Whole Foods Market

Great organic produce selection. Prices are very high in some items. Some good deals when items are on sale. Staff members are helpful.

Clean all around! Picked up a salad and some deli meat and cheese today! Spent near $ 50 dollars on four items… All in all quality is good and we will be returning to this location it’s not far from our hotel in Albany and not far from our future home!

I haven’t been too happy with a number of aspects of this Whole Foods. There is less selection than others in the country, and is particularly limited in their virtually exact same to-​go foods section everyday.
Yes, there’s the price. I don’t get out the door without spending $ 20 to eat, maybe have a coffee to go. It’s just about impossible. And I’m really trying. I do know that it’s more expensive to provide what they do, but I can’t help but think they could do better. But that’s for all Whole Foods.
The last thing for me is that I have gone to this store 3 separate times now trying to get their in-​house bottled «green» drink. You know — kale, celery, ginger mixed veggie things. The one’s that aren’t 80% fruit. Theirs is GREAT. I become temporarily enlightened after I drink it. (You can get it at the juice bar for a lot more expensive price — slightly more volume, and maybe an extra ingredient or two.) But the BOTTLED one about which I speak has not been there on THREE separate occasions. And I’d already pretty much stopped going to WF because of the price. But their juice machine was broken the three times I stopped there on my lunch break — trying to get down some green goodness for my metabolism and mood. No go. Had to choose between brand name stuff for 4 bucks more or double the price for the juice bar stuff (which is good, but not THAT good — not more than a very occasional — and financially irresponsible — splurge.) They need a new machine. I told the customer service desk this, nicely. I don’t get the sense she planned to pass on my wisdom.
Whole Foods is a good thing. I’m a fan of it as hopefully a grocery store trend-​changer, to the extent is has been already, and will be, but they could stand to learn a bit more about how to make it financially accessible to everyone, and please fix the f-​in’ juicer!

On December 3^rd, 2015, after Public Hearing at Legislature Building at Empire State Plaza, I decided to visit Albany branch of Whole Food Market before my return trip to NYC.
Actually, Whole Food Market was beautiful, and team members are friendly.
It wasn’t expensive at all compare to all other Whole Food I shopped. It was exactly same price. I bought 4 Vegan Veggie Pizza, one Honest Tea bottle, Sweet Leaf Lemonade Iced Tea bottle, Ecuador Banana and Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie and Organic Decaf French Roast Coffee.
I got nicer cashier on #7 and team member was suprise I came from NYC.
When I went to restroom to wash my hand, it was CLEAN. NOT DIRTY AT ALL. Team members aren’t rude at all. It was best Whole Food ever.

Whole Foods strikes again! I was purchasing seafood and was shorted. I was with my young grandchildren and didn’t pay attention to the clerk. When I was preparing food for Thanksgiving I realized the shortage. I checked the label and saw that I had paid full price for items I didn’t receive. Typical Whole Food ripoff.

Good selection of products. Decent produce. A commercial version of Honest Weight, however the Co-​op does it better.

Great fruits and veggies, nice meat and seafood (though you’ll pay for it), but terrible cashiers.
It’s probably worth enduring cashiers who seem to turn over and are in training every visit. «What is this?»…uh, Kale… they are not only mostly unaware it seems of many of the items sold here, but confused by the point of sale system. Budget a good ½hr to get through a line with more than 2 shoppers, and be prepared to be quizzed about nearly every item you’re buying. It’s the peak of annoyance.
Still, for the quality of the vegetables, when they’re not being drowned, is better than other local markets. And the fresh salmon is nice to have when you feel like splurging.
There’s a feel of stress and confusion from the staff in general, but it’s nice to have this supermarket choice in Albany.

