Fresh Thyme Farmers Market – Downers Grove

Crab salad — bad
Pico de Gallo-​bad
Prices high
Got beef fajitas from deli and grilled it up… nasty inedible

basically a smaller, less expensive whole foods. however, the lower prices come at the expense of far inferior in store service. employees there seem kind of low morale, very slow, and don;t seem to have much experience in food service or retail grocery.
we will keep going though because they do have a great healthy foods selection, and pretty good value at the meat counter and deli.

I wanted very much to write a good review for this neighborhood shop. We need something special in the area, but I’ve been disappointed over and over, after shopping Fresh Thyme DG at least 10 times.
It’s expensive. They definitely advertise loss leaders in season — blueberries, avocados or apples, but if you want to do one stop (heck, if you want to do less than 3 stop) shopping, it’s not worth it.
The deli staff could use some training. And maybe a customer service pep talk. I was treated like a criminal when I walked up to the deli counter — just me, no one else around for plain eyesight. I asked for help, got some attitude from deli girl, who then put on her sanitary gloves, pulled out my Boar’s Head turkey, set it on the slicer and then came back to the counter, gave me a dirty look, scolded me that I was supposed to pull a number, hit the «deli counter service number» machine to get the next number, pulled the paper from the machine, and put it in the tub for refuse next to the number machine. WITH THE GLOVES ON. Then she walked back to the slicer and began to process. EXCUSE ME? I asked if she could change her gloves, since she was handling the single biggest germ spot on the counter, and she told me I was supposed to pull a number, that’s how they monitor the deli service. WHAT? So was I being punished for NOT taking a number when there was no one there? I apologized and got my meat… only to walk away and wonder what could possibly have been so bad in anyone’s day that they would belittle a customer. It’s not the first time deli staff had attitude, but it’s the last time I stopped there.
The bins of nuts/​cereal/​grains/​candy are great. My kids love the peanut butter filled pretzels, so I stopped to fill a bag. On the 3^rd scoop, I came up with a bonus — a 5″ wire was in the bin hiding amongst the pretzels. Supervisor and store manager were 4 feet away discussing something nearby and when I interrupted them to say «is this normal?» was told «No, sometimes stuff breaks off the scoops.» Only, this wasn’t from a scoop. WHAT? No thank you to those items any more.
½ the check out staff is kind, funny, and amazing at getting you out quickly and efficiently. Sadly, that’s the best thing I can say about FT. Interested to see if they make it through the next year.

Heaven — I am in heaven. This place it wonderful in its progressive vibe and business model. Good selections of healthy foods, salad bar, bulk items, etc. Reminds me of Alfalfa’s and Sprout’s markets in Arizona and Colorado. It’s far from me so i can’t go every day, otherwise I would. Different from a trader joes or a whole foods or Standard Market for that matter. Truly my kind of store and I applaud the owners for their vision. I only wish they would carry Salad Girl organice salad dressings.

My new favorite grocery store! Although I can’t attest for the prices of their prepackaged items, the fresh produce and meat sections are wonderful! The store is reminiscent of Whole Foods, but with far more reasonable prices. The produce section is well organized, clean, easy to navigate, and the prices are all very competitive. The meat counter was well stocked and the butcher was helpful, but not pushy (The chicken sausage was SO TASTY and for a good price.) We went on a Wednesday evening which allowed us to score deals from the current week and the week prior– letting their sales overlap makes for a HUGE selection of items for a great price (Raspberries for 77 cents AND Mangoes for 49 Cents.) I can’t wait to go back and shop next week!

This is a very clean and organized store. The staff are friendly and helpful. The prices varies from week to week, but the weekly sales items are better or comparable to prices at Jewel. Best part is that there not an overwhelming selection of products. In and out and on my way.

Store is clean and well layed out. Bakery, produce and fresh meat areas are really great. This is a good place to find more natural flours and ingredients as an alternative to Whole Foods at a better price, only wish they had a wider selection of brands.

Meh felt like dominick’s.
Like exactly.
And We all know how that ended.
Meh.

Love this place! This is the first time I’ve been here, and I will definitely be coming back. I prefer eating organic, and this is a place closer to home that has so many options, even in a smaller store. They make all their deli sausages in-​store every morning, which I think is awesome. I also really appreciate that they offer a «bag your own spices» aisle, but I also am excited that you can pour your own honey, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and maple syrup! I’ll definitely be stopping in again soon!

Here on day one, the place is packed. But just like every other FT I’ve been in, the place is spacious and well laid out to make shopping as stress-​free as possible.
The produce is always picked-​through for rotten apples and placed in perfect pyramids practically positioned to please your visual perception as well as your palate.
Need to go pee? The restrooms are generously sized and family-​friendly. Please wash your hands before returning to your cart. :)
The staff here is very friendly and well-​trained. They can heel, fetch, roll over, and bag your groceries on demand.
Try the Gummie Bears in the bulk section– best flavors ever.
I’m pretty sure most of them don’t have fleas either. Plus, plus.

