1026 NE 64th Street
Seattle, Washington 98115
206.985.1500
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/rooseveltsquare
Date of visit: Every week
I love Whole Foods at Roosevelt Square. I don’t know about the other Whole Foods stores in the Seattle area, but this Whole Foods is amazing. It is beautifully laid-out, has wide aisles with no rolling hazards, and is well-lit. It sells organic and conventionally grown fruits and vegetables that shine so seductively, you want to eat more of them and skip the cookies. This store’s displays have probably done more to help people eat healthily than all the diet gurus out there.
This store has everything: abundant fish and meat cases that include knowledgeable butchers and fish mongers who go out of their way to help customers; a bakery counter with bakers and their helpers waiting patiently as you take an hour to select from an array of magical delicacies; a prepared-food/salad bar section that is truly over the top (want falafel on that salad? looking for eggplant parmesan?); every kind of grain and granola; every possible yogurt and olive oil—a bounty of everything, including team members who are always moving about the store stocking things, straightening things, moving things. You never have to wheel long distances to ask someone a question.
And the people who work in the Roosevelt store are truly the most remarkable team I have ever encountered in a grocery store. They are funny and helpful. They are cheerful, even after a long day stuffed with Thanksgiving shoppers. They are thoughtful to each other. They are colorful and individual. Baggers are artists, arranging purchases perfectly and speedily into your bags. The checkers are never crabby or brusque.
This is a store that makes you feel that you have found that little green grocer on the corner who knows you and your family—except this one is bigger with better food, an enormous salad bar, and a whole staff of people making you feel welcomed.
Parking: There is ample handicapped parking across from the store at street level with easy ramped access at the curbs as you cross the street to the automatic front door at the west end of the building. There are also handicapped parking spaces in the underground parking lot close to the automatic door and the elevator that takes you up one level to the store.
Entrances: There are no stairs at the front doors closest to Roosevelt Ave at the building’s west end, and those doors open automatically, making entry into the riot of colors and textures that is the store’s produce area very easy. Avoid the door at the building’s east end, which takes you to a set of stairs down into the store.
Aisles and Tables: The aisles are very wide. It is easy to navigate through them with a wheelchair, even when the store is busy, and there are two battery-powered carts for people who are ambulatory but need to drive when traveling long distances. It’s good to bring a walking friend to help you reach higher shelves, but much of the store is within easy reach of a chair, as well.
A food/coffee area at the store’s east end offers tall chairs and tables, as well as regular-height chairs and tables and is a great place to have lunch or meet friends for coffee.
Restrooms: Women’s and men’s bathrooms are located at the back of the store on the west side. Both have accessible stalls with grab bars around the toilet and easy-to-reach toilet paper. Restrooms are clean, but watch for water on the floor. So many people shake wet hands onto the countertop and floors these days, trying to avoid any surface that might have a single bacterium on it, that if you are using a cane to navigate bathrooms, as I do, it can be a little bit scary moving across any bathroom floor.
Photos of interior space online: No
Photos of entrances online: No
What the wheelchair pusher has to say: Easy to get around, flat, elevators. Everything’s wide and easy to get through, and everybody’s helpful.
Overall: Five wheels for great accessibility!