The Fresh Market

This store is a great addition to the area. I’ve shopped their several times and have always had a great experience. While it is more expensive than other traditional grocery stores, it is on par with premium markets such as Whole Foods, and so is the quality and selection. Customer service is also excellent; I can always find someone close by when I need a hand. Definitely recommend giving this place a try if you haven’t stopped in yet.

Maybe I am biased since I just moved to STL from the East Coast. We had a Fresh Market near us outside of Philly. We didn’t do our regular grocery shopping at The Fresh Market though. We took special trips there to get fish, meat, coffee beans, and deli sandwiches. Their meat quality is great and price is reasonable. We had special-​ordered lamp chops and prime ribs here for holidays and they were the best in town, unless you wanted to drive to Philly downtown or South Philly. The service was always great, and if they made a mistake, they always made it right.
When we moved to STL, I couldn’t believe how expensive meat was around STL. We had gotten meat from Dierberg, Schnucks, and another fancy place in Ladue that was expensive. When we drove by the Fresh Market in Creve Coeur, we were so excited and immediately stopped in.
At this Fresh Market, we got fresh salmons and pork shoulders, which were very fresh. Their pastry was great and was the same price as Schnucks, but 100x better. Haven’t gotten their produce yet. Got a giant pumpkin for $ 5. Will go back there on Tuesday for their special $ 2.99 Chicken and Chuck day.
The only negative is that they had 2 people working there behind the counter on a Sun afternoon. They manned the meat, deli, fish, and dessert counters. Thankfully the line wasn’t long, and they were both very polite even though they were busy. The checkout person was friendly.
I don’t think it is as expensive as Whole Foods. I guess it depends on what you get there.

This review will only pertain to the deli part of the market. I’ve been here a few times to get a quick sandwich. What drew me here was the convenience and healthy choice they offered. I usually get the salmon burger which is rather tasty. Well I decide to order again but there’s no one working in the deli. It’s 6 PM on a Saturday and no one is working in the deli to make or prepare food? Seems strange. Since the very beginning I’ve noticed the deli quality has dropped as well. If this is the trend this place is headed they won’t be here long. Too many other choices to play games. You’ve lost me.

Bumping these guys up a star based on my discussion with the checker this afternoon. Yes, they do offer courtesy bags of ice to keep your food cold on the way home. If you happen to encounter a checker who denies this offering you really need to ask a different employee.
Somehow they have become our go-​to for ground beef at this point. Still the best in town.

I am still up in the air about this store. I saw it finally opened so I ventured in. The best way I can describe this place hmmmm… The store is like a young college graduate, who is suffering an identity crisis. He is now out in the real world trying to smoosh with other adults. He tries too hard to be sophisticated and eclectic, with his new collection of wine and cheeses. Stocking his shelves with vegan and paleo foods, ready for any new company. He is trying hard to fit in and be different, but also still clings to his old habits stashing some Tostitos, Oreos and Coke here as there (yes they have these items). Next door he has Aldis and Trader Joes who are much older and just shake their heads and giggle at the massive build and over done interior. Hopefully as time goes on he will find out who he is. Till then the coffee selection there is good…

It took me weeks to even get into this store, the parking lot was so crowded. Been in 5 times.
PROS: good and varied dairy. They will make you sushi.
CONS: After watching a shopper ask about Provel, and watching the staff stare at her blankly, I made it a point to ask where the workers are from. Not a ONE is from St Louis. I have asked and they don’t know a Calhoun peach or a Wennenberg’s meat. The products are mostly East Coast and they said they won’t be broadening that. The meat, fish and deli workers are snippy. The lady who makes the sushi is literally the nicest person in the store on a consistent basis.
My first time in, I asked the meat department about a local bacon. The meat guy told me loudly that their bacon is from New York where they raise the best bacon in the world. I walked away and said «I will never buy meat from there»,
The produce is not fresh. They put produce outside in the sun and it goes bad quick once you get it home.
After my 5^th time in, when I got an orange that was moldy on the inside a melon that was bad the next day, mac and cheese no one would eat because it smelled funny, AND a cabbage roll that was actually sweet, I gave up. I will only be going in for sushi.