Hands down the best fresh market in the Burbs!
However, a word of warning, If you are looking for highly processed, sugar ridden disease causing foods found in the SAD (Standard American Diet) move it along, keep driving; you won’t find that here!
I frequent this store twice a week to stock our fridge with their fresh produce, seafood & grass fed meats. They have seasonal produce from local farms.
The best day to shop is Wednesdays, because you get the past week and the upcoming weeks sales. It always impresses me they have a very friendly courteous staff.
My whole family loves everything about this store!
And last but not least their prices are GREAT!!!

I have now been here 5 times so I can give this review a fair shot!
I went a few days after opening it was jammed, prices great, I had purchased bakery, deli, chicken, fruits, veggies and some wine I was thrilled was only concerned about parking.
Second trip I asked for boars head ham which I only get boars head asked for thin, gentleman showed me a slice I said perfect I get it home it’s thick and fatty which boars head is not I swear they gave me a different brand and charge for boars head! Purchased the grass fed beef that on the package says previously frozen well how fresh is that??? Change your name to frozen thyme!
Yesterday was my fifth visit and probably my last. Went for the specials and was blown away that someone would cut NY strip steaks that crapy! I walked out went to Caputos!
They are opening stores all over… Guess what you will be closing them we have great places like Whole foods, Mariano’s, caputos… lower those prices and bring up that quality cause for a new store and rumor is your corporate office is around the corner you should be ashamed of yourselves!
I travel to Arizona fresh spouts is your sister store so I have been your customer… this is Chicago we demand quality, service and great prices!!!

Their Italian sausage tastes exactly like a hot dog. No trace of any Italian flavor at all. Unacceptable. The chicken sausage isn’t terrible but you better mix it in with some marinara sauce to cover up some of the flavor. It was just tough. Also, the carne asada had a bitter flavor to it. The round bread from the bakery was decent at best, it was soft, but salty. I would definitely not return.

Just visited this place for the second time this past Friday. The first time I came here was the second day they were open, and it was chaos… but I just could not wait to visit. I picked up a few things the first time, but needed to come back to really give this place a better look. I stopped in around 3:30 on a Friday, and it was a good time to do some shopping. Last time I was here I noticed some competition with Caputo’s since I had just left there… Caputos had blueberries on sale for .88 and this place had them for .77, so competition like that — there is a sales flyer so be sure to check it out in advance.
For stuff on sale here in terms of fresh and organic foods — they have some GREAT deals which definitely surpass «Deals» at Whole Foods, though things that aren’t on sale, aren’t really a deal at all — I found myself picking up some of these items though like Yogi Tea k-​cups just because I have never seen them anywhere else, or Nuun tablets for water, just because I’ve never tried the grape flavor and they had it here.
I agree that the parking isn’t great, but both times I’ve been here I scored great parking, only good luck making a left back onto Ogden… the odds are low.
To give you an idea of what shopping is like here… I’d get the small shopping cart at Whole Foods, leave with a brown paper bag full of items where my cart wasn’t close to being full… and I’d leave easily with $ 50 or more in items. I had the same size cart literally filled to the max and layered with items and spent a tad under $ 100…I got some good quality stuff like boars head lunch meat, bison burgers, etc. so I didn’t mind spending here, also because I got some pretty great deals in the process which would have cost more elsewhere.

I’ve been meaning to get into Fresh Thyme to check it out ever since it opened. I finally got around to it early on a Monday morning, so there were practically no other customers in the store, giving me plenty of time to look around and judge stuff. ;)
My very first impression was, «What a lovely store!» The store itself is beautiful, clean, with a large open floor plan. All of the fresh items look amazing, especially the produce and meats. They were cranking out a lot of early morning baked goods, so that smell hit me as soon as I entered. I can definitely see myself stopping here on the way to work if I need to pick up pastries or other treats. I would give Fresh Thyme 5 stars based upon looks alone.
The size of the store is slightly bigger than a Trader Joe’s, but smaller than a Whole Foods. I get more of the Whole Foods vibe out of the setup, inventory, and employees. They even have a Body section over in the corner very similar to the Whole Foods body department. They stock mostly natural/​organic brands for both food and toiletries, so don’t come here expecting to stock up on Kraft and Tombstones! That being said, the prices were EXPENSIVE. I will use an example of a product whose price I am very familiar with: Silk Almond Milk. Target sells Silk for $ 2.79 a carton. Caputo’s, a grocery store down the street from Fresh Thyme, sells Silk for $ 3.99 a carton which I thought was pretty crazy. However, Fresh Thyme sells it for $ 4.79 a carton, which is just bonkers. So, I am giving it a 2 star rating on the prices.
Primarily, I felt that Fresh Thyme was just being set up as a local (Midwest), smaller-​scale alternative to Whole Foods. I didn’t see too much to differentiate them from our other options for grocery, including Trader Joe’s and Caputo’s across the street. For me, that means that I’ll still do the bulk of my «common brand» shopping at Target, and get my fresh produce and meats from Caputo’s. However, I would definitely hit Fresh Thyme when I need natural toiletries (they’re still cheaper there than ordering these things online), or when I need fresh bakery or flowers. The selection on those two items was definitely a cut above the other stores.

