I think I'm finally done with the Herb & Spice, for good. I've been avoiding the store, and only shopping there when in the area. After today, I was wondering why I do this to myself, when there are other health food stores in town, all just as good. And all of them have a much better atmosphere.
Why do I continue to give the Bank Street Herb & Spice my money, when I could take it elsewhere? Why indeed? I think I'm done making that mistake.
How can I describe the vibe in the store?
It's like walking into some way-too-hip night club, the one that everyone is trying to get into, but you're just not cool enough to get on the guest list.
Except it's not some cool night club. It's a grocery store. Hey, snooty young white privileged hipsters, you work in a grocery store.
The staff seem to be there for the purpose of looking cool, feeling hip and beautiful, socializing with each other, and occasionally doing you the favor of processing your purchase at the cash.
When they're not avoiding eye contact, they're looking down their nose at you. Maybe it's a class thing, and they simply know no other way of being. Maybe they can't help it.
I felt like I was inconveniencing them by bringing up my money to the cash, to pay for the few items I had picked out.
As I sat at the little table outside, eating my delicious snack, I felt gross. It was like the worst aspects of junior high. Excerpt the people working there are not 13 years old anymore.
I guess I'll continue to visit their wellness shop, that is unless I find another place that sells Earthpaste. Then it's sayonara, suckaz. Or maybe I'll simply order the stuff online. It will be a little more trouble, but I won't feel like I need a shower after.
For whatever it's worth, I've been vegetarian for about 17 years, and have shopped at most of the health foods stores in the city, if not every single one. I LOVE health food stores. The Bank Street Herb & Spice is unique for it's make-your-skin-crawl customer service.
Guys and gals, you're not doing me a favor by allowing me to shop at your store. And, believe it or not, you're not nearly as fabulous and glamorous as you seem to think you are.
I looked up some reviews of the store online, and I can see that my experience isn't an anomaly.
"Not the friendliest of places," wrote one reviewer. You can say that again, Christine. Jeff wrote: "Great grocery store, but customer service is definitely lacking."
I'll take my leave now, and let the Herb & Spice cashiers get back to performing for the documentary (or music video!), which they seem to think some invisible cameraman is making about their lives.
not a bad store. main criticism is that they store the dairy and produce right by their incense and scented products and scents do get absorbed into those foods at times. they are also pretty unresponsive to customer feedback.
Golden Turtle: I would suggest, if it is a staple you're after, try asking first. Failing that, bear in mind that there is a Loeb just down the street from the Wellington location, and it's fairly quiet.
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I quite enjoy shopping here and have gotten to know the staff really quite well. I prefer the selection of the Bank Street location for take away, but the Wellington Street location does the job for about 60-70 percent of my groceries. My only problem seems to be that people in the store often don't know how to line up, or don't care. I've had, on four separate occassions this year, people butt in line and then wonder why I call them on it (including one incident where the gentleman very nearly whapped me in the face with his bag of bread because another cashier was opening his till, and he wanted to be there first, even though we were next).
I don't mind Herb & Spice but they're always missing something that I consider "essential" when I'm out on a food mission. The Wellington location is better than the Bank street one in most respects (I heard somewhere that they're actually separate entities after an ownership split any truth to this?) it's where I go when I can't make it out to Rainbow Foods in Britannia basically.
We stopped in at Herb and Spice last night and bought a few things to bring for lunch today.
We got two baked veggie samosas, two baked chicken samosas and a container of Quinoa salad.
The samosas were light, moist and flavourful and the Quinoa salad had corn, black beans, onions, red peppers, fresh basil and shitake mushrooms mixed in. Very tasty.
I think it cost us approximately $7.00 for this and it was enough for both of us for lunch today.
Delicious and healthy!
On a side note, they have about 6 different homemade soups/stews that looked and smelled awesome and we are going to try one next time.
Captain Caper If you are still looking for a local source for Better Than Bouillon I discovered that they have some in stock at Herb and Spice on Bank Street. They have chicken, beef, mushroom, and vegetable flavours. It isn't cheap though around $10.29 a container.
H&S has a huge selection of hummus right when you walk in. i think there were at least 8 or 9 different varieties to choose from including the local contemporary cuisine brand.
The Herb and Spice (at least the one on Wellington, I'm not sure about the one downtown) sells croissants from The French Baker. So if you're craving croissants and can't get down to the Market, there's another place to get your fix!
collision