Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage

Let’s see… where do I start. I have been shopping at Vitamin Cottage for about 14 years. I have attempted to make a regular (every two weeks) special order there… but they can’t seem to remember to order it, or keep track of when to order it. This has gone on for about a year.
I was buying one of the only goat cheeses that is made with real rennet (Drunken Goat Cheese) from them, but they all of a sudden quit carrying it for some reason, that no one has been able to explain to me, yet! I cannot eat cheese made with «Vegan» rennet because it has been grown on toxic mold and some of the mold gets into the actual product, which causes me to have a bad reaction. I am very sensitive to some molds.
BUT…THE REASON I WILL NOT SHOP AT VITAMIN COTTAGE ANY MORE IS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT THEY SELL BY TAKING CARE OF THEIR CUSTOMER PROPERLY AND WITH CONCERN AND RESPECT WHEN THAT PRODUCT MAKES THE CUSTOMER SICK!
I bought some chocolate covered almonds at Vitamin Cottage that made me very sick for over a week. To make a long story short… I ended up cutting the almonds in half and I found quite a bit of white mold between the almond skin and the chocolate coating on about 20% of them. I called the store to let them know, but was dismissed because no one else had complained. I called for a third time and spoke to someone in the vitamin department and she knew about Aspergillus mold and pulled the product from the shelf. I told her that Whole Foods knew how to take care of their customers and would not have treated me with such little concern. She said, «Vitamin Cottage takes care of their customers, too!»
I called for the fourth time a few days later and spoke to the manager. She took my info, contacted corporate and the company that produced the almonds and asked them to contact me. She later told me that corporate pulled the product from the shelves of all of the Vitamin Cottage stores and will not be selling it any more. She also offered me a $ 25 gift card and said that they were done with the situation. I offered to bring her the moldy almonds but she immediately declined, saying it might compromise them in case I wanted to use them in the future. I declined the money and told her, in so many words, that Whole Foods treated their customers with a lot more compassion and respect. She said, «Well we pulled the product, didn’t we?»
I kind of figured that the reason Vitamin Cottage Corporate pulled the product was to wash their hands of the situation and avoid any further obligation… but I didn’t think about the fact that the manager did not want to see the evidence of the moldy almonds… because then they would have to admit that they sold a moldy product. WHAT A BUNCH OF WEASELS!
I finally got a hold of corporate and they said they had no further or future liability to me because the manufacturer was checked out by the Health Department and nothing seemed wrong. I had talked to that Health Department right after seeing the mold and it turned out that the lady at the Health Department not only knew of the company, but also knew the owners.
I asked Corporate Vitamin Cottage to take some responsibility for selling me the moldy product that made me sick… but corporate now seemed to be denying that there even was a moldy product sold. I told the woman that obviously the girl in the vitamin department WAS NOT TELLING ME THE TRUTH WHEN SHE SAID THAT VITAMIN COTTAGE TAKES CARE OF THEIR CUSTOMERS… and that I would be sure to pass that information along! She said, «O.K.»

I have mixed feelings about this place. I’ve found that they have the best prices for certain unusual things like cacao powder and raw pumpkin seeds. For that I’ll rate them as great. However they have the slowest check-​out lines anywhere! I am usually waiting about 5 minutes to purchase a couple items, and the cashiers are not always friendly. I am usually walking out that store hoping to find a better alternative.

My favorite grocery store in Boulder. I feel like they have some of the best prices on natural & organic foods. It’s a smaller store and most of the staff is very friendly but can be hit or miss with the younger workers. The place reminds me of an organic grocery store I worked at in college and I like the atmosphere here. I come here for most of my dairy and specialty items.

I like to think that when I step inside the Natural Grocers that I am seeing a glimpse of Boulder prior to the hear 2000. It just feels different (in a good way) and the store has an older feel to it (the Longmont store is a bit more modern and if I had to guess, about double the size).
First off I have to say that this store has the absolute best Bike to work day stop. There are sooo many samples and people out greeting and supporting the bike commuters. It’s my favorite and most looked forward to stop every year.
While at this store I see and sometimes interact with different people (surprisingly dodging carts and people that don’t say excuse me). It’s honestly one of the only places I’ve encountered this behavior in town (by the shoppers only — the staff are friendly and cool) and I found it quite amusing when I was there the other night.
The store has lots of organic vegetables (some of my friends will only buy there vegetables there) and loads of supplements and vitamins.
I’m not sure if this store has many events (I’ve attended one at their Longmont location — A Gluten Free tasting event and it was amazing) but the staff I spoke to were not quite sure where or if I could find a flyer listing them.
The parking lot is rather small but I have seen that there is also parking available behind the store.
If you haven’t been here before give it a try.

