Earth Fare

Great store and the people are the best — very helpful and friendly. Excellent meat department with good prices.

Good selection of produce and groceries. The hot bar is very good. They do offer coupons which is great for a discount shopper like me. It gets the A-​OK rating from me, as it is hard to find and get to.
Groceries: ³⁄₅
Lunch to go: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ⁴⁄₅

Great for meats and seafood. Love the Maryland lump crabcakes and the bourbon salmon. Though the salmon, unless on sale, is a bit expensive.
Produce leaves something to be desired. Often some of the produce, mainly peppers, sits too long and is drying out. Their tomatoes are usually fantastic. If they smell good, they will taste good. Trust your nose.
The biggest issue with the store is that it doesn’t get enough traffic to turn over stock and the reason for that is their awful location that faces the wrong direction. It sits with it’s back to a major street, Countyline Rd. They should move into the old Kroger at Emerson and Countyline if they want a chance at surviving.

I have tried so many times to like this place. I go over and over again because I really would like to support a local organic and healthy grocery store, but I just can’t.
1. Customer Service is REAL spotty. There are literally 3 good employees that work there. The rest are just waiting until they can go home, are rude, don’t care, or are super slow.
2. The hot bar is kind of disgusting. Imagine food sitting out for hours drying up to nothing.
3. I actually got pretty terrible food poisoning eating off their salad bar.
4. The prices can be over the top expensive on certain items. An item that is normally 2.99 everywhere else will be 5.99 at Earth Fare. I’m okay with a little mark-​up, but that is crazy.
5. They are so concerned with leaving on time that they close everything down super early. I actually walked in and slipped because they had wet mopped the floor an hour before closing. An employee saw me slip and said nothing… of course.
6. I was trying to get ground beef out of their meat department. I asked the meat employee what the fat content was of the meat. He said 7%, I got the meat and clearly on the label when he handed it to me it said 14%. To me the fat in meat is very important to know. I try to eat lean. Every other grocery store, including Fresh Thyme and Kroger has meat that I can clearly see the fat content of.
I’ve really gone a lot to try and give them many chances, but I’m done. To Kroger and Fresh Thyme I will go now.

Don’t take this review to heavily as I was on a mission to find Noosa plain yogurt. I was easily able to navigate my way to the dairy section. I was impressed to see the variety they had but unfortunately they did not have what I needed. The store seemed nice and clean and surprisingly empty?!

Great organic/​natural grocer on the south side!
Earth Fare has a wide selection of items, focused on organic/​natural. They also have a great nutrition/​vitamin area. Great beer and cheese selection as well. Earth Fare is definitely the best choice on the south side for organic/​natural foods.

I have to up my rating of Earth Fare. We have been shopping here for a few months now and I can happily say that I don’t see that stopping any time soon. We typically get our meats here and then the rest of our groceries typically come from Meijer or Kroger. The staff and the selection of meats are great. I like that I am actually getting good quality of meat vs what I might find randomly in the meat section at other places.
Some of the prices seem a little steep to me but I truly believe that you get what you pay for. We have done their steaks, chicken, pork, and ground beef. All has been great and the natural and grass fed options are really what keeps me coming back.
I have gotten their in house made chicken pot pies before and those are better than the Marie Calendars in the frozen section of other places. I like that their fresh and never frozen. During the holidays they give you the options to order additional items that normally aren’t carried in store on a regular basis. For Christmas we had the standing rib roast and it was amazing.
They have a good selection of bulk items. We have been getting the granola and using that as yogurt toppings or just an option instead of always having cereal. They also have a good assortment of eggs. I know this sounds weird, but they have both organic and natural options for you to choose from. We typically opt for the organic.
The only down side to Earth Fare is the selection of produce. It is very small and limited. Now they do claim that the produce is local and seasonal so maybe that is why I cant get everything that I want from Earth Fare’s produce year round.
The staff overall is pretty friendly. I can’t complain about that at all. I will say that their «Tomato Bank» savings program seems to be pointless. I only get 5 points a visit and that’s only because I always bring a reusable bag. I do enjoy getting their emails as they have good sales on all sorts of stuff around the store.

