This Sprouts has been my regular grocery store for about five years. I often use Instacart for my…read moreshopping, a service I've paid over $100 a year to use. It's worth the convenience, but I recently discovered that I can use the Sprouts app and get the same great service without the membership fee! I'll be cancelling the Instacart subscription when it's up for renewal.
I want to point out specifically that the Instacart and Sprouts shoppers--I'm not sure whether they always overlap--are wonderful. The only one whose name I know is Juan, but I've had at least five other shoppers who have all been great. They always read the notes I write ("please make sure it's Italian parsley and not cilantro!") and are very responsive in the chat while they're shopping. The shoppers are a true asset to the Sprouts team--I would really like to be able to leave tips for them, which I don't think I can do.
So why remove a star? Because a week or two ago, I was making a meal and realized I was missing a component (gluten free baguette). I looked at the Sprouts app, found the brand I wanted, and headed over for a quick trip.
What I encountered was the most haphazardly "organized" gluten-free selection I've possibly ever seen. I can't imagine how the professional shoppers stand it! I guess they probably have things labeled by location. But if someone wants five different GF things, they aren't all in one spot--EVEN THOUGH THERE'S A SECTION OF THE STORE LABELED "GLUTEN-FREE!"
There are basically two ways that stores can do it:
a) spread out among different sections: GF crackers with all other crackers, GF cookies with all other cookies, GF breads with all other breads, GF frozen pizza with all other frozen pizza, GF frozen dinner rolls with all other frozen dinner rolls, etc. This is what Sprouts currently does, except for the random "gluten-free" section.
b) consolidated into one comprehensive section containing the majority of GF items and brands (Schär, Udi's, Glutino), with an analogous freezer section containing all specialty GF items (so you wouldn't find GF hamburger buns with all other hamburger buns, or GF frozen pizza with all other frozen pizza, but they would be in a dedicated section nearby and labeled GF). If you see a section that says "gluten-free," would you expect that it's fulfilling option b?
There's an understanding with either system, of course, that there will be other places around the store where we can find GF items; hopefully they'll have the little "gluten-free!" store tag, but we always look at ingredients anyway.
I'm sure that they designated that section many years ago, when there were far fewer products and less demand. Now, selection and offerings have grown exponentially, and they've had to change the way they shelve gluten-free items. But it doesn't make any sense that there's a marked gluten-free section, and then other gluten-free items sprinkled around the store shelves with their gluten-full counterparts. It makes it really difficult to make sure you're buying the right item that is safe for a person with celiac disease. Sure, not every person who eats GF products has celiac, but if gluten can make you extremely sick, it sure would be nice to feel safe when selecting items.
As with buffet-type situations, I'd venture to guess that most GFers would rather have our safe foods siloed to one area to avoid mistakes and cross-contamination whenever possible. I mean, sure, I don't like feeling excluded or singled out, but if the other possibility is getting sick, I know which one I'd choose. And I bet there are a lot of products I'd like to know about but end up missing!
TL;DR: this Sprouts is a great store and I love shopping there *online*! Please, please consider redoing your GF selections.