I am totally in love with this grocery store. A bit pricey, but well worth it. The layout is completely different from other grocery stores. I found not 1 but several brands of blood orange juice, which I have been craving ever since my trip back from Home #2 (Thailand). The wine selection is quite good & very organized. Large selection of baked goods. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t have fresh ground bison. Instead, they sell the prepackaged 1 lb ground bison. There’s a delectable chocolate bar. Huge variety of chocolate including Vosges! As a self-​professed chocoholic, this is a huge thumbs up in my book. Not only that, but they also have a candy bar (reminiscent of Dylan’s Candy Bar). Another thumbs up in my book from this sugaraholic. I love love love the layout. Parking lot is a bit small. Not many employees on the floor from what I saw, but then again I went on a Friday afternoon.

Reminds you of Whole Foods, but a tad smaller. You may need to visit the regular grocery store if there are items from the «middle aisles» that you need to get. I was happy to see that sample request at the deli are welcome. I purchased the Rotisserie Chicken Salad, the Penne Pasta salad w/​mozzerella. The offer soups that are packaged, similar to Panera, and I tried the Lasagne Soup with Ground Turkey, awesome! This will become my store where I’ll purchase my weekly lunch meals. Yes!

A recently opened foodstore with a lot of interesting products to be had.
If it’s a pick-​me-​up you need then there are several shelves entirely devoted to candy. A lot of space is set aside for coffee beans also!
If relaxing was what you had in mind then they have a pretty decent selection of beers and lots of savoury snacks!
And there is plenty more besides. I wish we had shops like this in the UK. In my personal opinion it’s not quite as good as Whole Foods, it doesn’t have as much space as they tend to have for one thing, but it’s another interesting alternative.

This was my favorite grocery store in Miami, FL. So glad they came to St. Louis finally!
Great fresh food at way better prices that Whole foods. Selection is great, friendly service. Great specials.
I want one closer to the city!

I was so excited when Fresh Market opened in Creve Coeur as I had been told it was like Whole Foods mashed up with Trader Joe’s — I love both! After four trips since it opened last month, I feel like it is defintely closer to WF than TJs. Although other review have noted the parking is always full, I think the parking lot here is WAY better than TJ’s parking next door.
The first time I went (opening week), I was totally blown away by the customer service. I was greeted/​smiled at by at least three employees while shopping. I waited in line to check out for less than 30 seconds when someone came over and opened a new line for me. The other few times have been hit or miss. I went on a recent Sunday afternoon where there was only one employee working the deli/​takeout/​pre-​made food counter and about ten customers waiting. I gave up after waiting almost 10 minutes and noticed at least one other customer do the same. That being said, staff has always been very friendly when I’ve been in.
They have a lot of interesting/​unusual products that I wouldn’t find at nearby TJs or Dierbergs like salted caramel iced almond coffee, edible «raw» cookie dough, and these glucosamine dog treats that my dog is obsessed with. Prices are a little higher than TJs and Dierbergs in most cases.
All in all, I am happy with FM and will continue to shop here. Part of me wonders why Creve Coeur/​Olive Blvd need so many grocery stores jammed together but OK!

Add me to the list of disappointed shoppers. First of all, I’d thought about going in to see the store several times on weekends, but the parking lot was always packed, and I’m just not into that kind of craziness, so I moved on to Trader Joe’s and Dierberg’s West Oak where I usually shop and can park with ease. I finally was able to find a parking space and visit this past Thursday.
The store is beautiful, but given the name «FRESH Market» I was hoping for a produce section that was stellar in quality and diverse in selection. They didn’t offer me anything I can’t get at my usual stores for far less money. THUD! Same with meat. THUD! Now for a bright spot, the breads and baked goods looked really excellent. If I visit again I’ll probably buy those and their spice area seemed interesting.
Overall, it’s a place I would go were I looking for a specialized, gourmet item or already prepared food, but not the place I’ll do my weekly grocery shopping.

I visited this place the other night and was impressed how it was built. The grocery selection is great but it is overpriced. For instance a piece of avocado is a $ 1.50 where in other places it could range anywhere from $.50 to a dollar.
I really like their fresh food section where the cooks are cooking fresh food. I did not have the opportunity to try it but everything looked really good.
If you are in the mood for a good banana bread you should try it both will cost you about nine dollars but I think it is worth it.
The staff is very friendly and they check you out pretty fast so there never is a long line.
I do not like the parking lot it is packed most of the time and it is not big enough.