We used to go to Earth Fare, but now we go to Fresh Thyme. Here’s why. My wife went to Earth Fare in October 2014 and left my 11-​year-​old in the car. She was playing Nintendo and didn’t want to go in. It was around 65 °F outside. When my wife was checking out, Kristin the manager informed everyone that a child was in danger and locked in a vehicle. She said that she had called police. My wife said it was her daughter, that she was fine, and asked Kristin to please tell the police not to come. She refused, saying it was their policy to call when a child was in danger. She said that a concerned woman had come into the store to let her know. When my wife got out, our daughter was still playing Nintendo. She left before the police arrived, but she was so incensed that she called Kristin to demand an apology. She refused. What kind of logic is used to call the police about a child that is supposedly in danger, yet stay inside the store without checking on the child? Calling police is rather drastic, so one would at least want to verify the seriousness of the problem. If my wife had to deal with police and Child Protective Services because of the call, we would have taken legal action against Earth Fare. Kristin wasn’t so much concerned as she was lazy, unyielding, and obstinate.

Since I have made a conscious choice in the past handful of years of my life to eat healthier and more organically as much as I possibly and realistically can, I shop more and more at stores like Earth Fare.
I have been to Earth Fare, as well as their competitor Fresh Thyme. To be fair I’ve only been to Fresh Thyme one time. I believe I will probably need to give them another chance to formulate a better comparative. Earth Fare is a little easier to get to from my house so I always end up gravitating there. Overall I like Earth Fare, as they seem to have a pretty decent overall selection of basics and what I essentially need.
To rate them by departments would be easier for me.
Produce: I will give them a — B — because most of their produce seems to be fresh enough. But buyer beware: some of the produce is not all organic. You have to pay attention to the individual signs. I was told at one time recently that Earth Fare will patronize local farmers for produce — in the warmer months during the growing season. That’s nice to know since you can be assured that the produce is as fresh as possible, (outside growing it yourself), as well as feeling good about supporting a local farmer.
Deli: D Their selection of deli meats and cheeses is not vast whatsoever. Even though I tend to gravitate more to a vegetarian lifestyle, it is nice once in a while to buy deli turkey or chicken meat that does not have all the (poisons) additives and preservatives in it. They only have a few types to choose from. This would also include The cheese choices.
Bakery: C They only offer a few types of bread that are fresh baked and supposedly organic. It would be nice to be able to have more varieties.
Butcher counter: B It seems as if they have an adequate variety of fresh meat choices.
Bulk Bins: B. They seem to offer a fair amount of bulk bin dry food items.
Health and Beauty: A I got lost in that area of the store after I ventured in and discovered it recently They have a huge section of health supplements as well as beauty supplies. One home made brand that was featured on a large display just before you head into the department is called — Biggs and Featherbelle
They make some really nice soaps and a large variety of sugar and salt scrubs.
Rest of the store — frozen food, canned food and other (refrigerated and frozen) — B. The choices of all of the other perishable and non perishable food items are vast and adequate.
I rarely use any of their in-​store coupons because most of them seem to be for brands that are already very expensive and/​severely overpriced.
My only hope is that one day most of the food that is available to the masses will be organically grown and more affordable. It will take some time, but if the public eventually demands it, it could very well be a happier and healthier reality.

Really good selection of food, reasonable prices, and great quality!
Love having sushi for lunch!

It’s a pretty decent grocery store. Lots of neat items, prices are a bit high, but not much higher than Fresh Thyme or Kroger. I particularly like their hot deli and bakery. Lots of well-​prepared stuff. I think the positioning is a bit different from Fresh Thyme. I would go there for hot deli and other prepared food. What’s more important is that I really wish them succeed so people in Greenwood have more choices for organic and local produce/​food.