A very attractive, clean, brightly-​lit market, with a lot of gourmet choices. You know its good when you feel like you want to try everything in the house. There are so many smaller tested boutique brands here that makes shopping here out of the ordinary. The food bar has a ridiculously wonderful offering. The bakery cookies are fantastic.
If you haven’t been, you need to check this place out. There aren’t many bargains so prepare to pull out your wallet… but it’ll be worth the delight of your tastebuds.

Finally! Albany has welcomed the 21^st century!
Amazing Macchiato! Lovely half-​cheese steak sandwich, yummy sushi.

Has to be one of the worst Whole Foods Markets in the chain. Appropriate that it is in Albany, as the customers wouldn’t know the difference.
Store is dirty, poorly stocked, limited selection. Only thing worse than the in house baked goods are the «local» ones. These baked goods are absolutely disgusting. The prepared foods are equally as bad. Why bother eating them, head to the filthy, disgusting restrooms and throw the food in the toilet. Oh wait a minute, it’s probably out of service. Well, it will be there soon enough anyway.
My favorite part of the store are the rude, insolent, couldn’t care about anyone and why are you bothering me employees. As if the product selection isn’t bad enough, pair it with that crew and you have an absolute gem of a shopping experience.
Bravo Albany, the land of PCB and inbreeding, you’ve done it again!

I don’t know if my recent experience was a fluke, or if Whole Foods has finally found its grove after being open in Albany for a year. But my last visit was a five-​star experience, and almost all of the problems from the past have been resolved.
On this last trip, they man operating the deli slicer knew exactly what he was doing. Both the prosciutto and the salami were appropriately thin, none of the slices were mangled, and they were all place neatly on stacked sheets for easy removal.
Seeing such respect for the great foods in the cold case filled my heart with joy.
Plus, the challah from the bakery was one of the best I’ve had in some time. Its interior texture was tender, and just undercooked enough so that each of the braided strands was identifiable and had a delightful elasticity. It was the perfect accompaniment to the market’s succulent roast chicken.
Man, I could make a habit out of that pairing. And if they keep up the good work, I intend to make this a weekly stop. Roast chicken paired with challah (and a generous serving of grassfed butter) Is one of my favorite meals ever.
And when I’m convinced that this wasn’t just a fluke, Whole Foods can get the full five stars. For now, I’m cautiously optimistic.

I’ve found that this is one of the best sources for reasonably priced organic and sustainable meats and seafood. It’s a good addition to Honest Weight, Trader Joes and the other supermarkets in the area. We tend to shop here once every couple of months to stock up on things that only they carry, and then shop elsewhere for our daily groceries. Their prepared foods section is also fairly decent, so it’s a good place to stop for a bite to eat when hungry. Some of their dishes will beat out many restaurants in both price and quality.

Even though this place is expensive, when I think about my experience and the food I buy at a supermarket (such as PC), the higher prices are easily justified. The produce here is seriously x1000 better than what I would find at the supermarket. Most of the box of strawberries I buy at the regular supermarket are usually mushy and or not sweet. The ones I buy here are literally perfect, and they’re out of season right now! So even though I’m paying 6 dollars for a 2 lb box of perfect strawberries, it’s better than paying 4 dollars for a 2 lb box of disgusting strawberries. Same with the avocados. they are amazing and perfectly green. Most of the avocados I buy at the regular grocery stores have brown spots or some weird discoloration spots and I usually have to throw them out (and yes, I know how a ripe avocado feels). It’s seriously crazy how much better quality the produce is here.
I went through a phase in the summer when they opened where I wanted to try all their ice creams. They have so many flavors I love from locally sourced companies. I cannot exactly remember the brands but I have tried vanilla cinnamon (the best thing. ever), multiple green teas, earl gray, chai latte, etc. all amazing! Plus they sell boxes bubbies (mochi ice cream from a company located Hawaii). Even though I wouldn’t forgive myself to spend the 10 dollars on it, it’s pretty awesome that they sell it.
Second of all, it’s always clean despite the business on the weekends. They definitely do a good job of keeping the store presentable and I think it makes the shopping experience better. Even though I wouldn’t pay the crazy prices for certain things (bc I am on a budget and I already love to splurge on produce), it’s always just fun to walk around and see what they have that are locally sourced.
Definitely look for the sales too! It’s usually only like 10 things in the store but they discount is pretty great.

