Farmer Joe's Marketplace, Oakland CA

I shop here regularly and am thankful for more locally owned locations. They meet most of my needs with an occasional Berkeley Bowl run as their Organic bulk food doesn't move fast enough to be fresh, but they are a good choice for most things.

Take this 5-star review with a grain of salt. This place is absolutely fantastic when it comes to produce.

The prices fluctuate with availability, but are generally much lower for a better product than most other stores. The produce, organic and regular, is delivered fresh directly from farms on the same day and they can point out the exact farms where they get the majority of their produce from throughout the year. Produce from this store does not go bad as quickly as Safeway and TJs because it is all truly that fresh.

The hot food, sandwiches, and deli bar are all so delicious. None of the poshness of Whole Foods but all of the quality and diligence from hard-working and caring staff. And I gotta say the sandwiches are like, local sub shop yummy.

But there’s gotta be a catch! There is: meat and packaged foods are considerably more expensive here than Safeway or TJs.

Meat and seafood is understandable: they do their best to source quality meats locally rather than whatever is cheapest and least responsibly farmed.

Packaged food seems like a fair way to make a profit and thus it’s just generally more expensive here. Some things are fine but looking around you’ll notice there’s some decent markups. Still great quality stuff so weigh your options I guess?

In conclusion: this place is freshness central and the produce prices are unbeatable at this level of freshness. Definitely worth.

All the fresh produce you want, plus an amazing meat counter and deli! The staff are awesome as well. There is no name-brand/big box stuff here, so it can get pricey.

Organic strawberries I bought today were hella sour. Really awful. Also bought some “Delightfully Turkish”peanuts which were also bad. Looked at the package. They were packed in Sep 2021 and expired in Mar 2023. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been shopping here for 10 years. But please, Farmer Joe’s. Please pay attention to what you’re putting on the shelves.

Listen Farmer Joes isn’t the best but it is closer than the Trader Joe’s nearest to my house. It’s like settling for Burger King when you wanted to go to McDonald’s.

Great selection of produce, majority is organically grown which probably accounts for the pricing. I like the produce section which has items not found in typical grocery stores.

They got PLINY THE ELDER.

That alone is enough reason for me to give them a 5 star. The cheesecake they carry is great too.

Quality full-sized grocery store - meat counter, lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, cheeses, and deli. Self-checkout counters are no longer operational - not sure what happened because they were great but I haven't seen them turned on/available in months. Was there today and still off. Regardless it's a solid store with helpful staff and great selection.

Generally good selections but I often have issues with their produce not staying fresh as long as stuff from other similar stores. Many of the refrigerator cases are old and in need of repair or replacement.

Gave unnecessary directions. All I needed to do was go straight and maps directed me to go around.

Good produce, reasonable prices, excellent meat and poultry. A perfect independent grocery store

Farmer Joe's always seems on the virge of collapsing. They have great products (except for numerous produce issues) and polite enough employees, but they run out of stuff. A lot.

This is evident in many ways but especially in the working conditions for their employees. The front door has been broken for months, basically all winter. The employees working the register are freezing and have to dress as if wandering around outside in winter conditions. As I went in this evening, I was half way down an aisle and the cold wind was blowing down the aisle. Absolutely horrendous working conditions and asking a lot of customers to put up with those conditions too.

Where’s Joe? Does he not care about working conditions for his employees. Shameful.

Then there’s the freshness problems with their produce. Quite often, the selection of berries often has berries already starting to mold. Broccoli lasts at most three days in the fridge before concealed brown rot starts to eat away at the florets. English cucumbers are often soft on the end and starting to mold. And the selection of avocados are often so overripe as to be absolutely unusable. And grapes are often half usable as they’ve already started to turn.

But what is see as a bigger issue is that Framer Joes NEVER respond a to feedback or reviews.

Lovely place, great employees, small selection of certain things like wellness/pets but otherwise great.