It’s so weird to me that Earth Fare and Fresh Thyme both exist in Greenwood, and so close together. I checked out Earth Fare-​which opened after Fresh Thyme. They are very similar concepts. I mean, identical. Things that I have noticed that are different:
Fresh Thyme has more «homey» décor. It just seems warmer
Earth Fare offers coupons. If you get on the email/​text/​mailing list you will get them. I got a whole free chicken with $ 10 purchase right after they opened. Honestly, I struggled to find $ 10 of things I wanted from there. Sorry, Earth Fare. I kept thinking, «No, don’t get that here, the same thing is cheaper at Meijer.» I am definitely a bargain shopper, but I also want quality.
The hot bar did look nice-​and as I was checking out the lady told me that sushi is discounted (half? $ 5? I can’t remember) on Wednesdays (I think). Sorry. I know they have a discount day, but I also knew that as I was leaving I was going to stick with Fresh Thyme, and probably wouldn’t be back. My review is full of personal choices-​some people will surely favor Earth Fare over Fresh Thyme.

It’s a grocery store. They do have some organic staples I’ve not seen other places but many more that are available everywhere. The produce section does has some local produce. The bulk food area includes flour, rice, nuts. The cheese looks pretty good, as does the deli. Along with Fresh Thyme, this seems like a welcome addition to the south side, but I can’t imagine making a special trip from downtown.

I wanted to find many things I enjoy about this place, but I can’t. I feel like I love the layout of the Carmel store better. The Carmel store also carries Fresh Aloe Vera leaves, but Greenwood does not. I was looking forward to the brand new store opening to buy some. I’m really bummed.
Ok, I guess I love their organic bath and beauty products. I received a few samples during opening week of shampoo packets and such. I do like the samples … to realize the scents/​skin reaction better before I buy. I was able to find organic cotton balls/​swabs in the store, which is exciting. I’m looking to buy some of the healthier nail polishes in the near future. I know that makeup and polish is filled with toxic chemicals, so I enjoy reducing my exposure.
Unlike Fresh Thyme, I feel like Earth Fare does not have that exclusive product that I need to have. Now, if they were good, they would carry Aloe Vera.
The sushi isn’t the best. Fresh Thyme has a sushi chef that’s right there if you want an order of something not available in the front end. I couldn’t find anyone available to answer a question, but it was busy and new when I toured the store.

Custom hot pizzas are awesome but take 20 minutes or so to cook. Place your order before you start shopping and it will be ready by the time you leave.

Lets talk about the amazing fish and rotten smell coming out of the store. The smell actually made my wife sick. As we walked though the store, it got worse till we found the smell coming from the meat department. It was a rotten fish smell. It hit you like a brick as you walk in.
I took a chance and tried to look at the veggies. Their quality was on par or lower than Kroger. It was sad because their prices were much higher. If you look, it is alot of the same brands as well. The selection was small and did not look as fresh.
The selection of the bulk goods is actually smaller than the new Marsh and Kroger stores. Again disappointing at best. Sad for a store like this.
The only section that seemed to have a selection was the frozen and canned food isle. Again if I wanted that I would shop at Kroger or Walmart.
I give them 6 months to a year. Do yourself a favor and go across the street on US 31. Much better quality and prices. We walked out after my wife and daughter got sick because of the smell.

Who would have thought Greenwood could support two fresh, organic grocery stores? Apparently someone did, because both have opened within a month of one another. The latest is Earth Fare, which took over a office big box store once they went out of business and transformed it into a grocery store filled with aisles of «healthier» grocery items. I say «healthy» because you still have to pay close attention to the labels because not everything is as healthy as you would think.
For being a «healthy» store, I was surprised by how small the fresh produce section was. They have the basics, but if you’re looking for something else, you’re probably going to have to stop at another store. This place caters more towards the shelved items from what I can gather, but they do have a decent selection of frozen items. Hot and cold food options on the bar were nice as well, and I’ll be coming back to check out the fresh bread counter, where an assortment of breads are baked fresh daily.
I had trouble finding the huge stack of baskets when I came in (I saw them on the way out. they’re to the left of the front door) so I only grabbed almond milk as I was walking through the store. The lines were really long at check-​out though, and none of them seemed to be moving, so I put it back and left without purchasing anything. I’m sure the crew is still getting used to the store and the registers. I think there were others who left as well; I saw some of the same people across the road at the other «healthy» market buying things there.