Food Front Cooperative Grocery

Best. Deli. Sandwiches. Ever. So fresh and flavorful– big fan of the gorgonzola and olive tapenade spreads you can add and heaps of fresh veggies. Their chicken enchiladas are a super good deal for a quick lunch, too. Love grabbing a ham and cheese croissant in the morning, too. They also have a pretty good selection of beer at fair prices in my opinion. I definitely prefer this spot for lunch/​quick breakfast versus getting my groceries because price is a factor. Lots of tasty food but it’s wise to pick and choose what you really want otherwise it’s a big bill. Supporting the co-​op is nice and there’s some great perks for being a co-​owner ($ 5 a mont), plus it’s close to where I work and is great to grab a bite versus 21^st or 23^rd avenue or gasp, downtown.

BEST SANDWICHES IN PORTLAND (and maybe in the whole world)!!
Really, get a make-​your-​own sandwich at the deli– it will make your day/​week/​year (and generally I don’t even like sandwiches). The ingredients are delicious and very generous, the staff is always great.
Swift picnic or no, you need a sandwich!

Good quality groceries for a reasonable price. It is tough to do all of our shopping here but great for veggies and meat.

A bit pricey and closes early during the winter. Otherwise this place never fails to have my go-​to local foods that a Trader Joes wouldn’t. People are sweet too and it’s nice to recognize faces every once in a while.

New Seasons just opened yesterday. I’ve always been so bummed out by how expensive this store is, even in comparison to Whole Foods. FF, you better lower your prices or you’ll be out of business before you know it.

Crazy expensive, limited selection. Decent produce, although I’ve had some really bad fruit from here. Disappointed

Great options for lunch if you want a quick and easy place that has ready made salads and such. It ain’t the cheapest but it’s nice to have a great selection in NW Portland so close to Forest Park.

Expensive for their selections, and their roasted chickens are really sad and pallid.
Limited selection of cheeses, meats, etc. Produce section is lovely, though.

I love Food Front. When I was a poor student I decided to become a member, putting $ 5 towards the total fee (then you’re a member for life) every month. When I thought I might have to move out of town for a job, they told me that I could be refunded if I wasn’t going to be able to shop there anymore. Good to know!
Food Front supports local to the extreme, and that is one of the many reasons I enjoy shopping there. I feel like they do a lot of the choosing for me and I have nothing but wonderful, mostly local products to choose from.
Yes, it can be expensive. I managed to shop here a lot when I was living off of food stamps (which they take, unlike City Market) and it was doable. If you can pay the membership price up front you can save by 1) buying big ticket/​bulk items when it’s member discount month, four times a year, and b) choosing produce based on what is in season and therefore discounted to members. Also! c) FF offers case discounts for certain items. Just ask.
Staff is friendly and knowledgable. I’ve been refunded for things I didn’t like or one time I said my chapul bar «tasted funny» even though I didn’t even have it with me. They are very reasonable and I am doing everything I can to support them to be able to stay open when New Seasons comes into the neighborhood.

I used to live around the corner from Food Front & that’s probably why I had to move… flat broke from all I spent there! :) J/​K. Love this little spot, and you pay for the greater good, or just become a damn member. Love that they have spirulina in bulk & so many other amazing things in bulk that you can’t find everywhere. Yummy seaweeds that I love adding to my homemade broths which I make with organic bones from this store’s freezer section. Love that the produce circulates in variety by the seasons, have a decent organic wine section, awesome deli counter, random local dairy/​eggs and some great vegan and GF specialty options. They have random discounts in the packaged deli section and I’ve heard people boast about the hot food to-​go. I make special trips to NW for my wellness re-​fill here.

Nice people and quality food. I go here on my lunch break once in a while. FYI check out the sandwich bar — they are HUGE! And the peppermint brownies are to die for…

Nice and clean, high quality items and a pretty nice staff.
I would stick to specialty items if I shopped here, as the prices are on the higher end.
The cookie case has these amazing coconut, chocolate chip nectarine cookies that I would kill a man for. Kill.

Not your Father’s cooperative.
Trust me; in 1978, no one thought about offering prepared food in a place calling itself a co-​op.
When I started shopping in co-​ops in the ‘70s, the produce still had slugs and dirt on it, no doubt to ‘prove’ how organic it truly was. My initial experiences were in poor or sunlit spaces devoted to fruit, vegetables and Mason jars of homemade honey. Aisles of wooden crates on plywood tables propped up by 2×6 table legs. Splinter City.
It’s all changed. Everything’s clean and well– lit now and that’s all for the good.
I tend to shop around the outside edges of this place. I make a quick dash into the bulk section but I tend to avoid the middle aisles.
With few exceptions, I can find the same genre of canned and packaged items elsewhere for a bit less.
In the end I’m happy to shop here but in my own manner.
Slugs; I ain’t missin’ you at all.