I tried The Fresh Market for the first time, inspecting their merchandise in all the aisles. I bought a hot grilled Rubin sandwich at their island counter. It was previously made, so it was re-​heated for me. A Rubin is supposed to contain layers of corned beef (it was Saint Patrick’s Day), cheese and sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) with Thousand Island dressing. The corned beef was lean and tasty, but I could not find a layer of sauerkraut in my sandwich. I also bought a few produce items.
Prices ranged from one to three times the prices that I pay for comparable items at grocery stores very close by, where I usually shop. There is no shortage of competing stores nearby. Creve Coeur has plenty of high-​end shoppers, and its grocers long ago responded to this by stocking an adequate variety of items to appeal to them. When Trader Joe’s opened a store here, nearby Dierberg’s Market greatly expanded their organic food offerings, so I’m expecting the competition to aggressively take on the arrival of The Fresh Market. Also very nearby is Aldi, offering a limited selection of quality fresh products at low prices that could compete. I am happy to see The Fresh Market open in my shopping neighborhood. It means more choices for me, and competition is a good thing.

I’m very torn on this review. I think it’s a great store with plenty of things that I liked… but I will probably not return any time soon. I was really looking forward to this well-​hyped new store in Creve Coeur, but will continue to go back to my usuals — Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Lucky’s, and Dierberg’s suit my needs much better in their own ways.
The three things that I was looking for at The Fresh Market were not there: free Wifi, ample tables to sit/​eat/​relax, and baby food/​formula. On this, my first visit there, I actually wound up leaving the store empty handed.
There are a lot of wonderful products in The Fresh Market that I would certainly buy — but I’ll get somewhere else for much less money. For instance, hand soap at The Fresh Market was $ 5 for the brand that I get at Dierberg’s for $ 3.

They should have made this place into a Target.
Way overpriced, and some of the produce wasn’t even fresh. The meat looked good, and so did the breads and pastries, but I could still get it cheaper at the 3 other grocery stores within a 2 mile radius.
Two stars for the diverse and eclectic staff.

I don’t mind spending a premium on food but there’s nothing here even worth charging a premium for.
I was excited for the store to open because it was in the neighborhood and was super excited to check it out. The first red flag was before I set foot in the store, the price of fire wood being double what it cost at the mobile gas station, Schnucks, and Dierbergs all by the way within a one mile radius.
I understand stores charging a premium for specialty or gourmet products but when Driscoll’s brand raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries are all more than three times the price here than they are in the grocery store literally less than 500 ft. away it seems like the management team failed their year 1 basic economics class. Granted the bakery and meat department can have a façade of gourmet premium goods and charge a higher price here; it’s way out of line to do so on known brands. At least peel the stickers off and slap something else on there. I love the idea of their select your own candy but at lobster weight prices my sweet tooth can wait long enough to literally cross the street and spend ¼ the amount to get 5 times the quantity.
I went in wanting to buy a premium, higher quality product, specifically asiago cheese and looked to find they only had one brand; «Belgioioso» brand cheese. Belgioso brand can be found at any of the several grocery stores within a ½ miles radius; which is exactly what I did as I went across the street and spent half the amount to obtain the same amount of cheese.
The people who shop here are probably the ones who eat the Toblerone candy and raid the mini-​bar in their hotel room after having lunch at the airport. I’m not sure what the draw here is aside from the ambiance, hardwood floors and classical music but I’ll save spending premium prices for actual premium goods.

