More Food Shopping Options in Columbus

As if Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Fresh Market, Trader Joe's and The Hills Market weren't enough, two Sunflower Markets have opened in Columbus. (We have two of the Sunflower's four locations here in C-bus.) I visited the Olentangy Plaza location at lunchtime to check out the options. I only spent about 30 minutes there, but here's my initial impression: It's a cheery enough place, with lots of organic and natural foods to choose from, but I'm not in a hurry to go back. It was very expensive, as is Whole Foods, but Whole Foods, with its 15+ varieties of sausages and glistening seafood counter and mountains of specialty cheeses, has a "wow" factor that makes it well worth the drive. Whole Foods is a destination. I'd be happy going on a date there, in fact.

Sunflower had some nice conveniences, like little mini-carts you can use for your plastic shopping basket, meaning you don't have to carry the basket through the store. They also feature some nice specialty products I haven't been able to find elsewhere, like Amore Italian Tomato Paste in a tube (perfect for all those recipes that only call for 1 T at a time) and Dalmatia Fig Spread, which I'll be using for an appetizer this weekend. I also picked up some Hornsby's Crisp Apple Hard Cider, but that's available just about anywhere. Overall, I enjoyed my first Sunflower experience, but I don't think it's a "must try" by any stretch.