In our Retail-ist weekly feature, we share local places to satiate your shopping needs and feed your consumerist tendencies. Have a great place for us to get addicted to? Email us and let us know!
Houstonist loves shopping at places that keep us on our toes. At Sandy's Market (12171 Katy Freeway), blanking out in the middle of squeezing tomatoes might cost you a nasty run-in with a group eating in the middle of the produce aisle or a smash-up with a friendly old lady pushing a tea cart.
So this may not be a typical Retail-ist spot, but we loves us some Sandy's veggies and granola. It satisfies the hippie within and keeps us looking foxy for all those cool photo shows we've been attending lately.
Details:
12171 Katy Freeway // (281) 870-9999
Hours: 7 days a week // 7am - 7pm
Don't miss:
The buffet (breakfast, lunch and weekend brunch), the loose tea for sale and the freshly made healthy egg salad and hummus
The damage:
Groceries and vitamins are in the 'very reasonable' pricing bracket for a health food shop. Lunch buffet (salad, hot food, drinks and dessert included) will set you back around $8.
Sandy's Market is about as gloriously kitschy as a grocery store can be and has been known to carry fake Christmas trees in July and sell gaudy gilded bird cages suspended from the ceiling. It's wonderful, trust us.
From fresh-fresh produce (at wholesale prices - yippee!) to bulk aromatic coffee and endless glass jars full of beautiful tea, this is one hell of a place to exercise your foodie tendencies. They sell meat and dairy products (yum, bulk feta!) too, so don't get your carnivorous britches in a bunch...
Sandy's is also well known for their extensive vitamin and health supplement section, with full time vitamin experts at the store to walk you through the best hangover cures, healthy weight loss remedies and everything else you could possibly want to do to your veggie-stuffed body.
Sandy's amazing buffet is something we dream about - one of the best salad bars in town, amazing fresh hot food (much of it veggie-friendly), soups, a ridiculous selection of sprouted breads and many hot teas and coffees to try.
People might think you're crazy when you first ask to take them to lunch at a grocery store, but stay strong - they'll be prostrating themselves at your feet before too long. And that can't be a bad thing, right?
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Photos by Flickr users Mareen Fischinger and Trazy
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