OrganicCharlotte Logo

Local Organic Groceries

NOTE: This web site is no longer maintained. It is an example of a web site project build.

Specialty Stores and Grocery Stores - Who carries the best Organic Foods?

It's really hard to say... every grocery store that carries organic foods offers many great things to select from.

We tend to favor the places that have local sourced organic foods when posssible just to reduce the carbon footprint of the foods.

With the bigger chain stores there is usually a good, constant selection, but the foods may be flown in from Chili or Brazil, etc. We are not saying that it's bad food, but we prefer to find things more seasonally, so we prefer local sourced.

USDA Organic Seal

US Dept. of
Agriculture
Organic Seal

Here's how we rate Groceries/Markets:

The ratings for the hearts (♥♥♥♥♥) we award are:

  1. Organic Foods Offered
  2. Local Foods Offered
  3. Selection Variety
  4. Quality of Selections
  5. Price

Here's some comments our viewers sent us about places where they buy organic foods in the Charlotte & Mecklenburg County area:


Mary B. wrote: —
"I really like the variety of organic foods offered at Whole Foods. We shop at the store near Southpark Mall. It's a huge store with a lot of organic food selections. And, many of the items also indicate NON-GMO labels.

My husband and I tend to buy the store brand organics with lower prices because the prices, in general, can be too expensive for my budget."


Jenny Z. wrote —
"With two small and growing children, I worry about the foods that I feed to them.

My youngest child has developed an allergy to wheat products and I am happy that Healthy Home Market carries gluten-free products as well as organics. Some of the gluten-free products are also organic, which is a PLUS!"

Groceries with
Organic Foods

The following is a list of local groceries in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County that sell organic foods:

Highest FIVE HEARTS [♥♥♥♥♥] to Lowest ONE HEART []

(Revisit this list as we add more and review with your feedback.)

Healthy Home Market Logo

Healthy Home Market

The Healthy Home Market is a local grocery that carries a selection of organic foods including organic vegetables, fruits, meats and bulk organic foods. Not all of the foods they offer in their stores are organic, many are listed as "natural," however, many are locally sourced. Several of the stores offer a dine-in experience serving lunch and dinner items, but not all ot the selections offered are organic. Also, each store carries similar lines, but due to store space restrictions and clientelle, various lines may vary. They also offer gluten-free foods. We rated the stores with four stars since the general selection is good, but the lunch-dinner selections are limited. We rated them four stars.

  • Healthy Home Market
  • 2707 South Blvd.
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28209
  • 704.522.8123
  • Healthy Home Market
  • Healthy Home Market
  • 5410 E. Independence Blvd.
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28212
  • 704.536.4663
  • Healthy Home Market
  • Healthy Home Market
  • 1816-G Galleria Blvd.
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28270
  • 704.319.2172
  • Healthy Home Market
  • Healthy Home Market
  • 261 Griffith Street
  • Davidson, North Carolina 28036
  • 704.892.6191
  • Healthy Home Market
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Whole Foods Logo

Whole Foods

Whole Foods has a reputation for offering organic and natural foods. They are a national brand and the store in Charlotte is no exception to the huge offerings that the have. The quality of the foods offered are excellent, but many of the prices are higher for the average budget. Whole foods does offer sales and specials on many foods and they have their own brands which can be less expensive with really good quality. We noted that many of the foods they offer come from around the world, so look carefully at some products for the possible carbon footprint. They have dine in facilties with a food or salad bar that offers some, but not all, organic foods. We rated them four stars.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Earth Fare Logo

Earth Fare

Earthfare advertises itself with a "mission to feed and inspire the healthy person inside us all". And they are a healthy supermarket with a lot of good quality organic foods...many from fairly local sources. The chain started in Asheville, nc and has grown to many stores in nine states currently. They maintain consistently good quality products, some store brands, and genrally work to promote healthly foods. They feature a dine-in facility with organic selections and gluten-free alternatives. We rated them five hearts.