Oh Whole Foods, I really, really want to like you, but I just can’t. First, your parking lot seriously lacks crosswalks, curb cuts and ease of moving shopping carts. The layout of the store is fine, but there are huge pillars in the middle of some aisles, making it really difficult to get around people. I’m pretty sure they could have incorporated these pillars into the shelving set up with a bit of creativity but didn’t, leading to traffic jams on the busier days. I feel rushed/​hassled during these times like I shouldn’t stop to look at things.
However, the selection of goods disappoints me the most. I’m trying out the Paleo thing (yes, I can feel your eye roll from here), and I really love the Nom Nom Paleo blog/​cookbook. They sell the cookbook in the store/​have a «Paleo» display, but they carry (basically) nothing off the blog’s Whole Foods shopping list. I was excited to finally have access to some of this stuff… High quality Red Boat fish sauce, dressings, wild caught pink Key West shrimp, etc and none of the stuff is there. They do have a better selection of some things, Blinski’s chicken sausage from Cohoes, for instance, but I get the feeling that this store is really more about the prepared foods/​buffet than anything else. That stuff is good, but I’m here to do some of my grocery shopping.
I will return for the little things I can’t get elsewhere, but I find myself underwhelmed by this store. I think Honest Weight and Trader Joe’s continue to be better alternatives in both selection and price.

Three stars for selection, variety, and vibe… but I’ll keep two stars because it’s just so ridiculously expensive, and for the Chinatown fish market smell that hit me as I walked through the front door.
So much stuff here, that you will pay at least 50% more for than elsewhere. Lemons were $ 1 each, avocados at $ 1.75, dried garbanzo beans at $ 2.79 per pound?
Face it, certain folks can’t and shouldn’t shop here. I’m one of them. Let’s go to the farmers market instead!

I like whole foods, I appreciate the specialty items, organic everything, and hipster vibe. I dislike the prices. The thing I don’t like about this one is that it always feels cramped and crowded. I guess that’s what happens when you put a Whole Foods where a Sears used to be. The hot bar and salad area are cramped. That being said, though small, the produce selection is fresher than you’ll find anywhere else in Albany. The bakery area is always a temptation. There are plenty of places to sit and eat. Wish this place had gelato and the round whole pizzas like other Whole Foods I’ve been too. But hey, at least we can say we have a whole foods now.

Although I’ll always remain true to Honest Weight, it’s nice to have a Whole Foods in the CDNY area. The hot bar here has a way better vegan selection than Honest Weight, so it can be a nice alternative to going to a restaurant.
The store is huge, spacious, clean, and inviting. The selection and layout are similar to other Whole Foods stores I’ve been to in several other cities. There’s a big bathroom near the dining area, which is also nice, although there are several bathrooms nearby in the mall as well.
What I really don’t understand is why on Earth I’d want to go grocery shopping at a shopping mall. Forget about ever going here between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because the parking lot will be a disaster area. I guess it’s convenient if you want to get groceries after shopping, but you’d have to deal with your shopping bags somehow… I just don’t understand the logistics of this. I think a better location would have been a wise idea.

What draws me to WF is the prepared foods, which I make a beeline for upon entering the store. The availability of nutritious and flavorful on-​the-​go food provides convenience for the patron without the cost of consuming empty calories. It’s immensely satisfying with soups, a cold salad bar of arugula, mixed greens, and spinach with a spread of salad toppings, and a hot bar with Indian and BBQ fare. And yet, the food bar does pale in comparison to other WFs and could use even more variety. I’m happy with what’s become available as of late, but I wouldn’t mind the addition of a seaweed dish, edamame, babaganoush, and salmon salad, just to name a few dishes I’ve seen at other WFs.
I find the produce to be a bit over priced, but I will say that paying for their selection that you won’t find elsewhere may be worth the money. I found yams (as opposed to sweet potatoes) as well as heirloom tomatoes in all their red, yellow and green glory. The mozzarella cheese is produced locally, and its texture, a moist softness that gives away its freshness, is not to be taken for granted.