I don’t feel like this place stood out very much from other grocery stores here. The produce didn’t «wow» me either. I saw a lot of bruised apples.
I feel like Sprouts and Whole foods have much more selection. I don’t plan on coming here again. I’d sooner go to Sprouts. This place has A LOT of dried fruit though, I’ll give them that. And the people working there were friendly.

I’ve been completely spoiled by their consistently fresh, great tasting produce. Staff is largely friendly and helpful.

This is a terrific location even though the store appears cramped for space. The staff is always friendly. What I like about this store is that they always seem to have good deals even without coupons.
The product selection, including fresh produce and meats, is very extensive. They leave out a lot of what I would call «fake» natural products that you might find in other stores so they can do more with a smaller space. Do expect to bump into other customers because the aisles are not very wide. The prices are very good though so that makes up for that minor inconvenience. Highly recommended.

I love this store and their prices on ALL organic produce is great.

This is my favorite place to shop for groceries in Boulder. Good prices, friendly and helpful staff. The only downside is they are smaller so their selection is not as great as Whole Foods. So I shop here unless I need something specific that they don’t carry.

When you first walk in, this grocery seems a bit on the dingy side, but after acclimating to the modest surroundings, you will realize that there are quite a few good deals compared to the whole foods next door. The selection isn’t as wide of course, but veggies, coconut bliss and some teas are significantly cheaper here.

Overall best prices on Healthy food in town.

A nice compact grocery store — and yes, it’s a grocery store, not a vitamin shop! They really need to fix their name — they lose so much business due to it.
Their produce is first-​rate, it is my main objective when I go there. Often cheaper than next door at Whole Paycheck. My recommendation — go here first for your produce, finish at WF next door to fill in any gaps in your shopping list. Things aren’t quite as cheap here as you’ll find at Sprouts, but the produce is usually more fresh and perky.
For packaged goods, you’ll find many of the same (slightly alternative) items you might enjoy from WF/​Sprouts. If you’re into bulk though, VC doesn’t have any bulk food section and unfortunately sells a lot of pre-​packaged bulk-​type goods in non-​reusable bags.
In Boulder fashion — if these entertain you — they have a specialized recycling bins available in the front door. They don’t provide bags, but ask you to use the millions of cardboard boxes which all your product arrived at the store within. They do have a super-​massive vitamin and supplement section with interesting staff to talk to.
Bottom line — if this store isn’t in your quiver of shopping spots, it should be.

I’ve been shopping Vit. Cot. ever since it opened in Boulder. They don’t carry everything I want, but they certainly try. I can get 100% of what I need/​want 95% of the time. :o, and of course, the prices can’t be beat 99% of the time.
Excellent customer service and very knowledgeable people work here.
The produce guys are simply the nicest people!
My complaints are these, and are fairly minor, I’ve learned to adjust when I shop there to compensate:
Sometimes they’re out of what I want or need.
Sometimes the produce looks 2^nd rate. They know this. They try their best to get the best, but they don’t have the buying power that say WF has.
I’ll never understand why Vit. Cot. hasn’t moved to a bigger, better location. The one in Boulder had got to be the smallest one of all their stores. Why oh why didn’t they take the old Albertson’s location instead of WalMart :’(or just move to a larger, more modern location elsewhere in town. They would certainly get more customers if they did. Bumping into other shoppers is avoidable.
Waiting in long lines is just unacceptable, since it blocks the flow of shoppers.
Parking area is too small!
Never enough carts when it’s busy.
Even with these inconveniences, I’ll still shop there tho.

A compact health food store that gives WF (next door) a run for their money on certain items. Limited selection, but worth the stop. I stop here first, then WF if I need something more.
Locally owned and originated in CO!