  • Earth Fare - Southpark
  • 21 Governor Morrison Street #110
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28211
  • 704.749.5042
  • Earthfare - Southpark
  • Earth Fare
  • 2235 North Community House Road
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28277
  • .704.926.1201
  • Earthfare - Ballantyne
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Berrybrook Farm Image

Berrybrook Farm Natural Food Pantry

Berrybrook Farm advertises itself as the first natural food store that opened in Charlotte, North Carolina back in 1972. They are a small store with a lot of items packed into the space. They offer a juice bar and a sandwich/soup lunch counter (primarily for take out, but there are a few seats out in front on the porch). The store offers both organic and natural foods and has that funky health-food store atmosphere that some people really love. Not as much variety as other larger chain stores, but they are a small local store. The vegetables are generally local sourced. We rated them four stars since the quality is generally good, but the selection of organics vs. naturals is limited.

  • Berrybrook Farm
  • Berrybrook Farm Natural Food Pantry
  • 1257 East Boulevard
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28203
  • 704.334.6528
  • Berrybrook Farm
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Trader Joe's Logo

Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's has a good reputation for offering organic and natural foods. Since they are a national brand, the stores in Charlotte offer the benefits of the pricing structure of the chain. That's good, but the actual offerings of organic foods is limited. The quality of the foods can be excellent, but sometimes inconstent. Trader Joe's offers sales and specials on many foods and they have some of their own brands. We noted that many of the foods they offer come from around the world, so look carefully at some products for the possible carbon footprint.

  • Trader Joe's
  • 133 Metropolitan Avenue
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28204
  • 704.334.0737
  • Trader Joe's
  • Trader Joe's
  • 418 Rea Road
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28277
  • 704.543.5249
  • Trader Joe's
  • Trader Joe's
  • 1820 E Arbors Drive
  • Charlotte, North Carolina 28262
  • 704.688.9578
  • Trader Joe's
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Harris-Teeter Logo

Harris-Teeter

If you live in or around Mecklenburg County, there's probably a Harris-Teeter grocery store not too far away from you. They are a large player in the local grocery store market and offer plenty of organic foods (many under their own brand name). The quality is usually great and the selection is generally consistent. They don't tend to promote themselves for the organic or healthy market as much as some of the other specialty stores, but we do find that prices can be lower on some items that they offer. We rated them with four hearts because there is little in the fresh or prepared foods offered that is organic.

  • Harris-Teeter - Corporate Headquarters
  • Matthews, North Carolina
  • 800.432.6111
  • Harris-Teeter
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Food Lion Logo

Food Lion

Food Lion is not a store that most people consiter with regard to organic foods. Their focus does not include a lot of organics, but they do carry many of their own line of organic brands (under the Nature's Place line) and organic produce in the more upscale locations. Since closing their healthy-oriented 'Bloom' effort, they have intergrated the natural and organic selections back into their basic stores. Most of the items offered are consistent in pricing with the other markets. We rated them with three hearts.

  • Food Lion - Corporate Headquarters
  • Salisbury, North Carolina
  • 800.210.9569
  • Food Lion
Rating: ♥♥♥

Ingles Logo

Ingles Markets

Ingles Markets of Asheville, North Carolina—where the company headquarters is still located—offer a full variety of brand name grocery and non-grocery products supplemented with Ingles' own Laura Lynn brand products. They are a large player in the western NC local grocery store market and they also offer some good prices on national and store brand organic products, as well as, gluten-free products. The closest Ingles Markets location to Charlotte-Mecklenburg is currently in Gaston County at Dallas, NC. Not all stores carry the extent of the organic products and we rated them with four hearts because there is little in the fresh or prepared foods offered that is organic.

  • Ingles Markets
  • Post Office Box 6676
  • Asheville, North Carolina 28816
  • 2913 US Highway 70 W
  • Black Mountain, North Carolina 28711-9103
  • 828.669.2941
  • Ingles-Markets
Rating: ♥♥♥♥

Home | About Us | About Organic Foods | Why Non-GMOs | Local Farms | Groceries & Markets | Restaurants | Contact & Comment
Valid HTML 5   Valid CSS!