text: Whole Foods was easy to find if you are somewhat familiar with the area you will have no trouble locating it While parking on a Thursday evening was no issue I can see that this place would be unbearable on the weekend The surface lot stayed full the entire time I was there and while there is underground parking there are not a LOT of spaces The underground lot is very well lit with several emergency phones The parking spaces are a good size so folks are not dinging doorsnnThe store itself is well designed and utilizes every inch of space for either products or seating I was impressed by the size cleanliness and organization of the store I briefly walked up and down a few aisles and did see that the prices on items that I get from HT namely the Amys organic brand were either the same or slightly higher than HT There were a lot of choices for glutenfree products I do not know that I would say WF is overpriced as I believe that quality items are worth a little more if indeed they are of a higher quality to justify the higher cost but the prices for the products that they do carry do seem to be higher than HT on comparable itemsnnThe staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful Whenever I asked questions of the staff they were quick with a smile and some friendly assistance Good customer service goes a long way nnThe prepared foods section is VAST There is a refrigerated section with foods portioned and ready to go salads wraps soups quiche and there are also several food bars with salads hot items and soups The dessert bar was beautiful cupcakes cakes cookies pies Nearby there was a large selection of sushi A deli section with noodles prepared salads veggies A gelato bar that looked incredible Pizza by the slice or entire pie they also had takeandbake pizzas in the refrigerated section And I believe there was a blended beverage bar as well nnThe salad bar had standard fare with a few upgrades The salad is lb and salad is surprisingly heavy For a small salad with a drizzle of dressing plus a spoonful of potato salad I paid almost A small cup of Smoky Bacon Tomato soup that was delicious I could not resist some sweets and got a piece of strawberry cake for YUMMY Soup and dessert were winners salad was nothing special Thumbs up for the green packaging productsutensils and very well labeled recycling centers nnOn the nd floor there is more indoor seating as well as a very large outdoor patio with tables and cushy chairs The rd floor contained another few tables and the classroom The classroom overall appeared very nice pleasing colors clean shiny There are several cameras pointed at the cooking area and flatscreen TVs for viewing what is going on nnI attended the Cheese Board class We were each given a plate with slices of different kinds of cheese plus a small plate with fruit spreads pesto and honey along with a piece of paper with the names of the cheeses and room for notes The two instructors did a pretty good job explaining the different kinds of cheese how they are made etc I am guessing I do not have the refined palate needed to appreciate what was served The tastes for me ranged anywhere from meh that is okay to this tastes like soap The others in the class seemed to enjoy them all so I believe my lack of enthusiasm is just an indicator of my Kraft taste buds and not the quality of the cheeses Wine and beer was poured to test how the cheeses could be paired The fig and tart cherry spreads served were out of this world At the end you get to try the cheeses again with different pairings and ask questions Informative class good instructors I give the classexperience itself a solid BnnMy MAIN problem which will keep me from signing up for actual cooking classes which are per class is the chairs are too damn close together You had best go with someone you love because you are going to be sandwiched right on top of them The chairs literally touch one another The woman sitting next to me pushed her hair behind her ear and her hair brushed my shoulder True story Unless you are buying me dinner and going home with me afterwards you should not be sitting that close to me If the seating area was more comfortable I would go to several of the classes a month but my anxiety over sharing oxygen with a stranger in such close proximity will because me to look elsewhere for cooking classes nnWhole Foods was a neat experience if I was a woman of leisure with money to burn I could definitely fall in love with it But since I am a fulltime working girl who has to keep the lights on I will save Whole Foods as a onceinawhile splurge and stick to hometown Harris Teeter for my daytoday grocery needs