It’s OK for what it is… another grocery option in a quickly improving grocery industry in Chicago. Since the dark days of Jewel and Dominicks, we’ve now got Mariano’s, Caputo’s, a bunch of very well-​run Mom and Pop stores, and now, Fresh Thyme. I’ve actually had experience with this chain before– when I lived in Colorado they have stores out West called «Sprouts Farmers Market». This particular location has been open for month now, so I figured they’d have the kinks ironed out.
Overall, this is a pretty decent store. The highlight for me was definitely the bulk section… they have everything you could possibly need in bulk, and the prices are right. I found the produce to be OK– nothing awesome, but it’s not bad either. Price-​wise they are on the same wavelength as Mariano’s and Caputo’s (yay!) and the quality is respectable. They also have a big selection of frozen foods that are healthier than what you’d find at Jewel. There’s also a huge selection of vitamins and herbal supplements.
I’m only giving 3 stars though. I think given how much better the other stores in the area have gotten, I don’t see much driving me into Fresh Thyme over other places. My single favorite place for fruits and veggies is only a mile away, so I’m going to stick with them as they are a small business. I’d come back here for the bulk stuff for sure, but Mariano’s and Caputo’s beat these guys on sheer size of selection. It’s not a bad store, and the people are really nice. They’re going to need to find a niche to succeed, though.

I was looking so forward to this store being a StandardMarket, Trader Joes, Whole Foods shopper and was disappointed. Bulk is ok not sure if worth it though… olive oil is bulk but it wasn’t first cold pressed that I could tell. They were out of cherries. Also they had 2 cashiers working which does not make sense for the prices. Eh.

This brand-​new store was hopping on a week-​end, and it’s not hard to see why. It combines all the best aspects of a gourmet grocery with reasonable prices.
The store seems spacious, but a lot of that is due to lower shelves; the actual floor space was quite crowded, especially on the week-​end. And I will tell you right now that parking really sucks.
Despite these flaws, Fresh Thyme has a lot going for it. It does have a nice atmosphere (when I asked the friend who came with me what he liked about it, he said succinctly, «It smells good.» Apparently the notes he discerned were «bread, chicken, cinnamon and soap.»)
They do carry these products, and more. There is a large area of ready-​to-​go food (salad, sandwiches, sushi), as well as a made-​to-​order pizza counter, and salad and big antipasti bars. (Olive lovers, take note.) The deli stocks Boars Head products.
I particularly loved the presence of the large and broad-​ranging bulk section! From granola to nuts to candies to coffee, there are tons of options and iterations. There are also tanks of oils so you can choose the amount you want (maple syrup can be tapped here too!)
There’s a modest but well curated grocery area whit many specialty items. Meat section was nice looking and affordable (and check out the tons of sausage varieties!) There are lots of choices of wine but not too much beer.
I was surprised that for a place with the subtitle «Farmers Market» the produce section wasn’t more diverse. What was there was nice, though.
Service at checkout was very polite. You can also get the option of paper bags.
Overall, you likely can’t do all your shopping here (like most «gourmet”-leaning grocery stores, the selection of more practical household items is lean), but if you’re looking for a «nicer» grocery store this is a good choice. Smaller than Marianos, less niche than Whole Foods, but more affordable than Fresh Market or Standard Market. It’s about time we got a place like this!

After just one visit I can say I’m looking forward to our own store this September in Naperville. Could this be a cross between a Whole Foods & Standard Market? I will find myself back here, when in the area and see many interesting options. How about build your own personal pie for $ 4.99? Many samples being offered up this grand opening weekend, so fight the crowds and give them a try. Sticker shock on some items, but many had me scratching my head and thinking… «How can they be so low?» Based out of Lafayette IN, but expansion plans for most of mid-​west. Check their website for a future location opening soon in your town.

All high quality products. The parking lot is crazily packed on day 1. Staff seems friendly in their mist of heavy traffic. Many organic choices!!! The vitamin, supplements and alternative skin care section is just fabulous. Price is on the very high end compared to other local grocery or even trader joe’s. I love its newness, warmth and vast selection. The bathroom is minty fresh as well! Will review once I get my groove in shape in their aisles. Love!