The best of Whole foods is the «outer ring» as I call it.
In order, starting at the front door, the produce section, the fish and meat sections, then the cheese, deli, and bakery sections.
Stick to the outer ring. The middle isle’s of course have a very good selection of organic and natural processed foods and pantry items. But other stores in the area carry pretty much the same stuff at lower prices.
The produce section though is amazing. 75% is organic, and the selection is fantastic. The meat and fish sections are the same. Fresh, top quality and much of it organic. The bakery, cheese section and deli all are very, very good, with items you just can’t find in other stores.
Go to Whole Foods and shop along the outer ring for the best they have to offer.

Call me a yuppie scum food snob, but finally we have a decent grocery store. Already they’re doing 90% of the things other Whole Foods do right well: local foods (as best you can get here), fresh organic/​natural, responsible sourcing for things like fish, excellent prepared foods, and good bulk. The prices are as advertised in the Whole Paycheck realm, but the quality/​price value range is spot on thus far.
The store is medium-​sized as far as Whole Foods go, but they have a full prepared food and salad section and ample seating in the front. The expected parking nightmare did not materialize: the lots are crowded but because they took some traffic from people who parked at Sears to get through the mall, they seem to have avoided the Trader Joe’s problem of filling up the lot. The entrance way and store layout are a little cramped and could use some better management, but these are things that are likely to be fixed after the break-​in traffic crush.
I had pleasant and informed conversations with the staff at fish, meat, and cheese; having staffers who actually know their food has always been a WF differentiator and this looks very, very good. They don’t know how to bag yet (cheeses crushed by cans) but they do have a line dispatcher, at least for now. The store is cramped in part because they had to accommodate giant concrete support pillars from the old Sears, and in part because it’s a smaller footprint than usual, and while everybody gets used to it traffic inside is going to be a nightmare.
Apples to apples comparisons on products already available elsewhere in the Capital District/​CRUST: they ran about 10−15% over the cheapest, but in many instances were lower than Honest Weight or Fresh Market. The availability of the 365 brand gives a welcome source for «generic» higher quality organic processed foods (beans, pasta, etc.) over the overpriced Eden and so forth at the «natural» sections of the «mainstream» stores.
They haven’t quite got the same level of commitment to local meat sources that Honest Weight and the Niskayuna Co-​Op have, and it seems as if they haven’t quite tapped into the local produce market as well as they can, but it is early in the growing season so we’ll see. OTOH I haven’t seen better «local» fish (New England, or sound-​caught) anywhere in the area, and the cheese and specialty products are awesome. They have Tara kitchen sauces! Talk about Ma and Pa.
In terms of newly-​available-​in-​this-​market brands and products, though, it may be just I was accustomed to a lot of them from our long time shopping at WF elsewhere, but they had far more things I couldn’t find at all or had to make special trips hither and yon to find at the other local options.
We’ll see how bad the traffic gets here in the Christmas retail season and with snow — withholding judgment there — but for now it was doable to get in and out, particularly using the Central Ave/​Sears side for ingress and egress. Wolf Rd. as ever a bit trickier, I don’t recommend coming in that way if you can avoid it, or at least come in via Sand Creek and come around the back (Boscov’s) side of the mall to park at the Sears end.
This is maybe the 20^th grocery store in the CRUST I’ve been to and reviewed nearly that many, and this is the first one I can see actually committing to for a regular weekly trip. It’s a bit far to shop at more frequently but for now: mission accomplished.