Natural Grocers

I am new to this store, and I don’t understand all of the negative ratings. My health care providers have advised me to move to a more Mediterranean-​style diet … less red meat, lots of fish, fruits, veggies, nuts. Fruits and vegetables are easy to find in nearly every grocery store. Fresh fish is available in a limited number of stores. I couldn’t find a good selection of the nuts that I was supposed to have until I went to Natural Grocers. There’s a phenomenal selection of shelled nuts. I got pecans, walnuts, filberts (hazelnuts), cashews, almonds, and macadamias. They have a decent selection of organic vegetables at reasonable prices. They have dairy products. I found HeidiHo’s there! I saw it profiled on Shark Tank and wanted to try it, but no store carried it. I was planning a trip out to Whole Foods to look for it, but I found it at Natural Grocers. They have a club (N-​power). I gave them my e-​mail address, and they send me coupons via e-​mail. I just select the ones that I want, and they are loaded to my account. When I go to one of their area stores, I enter my phone number, and the coupons are automatically applied. No clipping! All in all, I’m glad that Natural Grocers has come to town, and I am a new, returning customer!

I loved Nature’s Pantry but this place has ruined what used to be a great store. Natural Grocers is obviously just another bottom-​line, profit hound corporate nightmare.
1) The staff is just OK. There are some staff members who were there when it was Nature’s Pantry and for that, I am thankful. They are the best. The newer employees are mostly rude and condescending.
2) The prices are RIDICULOUSLY high now. The manager, Tony, is fond of saying prices went down an average of 10% from what Nature’s Pantry charged. This is a flat out lie. They lowered A FEW items drastically and then raised all of the other prices so that my food bill has gone up at least 25% even when buying the same foods. No one can afford that these days.
3) Their NPower program is a joke and rarely works. They send you emails saying you’ll get special deals and they never get truly loaded to your account, even when the computer tells you the «deals» were loaded successfully. It’s all just a way to bump up their profits and steal more money from your wallet.
4) This particular store closes at 7:06 PM on Sundays. To anyone who does his/​her homework, that’s 66 minutes past the 6:00 hour. 666
5) They sometimes offer a $ 2 produce deal for stuff that isn’t quite up to par. It’s supposed to be a good deal… a way to buy produce that may not be as pretty as the other stuff. Instead of throwing it away, they offer it at a discounted price. This is a great idea and it started out great when they first started. But lately, they’ve been putting ROTTEN fruits and veggies in there. Stuff that DEFINITELY should be in the trash, they are charging for. Also, they’ve put a lot less in those offerings. The other day, they had a few bags with FIVE spears of asparagus… for $ 2. I’m sorry, but that’s just rude. Also, they recently had cucumbers for $ 4+/pound. But in the $ 2 area, they had a bag with 4 cucumbers in it. They were so rotten they were WATERY.
This is offensive to say the least. It’s rude and scummy to do that to your loyal customers. Talk about taking advantage of them.
All in all, it’s been really disappointing watching this store go from GREAT as Nature’s Pantry to corporate cash cow Natural Grocers.
I have to say, I’ll go there on occasion when they have an unbelievable sale but I won’t be spending thousands of dollars there anymore.
What a shame.

Beware! Food poisoning! Now both my brother in law and I have gotten food poisoning from the rotisserie chickens that sit out all day under the lamps. Classic improperly stored chicken symptoms, 4 hour delay, headache, nausea, diarrhea, aching. I like some of their stuff and the supplement reps are good. Otherwise I’m staying forever away from the prepared food!

It’s sad really. Another example of corporate America coming in and ruining a good thing. Natures pantry had a great thing going. Now, we find ½ of what we once did.

They have become so bad, I refuse to go there. The service is absolutely awful. I haven’t had the same cashier twice and I always have to have a disagreement about case pricing on their food bars (which I rarely find in stock). Too bad, however Terra is right down the street and there’s a new organic food market going into the old Office Max location in Lee’s Summit. My experience this weekend at Natural Grocers was my last.

I’ve been shopping her for a couple of years now and have been finding less and less to buy since it went from Nature’s Pantry. I wanted to love the new ways, but I can’t name one positive change. The price and variety of herbs, especially real cinnamon was what snagged me years ago. They do not carry it anymore. I’ve enjoyed the mostly local and organic produce. Now they are inconsistent and have reduced their selection. The ambiance pretty much feels… Disingenuous. I know pretty soon, I’m not even going to have a reason to return. I can only hope someone else buys it out again.

I have had several shopping days here but am not impressed. The stuff there is MUCH higher than what I paid when it was Natures Pantry. They dont have good sales like Natures pantry did .They have a weekly ad in the paper with maybe 10 items on sale and usually vitamins or more expensive Protein powders etc… This doesnt help my pocketbook… They also have not had or have been out of many things I have been there for almost every time I have been there.

Some of their veggies look pretty good. As far as the rest of the store, if you’re really into meatless tuna fish, flourless bread, lactose free milk, and other over-​priced and under flavored goods, then this place is for you. The problem is, almost all of these items contain huge quantities of salt to make up for their lack of flavor. I didn’t see one section in this place for low sodium items, which is what I need.
They need to clean their peanut butter mill every now and then. I was there very early on a Saturday morning and it was absolutely disgusting. It looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a week.
All of this, on top of an unfriendly staff, makes me doubt I’ll return.

When I heard the owners of Nature’s Pantry were going to retire, and a Natural Grocers was going to take their place, I was thrilled.
I visited this Natural Grocers today. I have always loved the store in Overland Park, and this was a good move for the establishment. The employees remain from Nature’s Pantry, but I noticed a slight price decrease. There were a few local items that Nature’s Pantry had, that Natural Grocers doesn’t yet carry. They are new.
The café was busier than I’ve ever seen it. I didn’t eat there, but it remains the only gluten free deli in the area.
The selection was solid. There were tons of samples, and nothing has really changed, except for the prices. They are about .08 more than the Hy-​Vee natural area up the street. Bring your own bags, cause there’s no plastic bags or grocery bags in this store. I love that Natural grocer’s is sustainable and non GMO. I hope they have as much success as it looks like they were having today.