ward's. Their bulk foods are expensive and not organic, so I get my bulk foods at Ward's. Between the two, I am pretty well covered.
Lucky's is nearer my house than most of the other stores not yet mentioned. They have a good variety of produce and organic bulk foods. I prefer Ward's, but Lucky's has different pricing, and since the two are only a block away, I can stop by both and get the best priced foods.
Trader Joe's is in Butler Plaza, which is to be avoided as much as possible. Trade Joe's has a limited variety of organic fruits and vegetables, but some of what they do have, is often priced better than anywhere else, such as organic avocados at four for four dollars. They do not have bulk organic foods. They do have a variety of packaged foods that you do not find elsewhere.
Earth Fare is also out by Butler Plaza, so not conveniently located. Their prices are on the higher side both in produce and bulk goods and their variety is not as good as my favorite places. This is a big store and they have a variety of packaged goods. Fun for a change.
Earth Origins has a small store in town and a larger store out by I-75. I once got bottles of organic lemon juice there for one dollar each, but otherwise I rarely go, because Earth Origins is not conveniently located for me. I have seen an interesting variety of produce and bulk foods.
Publix is conveniently located, but they have little organic produce and no organic bulk foods. You cannot browse through their organic section to see what they have, because they do not have an organic section. What little organic produce they have, they spread around, mixed in with the non-organic produce. I think they are trying to trick people. They have almost the same logo on their non-organic produce as on their organic produce, same coloring, similar shapes and the non-organic says natural. I think they are trying to fool organic shoppers into buying non-organic foods and non-organic shoppers into stumbling onto organic foods.
Farmer's Markets have a mix of organic and non-organic food. You have to ask about each item to find out what is organic. Prices for most items are more expensive than the stores.