Vibe: Grungy, hippy commune-​y
The impression round the water cooler seems to be that the VC is a cheaper alternative to Whole Foods. This is not true.
Go here for the low-​cost organic veggies. Almost always significantly cheaper than their next door neighbor Whole Foods.
Other scattered items are cheaper — like the Good Belly. Many items here, including their vitamins, are actually more expensive than Whole Foods. This might have to do with Whole Foods having the luxury of having their own brand which is high quality and almost always cheaper than the others.
Basically, when I have the time, I stop at both stores to get the best prices.
When I don’t, I generally just stop at Whole Foods since it’s hard for me to complete all my shopping at Vitamin Cottage (high priced milk, terrible bread, small selection).
Also, bring your own bag. I don’t mind the boxes they put my stuff in when I don’t bring a bag, but they do give you the You Inconsiderate Selfish Earth Inhabitant look while packing up your stuff.

While parking is a bit treacherous, the quality, selection and price of organic produce is unbeatable by any other store in Boulder. This alone, makes me stop and shop.
I am a grocery store ho — I go to all the stores for their respective deal items. Each store has something cheaper than the others, believe me, I have studied this;) I go to VC for organic produce, seeds, nuts, some supplements and kombucha — and a few raw snacks I can’t find anywhere else. If you want basics (milk, bread, toilet paper, et al), other stores have better prices and or quality on those.

When Whole Foods is next door, just laying in wait to take thirty bucks from me just from buying some fruit and a container of smoked salmon, I really WANT to be able to do all my shopping at Vitamin Cottage.
But alas, it cannot be so. VC’s produce has been gross every. single. time I’ve visited. I’m sure that it’s natural and organic and local and whatever, but that doesn’t make a bit of difference to me if it doesn’t at least look edible. Seriously, every apple I’ve had has been mushy, every orange dry, every plum mealy. So I’ve given up on the produce.
As for everything else — if you compare prices with Whole Foods, you’ll nearly always come out better at VC (with some notable exceptions, mostly stuff in the freezer aisle). I’ll get my tea here, my noodles, my potato chips (most snacks, actually), my chocolate, my juice, my soup, my cereal.
The employees are really friendly and it’s not their fault that the other customers tend to be totally insane. I was once in line behind a woman who, for literally 20 minutes, advised a customer service rep about business school. She did not notice that there was a line behind her, or, in fact, that there was anyone else in the store. I’ve also been yelled at (by a customer who had ample room to walk around me) for standing in the aisle comparing teas.
But if none of this happens to you, it’s a great place to just run in, grab your staples, and run out, for less money than Whole Foods and less bother than Whole Foods.

This Vitamin Cottage has been a welcome addition to the Boulder Natural Foods shopping choices. Of course, it’s been here for many years now. And I shop here several times a month. It is a small VC with a limited produce section, but the produce that they have available is quite good always. I sometimes like to go to the larger VCs such as the one in Lafayette, but this one is so much more convenient for me. Because of the limited space one feels sometimes a little too intimate with the other customers. If I weren’t the standoffish and perhaps a bit shy person that I am, this wouldn’t really be so bothersome. I must make a note for New Year’s Resolutions to try to LIKE the rest of humanity just a little bit more… or even a lot more!
Because this Vitamin Cottage is a really crowded store almost all the time.
They have great food and non food, very low prices on most items, they often offer the lowest price in the area on a large variety of items. I guess you would just have to shop most of the stores like I do to notice the differences in pricing.
Since Whole Foods now owns Wild Oats and most all of the Wild Oats that are not named Wild Oats but were nonetheless owned by Wild Oats, Vitamin Cottage becomes even a more important player in this whole scenario.
I like VC because it is not run in a corporate way at all. It is a relatively small group of interconnected stores that started in Colorado… somewhere in the greater Denver area… years ago.
Well, I’m probably boring you by now. The parking lot is as crowded as the store because apparently this entire shopping center, which btw includes Whole Foods too, was built without adequate parking that is adjacent to the stores. I suppose there’s nothing much the business can do about it. The city of Boulder so encourages utilizing means of transportation other than fossil fuel burning ones, maybe we all should get a clue and walk, bicycle, bus, etc. whenever we can in order to help save the planet!!!

Vitamin Cottage is where I do the majority of my food shopping. For the most part their prices are lower than Whole Foods, unless you are buying 365, WF’s store brand.
However, their produce leaves something to be desired so I tend to shop for that elsewhere.

Vitamin Cottage is a really awesome organic grocery store with a really awful name. The prices are a lot less than Whole Paycheck (Foods) next door.
The parking lot was designed by the same idiot who designed the Whole Foods parking lot, so park a little away from the store unless you want dings. The store attracts an odd mix of people, but heck that’s the charm of Boulder.