Do you know how some people are really into wine, a certain band, or Star Wars? I’m that way with grocery stores. When a new one opens, you can count on me being there as soon as I possibly can.
Before I go to a new place, I always do a little online reconnaissance. On their website, I read that The Fresh Market has provided «the freshest, most delicious quality products from around the corner and around the globe» for over thirty years. My first thought was «Wow, that’s a long time.» I then discovered they opened their first store in North Carolina in 1982. Wait a second. That must be a typo. 1982 is my year of birth. That wasn’t that long ago, and I’m clearly not over thirty. :p
The Fresh Market now has more than 150 locations in the United States. The Creve Coeur store opened at the end of February, and my in-​laws, husband, and I made our first visit a few days later on a Sunday afternoon.
Being new, the store was clean and organized with attractive displays. They had an olive bar and a small salad bar in addition to nice produce, meat, cheese, and bakery departments.
Selections were limited in the aisles of non-​perishable goods, and unless I missed something, they only had one aisle of frozen items. Perhaps that is because this is The /​Fresh/​Market.
I saw some interesting items throughout the store that included edible cookie dough from The Cookie Dough Café, Dry brand lavender soda, and gorgeous pistachio muffins (topped with walnuts, for some reason).
I wanted those pistachio muffins, but my hips said I didn’t need them. And my hips don’t lie.
Prices were hit or miss. Their gourmet and specialty items obviously were expensive. The salad bar was $ 7.49/lb., which I considered high for what it was. However, they had some good sale prices. I bought a few reasonably priced sale items that included 5.5-oz cans of Organix cat food for $ 1.50 each and 3-​oz cans of I and Love and You cat food for $ 1.00 each. The pet section was small, but I lucked out there.
The place was pretty busy. It wasn’t quite Whole-​Foods-​of-​Brentwood busy, but it was close. My husband dubbed this place «Whole Foods Jr.,» partly because it was so busy and partly because it looked like a smaller version of Whole Foods. However, with all of the gourmet and specialty items in the store, I think my mother-​in-​law also was right about The Fresh Market being similar to Straub’s.
Checking out wasn’t exactly speedy, but they’re new. I’m pleased to report that all of my items rang up with the correct price. I won’t be able to do all of my shopping here, but I’ll definitely return!

The Fresh Market («TFM») is on a stretch of Olive that is extremely congested. Does this stretch of Olive need another grocery store? No. Does TFM bring anything new that the other five grocery stores in a less than 2-​mile stretch (3 within ¼ of a mile) have to offer? No, and that is partially what my rating is based off of. Oversaturation is becoming more noticeable on so many heavily trafficked areas in St. Louis where there’s a overcrowding of one type of store (grocery/​home repair/​pharmacy). Somebody’s not going to make it and then what’s going to happen to that large square footage that cannot easily be rented to a non-​parallel business?
This store feels like a slightly larger Whole Foods (‘WF”) but still not big enough (if that makes sense). It’s still kind of tight to get up and down isles. I was looking forward to the opening of the store thinking they would bring something new to the already over-​saturated grocery store scene here (w/​so many food deserts in St. Louis I just cannot reconcile the placement of this store). As a regular shopper at WF and Trader Joe’s («TJ») I can say that the prices here aren’t as reasonable as TJ’s yet some are more inflated than WF (how do you charge more than WF). I was expecting «Hi, we are new, welcome, welcome» customer service from the people on the floor and that just didn’t happen. Now no one was mean or rude — I just felt like I went to an open house and just walked around. At both the aforementioned grocers’, someone will ask me if I need help and are extra helpful with tips and the like.
There are six checkout aisles and only a one-​sided isle of frozen goods — so expect that since the movement here is «Fresh». The parking is a beast. On the day I went, parking was so tight people were actually parking at a nearby plaza and walking over. The bulk candy and nuts selection looked cool and plentiful along w/​the fresh made sandwiches; they looked amazing and I may try one in the near future. It appeared they were out of several items already after only being open three days (I especially wanted the unsweetened original almond milk & Bragg’s liquid aminos). For beer enthusiast, they do have a deal where you can get six separate crafted beers in one case. I don’t drink beer but that would definitely be a great way to find a new favorite or to split a case.
There was nothing here that I haven’t seen anywhere else, nothing that would really make this store stand out and with all these other grocery stores there should’ve been something to make this pop — a WOW factor. To date I can say with absolute certainty that there’s nothing that’s going to make me choose this store over WF or TJ or change my current grocery shopping habits. The Dierberg’s on either side of 270 have an equally diverse selection of non-​GMO and organic foods in the dry nonperishable isles.

West County is so lucky. The Fresh Market selected them as their first location in the Saint Louis market. I went their opening day and was totally impressed with the merchandising, freshness and customer service. If they open other locations in the Saint Louis market, they will be setting a new standard for groceries.
The Fresh Market is a grocery store that has a boutique type style. Best way to describe it would be that it is a cross between Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Lot’s of organic products, grass feed beef, gourmet baked goods and unique brands you may not have heard of before. The pricing is high end like Whole Foods. I wish it were more like TJ’s.
If they keep up the standards of opening day, this new grocer is going to be a smashing success. The only negative I experienced was the parking. The lot truly was a parking lot derby.