Photo: Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op Facebook page.
The Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op market in the Grandin neighborhood of Roanoke just makes me jealous because we have nothing like it in my community.
And it really packs a punch for natural foods on this side of the Blue Ridge — I’d put it almost on par with say, Ellwood Thompson’s in Richmond. Not quite, but it’s a really good minor league version of ET.
I’m not reviewing this so much as a place to eat cause we didn’t grab any to-go from their deli areas, but more as a grocery while you’re traveling (I’m sure it’s awesome for locals on a regular basis, too).
They’ve got your regular bevy of aisles packed with packaged foods, a deli, café, impressive international and local beer and wine selection, pre-made to-go from the reach-ins, homeopathics and medicines, big produce section, meat, eggs, prepared bakery, etc.
All of it is fully stocked, with lots of worker-helpers on site to assist if needed.
100 mile options
If you’re traveling up I81 and you need to stock up, and you wonder if it would be worth it to take a little jaunt because you want a real range of choice, I’d say go for it for the sheer extensiveness in the area.
Your other options as you travel either out of the Roanoke Valley to the Shenandoah Valley above (or vice versa) will be Cool Spring Organic Market in Lexington, which is far smaller and has a very small amount of prepared foods, or the Friendly City Food Co-Op in Harrisonburg which, while definitely nice, is also substantially smaller and stocked with much less deli/cafe/to-go options.
— Lindsay Curren, Girl Goes Virginia
Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Ops
Grandin Co-op
1319 Grandin Rd, SW
(540) 343-5652
Open 8am-9pm, Every Day
Downtown Co-op
1 Market Sq, SE
(540) 904-2733
Mon – Sat 9am-7pm
Sun 11am-6pm
