Rainbow Grocery

Rainbow Grocery Cooperative started in San Francisco with their original location on 16th street in the Mission District ( a half a block where I grew up). One of my earliest shopping experiences happened to be at Rainbow Grocery Cooperative on 15th and Mission ( second relocation) with my late dad who was a vegetarian for many years. I soon learned not all peanut butter tasted the same especially organic peanut butter. Today Rainbow Grocery has relocated on 13th street on Folsom. This location has a variety of drinks and organic foods and also an interesting book section. It seems the Easter egg hunt started earlier this year. If Costco runs out of eggs and you don't want to go on an Easter egg hunt around the city this is a great alternative to get boxes of Non-GMO eggs . Overall a great place to shop for locally sourced foods.Go to Rainbow Grocery co-op to shopNatural foods are sold inside and not slop but top US organic crop

A great place to find organic and local products!I love this place and will choose this over and over again over whole foods.Staff are always great! Very accommodating, happy and kind people!Always great to support local biz!

Rainbow grocery is my favorite food store, but it's also a fantastic tourist destination.There's really no other place like it that I've found in the world. This is a really big natural food supermarket with very carefully curated products and a huge variety of them.They have undeniably the very best cheese selection in the entire city, with a cheesemonger so dedicated to the craft that he's written two books about it.The bulk goods sections are also unmatched. There's a fantastic selection of herbs and spices, every kind of flour, a huge variety of dried beans, and all kinds of nuts, nut butters, granola, and more.They have at least 20 different kinds of whole bean coffee you can grind to your specifications, and the best supplements department in the city or in fact that I've ever seen in any store anywhere.And they have a nice selection wines, beers, and unusual liquors.It's possible to spend just a little money on basic staple goods here, or to spend a lot on fancy, carefully curated top quality products.In fact, the only reason you might need to shop anywhere else would be to get meat or fish products, since Rainbow is more or less strictly vegetarian.

Rainbow is our weekly grocery stop. It's so convenient that it's right down from Costco, and I like that it encourages our family to eat vegetarian. The veggies are often fresher than even what we find at the farmer's market. Good vibes from the coop style too and the employees are so engaged and nice. Definitely try the Rose Tea that you can buy in bulk!

12/13/24Almost every Friday I do some shopping at Rainbow. I'm a rewards member.Anyway this particular Friday I was followed around the store. It felt really scary, and I didn't understand why. Might not go back there. Whoever is reading this please teach your security guards how to have some respect for customers that spend their hard earned money.

After visiting Erewhon in Los Angeles a few times, I am compelled to give Rainbow another star and issue them an apology. Although their prices are still on the high side, I see now that they are actually commensurate with the quality and thoughtful selection of their goods. I have never been outright offended by a price at Rainbow, as opposed to what I saw at Erewhon.Rainbow employees could still be nicer and more approachable, though. Can't give that star back, sadly!

I have been a long time customer of this store. People used to be friendly there and wanting to help you! I called this morning 12-01-2024 at 10:37AM (PT). I was inquiring about their selection of Kimchi. I was transferred to the "cooler" department. A woman answered (no one identifies themselves professionally on the phone when answering) and I was trying to explain what I was looking for and she kept interrupting me and saying "What exactly is your question"?Well if she would just listen she would have heard my question! She said it 4 times to me and I finally said "I am so sorry to have bothered you, bye bye"! I hung up and then I called back to speak to a manager. Well, the same man answered again and he was also curt. I was nice and in a cheerful Sunday mood and apparently they are all miserable! He said I would have to write a letter of complaint. There is no management since it is a Co-Op...Well, you just lost my business forever. I am a native San Franciscan and we all know that the city is not friendly like it once used to be. I have a great apartment so I stay here but one day I am OUT OF HERE!! So, I have been doing all of my errands over in Marin!! The people in Corte Madera, Mill Valley, Sausalito, Tiburon, and all over there are wonderful! It is worth the bridge fare to have pleasant people around me plus it is safe to walk around!!I discovered Good Earth Natural Foods! One location in Mill Valley and one in Fairfax. I called and they have all of the bulk oats, kimchi, wonderful loose teas and all of the things that I was buying at Rainbow! The two things they definitely have that Rainbow no longer has is me for a customer and they are FRIENDLY!! They are called "Good Earthlings"!! THEY ARE!! BYE BYE RAINBOW AND HELLO GOOD EARTH MARIN!!!

Rainbow is pretty awesome. They have stellar fresh produce (and a really nice mushroom selection) as all of the healthy junk food you could ever dream of. Delightful things like Recess beverages. Home goods! An extensive selection of healthy drugstore items and even gifts, to boot. Just all sorts of cool things. They are a great option for those who want to focus on shopping locally. The employees though...generally are not so cheerful. I would give 5 stars for self-checkout. I think it's awesome that it's a worker owned co-op but at the same time, I haven't vibed with a single person behind the counter here. Are they happy? Or are they happy they don't have to be... *corporate happy?* The worst part is when I am buying alcohol, which is a lot (because once again, the selection is 'chef's kiss'). On the receipt, if you receive one, there will be a little line that states, 'Age Verified:' and then there will be the age that the checker has *ascertained* you to be (they never ask to see the card itself) and it varies drastically. However, today, one cashier did break the mold and asked to see my physical card. Although I didn't ask for the receipt, the guy handed me one anyway, with a smirk. It showed me as being 'verified' as a decade older than I am in actuality. I don't understand all the fanfare of demanding to see my ID if one is not going to input the information properly. This is also a good point in the review to mention that I have been overcharged on more than one occasion. So yah apart from the lack of friendliness and the low-key fraud; it's a great place!

It's my favorite grocery store to shop for bulk products and peruse for specialty items (salts, spices/spice blends, flours, vinegars, oils, beans, coffee, nut butters and bath products galore!) This and Berkeley Bowl are my top 2 favorite grocery stores in the Bay! I love being able to reuse jars and spice containers to cut down on waste. The prices for bulk items aren't necessarily cheaper than buying in a normal store, but it's a great deal for bulk cocoa and soap refill. The spice blends are a fun way to experiment with your cooking and you can just buy a small quantity. We still need to shop at other stores for "standard" items and meat since it's meat-free. Also the staff have always been super helpful in finding items and their customer service desk.

My mom loves cooking, food and shopping and always insists on visiting the Whole Foods near us when my parents visit. This time I decided to take her to Rainbow. This memorable quote from her is all you need: "Makes Whole Foods look like a piece of shit.", ha! Long live Rainbow Grocery!