Local neighborhood, co-​op, grocery store. Delightfully so heavy on organic – bulk, dairy, local produce, meats and seafood and more. Beer, wine, & ice cream.
Real super soup, sandwich and salad bar that you must give a try. Today it was a toss up between cream of tomato with roasted garlic and the split pea with roasted potato. Both were thick, hearty and delicious. Moroccan butternut chicken soup looks tasty as well.
Do Stop & Shop but make sure you have an appetite for the cooked foods they are serving up.
Prices look pretty good. And there’s limited indoor seating but a spacious covered, comfortable outdoor patio street side.

After a long hike in Forest Park, we were in search of bottles of water, and happened upon this store. It was cute, clean, and organized. I know that if I lived in that area, I would be there constantly– their premade salads looked AMAZING.
Tons of organic items, local items (including beer/​wine) and specialty items. Cashiers were very friendly. We were able to get large bottles of water for 0.74, which was a welcome surprise, since the store looked so cute/​fancy that we assumed the bottles would cost over $ 3. Nice shop!

In my view Food Front is so-​so. Generally every grocery store or co op has its benefits and lacking things in other respects. For me, there just isn’t anything I can’t get elsewhere, more conveniently, at a better price. I’m not afraid of not being treated like royalty at a place like this but I definitely wonder if I am actually on the bottom of my cashier’s shoe when I go here.
Too little to choose from (and much heavier representation of huge conglomerations), too much $$ and bad attitudes. Plus a lot of the ready to eat items look inedible/​stored improperly.

cute small sized co-​op. basically a very small New Seasons or Whole Foods. Selection here is fine. you can find everything you need for their size. A little pricey for most people’s everyday shopping.

In my experience, prices here are generally more expensive than New Seasons and there are fewer Food Front locations available, which means I generally don’t shop here. A caveat to these higher prices is that using coupons and shopping for items on sale does make prices reasonable.
Make sure to pick up a coupon book when you walk in. In particular, this is a great place to combine manufacturer’s coupons and Food Front coupons in order to maximize savings. They offer good savings on specialty items that are expiring, such as imported french cheese and other goodies.
Wonderful cider selection (better than New Seasons)*. Very nice salad bar with many organic options. Not always the best produce selection but generally okay. Last time I was in they were offering significant savings on produce to members. It’s a small store so really the selection on many items can be limited. They also have a decent health section.
Employees are always very friendly. Often times they have samples. They have partnered with Chinook Book for at least the last couple of years which is nice. This year they had a $ 5 off $ 25 purchase in there.
Overall Food Front is worth exploring. I’m not exactly sold yet but I do appreciate their food values and much prefer shopping here over somewhere like Albertson’s or Safeway.
*Sorry, New Seasons has been my gold standard lately.

Duchess de Bourgogne and Framboise, fresh local organic apples for $ 1.79/lb, tiny saran-​wrapped slivers of extravagant cheeses, vegan cookies that I want to hate but can’t stop eating, oats/​chocolate chips/​coconut/​quinoa/​veggie chips/​soaps in bulk for fair prices, a great meat selection (I’m told), fresh and vibrant flower arrangements for cheap.
I think that the prices are right on, especially when paying slightly more means supporting the local community. Portland (and this NW neighborhood in particular) has been good to me so far, and this is one of the places where we can perpetuate that goodness. And $ 5 a month (for 30mos) is totally worth it to become a member here.

Things I love: just walk in the door and look around. You’ll spot a dozen.
Let me just say that of course somewhere that emphasizes local sourcing will be pricier than Safeway. If you’re someone for whom paying a little more is worth it to shop your values, know that the prices here are actually far lower than many similar co-​ops and markets I’ve been to. I was incredibly surprised by how many deals I saw on everything from squash to dish detergent to chocolate bars! I’ve been buying Endangered Species bars for years, and let me tell you, $ 1.79 is a couple of dollars less than what you might pay at a regular grocery store. Stocking UP.
There are killer bottles of wine for less than $ 10, a great bulk section, competitively priced meats and fish and cheese, and the list goes on. Not to mention sales throughout the store, plus extra special prices for co-​op members on particular items, and on all items on particular days. Food Front carries one of my favorite brands of dried pasta, which usually sells for at least $ 6 a bag: right now, it’s on sale for half of that. Once I get my next paycheck, I’m joining.
Plus, I just finished a cookie that was apparently baked in heaven. Add it all up, and I can’t see why I’d want to shop anywhere else for staples like produce and bulk goods in particular (which is really most of what we eat in my house anyway), plus the well-​sourced meats. And wine, but we already covered that…