This locally owned shop is a gem on Lark Street. Having read some of the reviews, I saw that the owners work hard to ensure they have organic/healthy options for neighborhood residents. Sure enough, I found that to be true. I introduced myself as a new resident to the neighborhood and explained that this was my first visit to their store. The owner introduced himself in like and stated if there is anything that I needed but couldn't find, they would do their best to offer it in the future. The store isn't the most organized but it's only because they carry so many different items that you'll be hard-pressed to not find what you need. From groceries, paper products, cleaning supplies, and health and beauty supplies. You'll find lots of natural products which fits the shop's name. Support local businesses! Support this store! read more

Lark Natural Foods - Shelves are stocked full of most everything you might need! - Grocery Near Me - Albany, New York

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This store is one of the main things I'll miss about living on Lark. Any time I needed something in a pinch I'd head over and Lark Natural Foods would have it, be it tape, batteries, bleach, fresh onions, or an ATM! The owner and his family are amazing people and I'm always happy to be a patron there They also have the sweetest kitty read more

This is the best little store, and it keeps getting better. Since COVID they're really stepped up their game and have essentially turned themselves into a full-on grocery store: you can now buy a wider range of fresh produce, Bread Alone bread and treats, local/organic milk and eggs, and even a few meat products here along with your vitamins, CBD oil, spices and natural beauty supplies. Fair trade coffee? They have it. Beyond burgers? They have those, too. Organic chocolate bar? Kombucha? Package of Kraft singles? Check, check and check. This is the place I go when I can't be bothered to walk to Price Chopper for some cilantro and a single lime, but it's also the place I go when I ALREADY went to Price Chopper and discovered that they don't carry a product that IS available in Lark Natural foods (Tamarind pulp? They have it!). Also, the owners are super kind and helpful and will order in stuff for you if they don't carry it. Please, everyone, be like me and buy all of your groceries here so that they can stay in business forever! read more

I wanted to yelp this place after my first visit, when the owner turned me, a Vitamin Code devotee, on to Solgar's. I didn't. Then I felt the need to whip up a little something after being able to purchase the essential oils I needed instead of ordering them online. No review. But after the coffee, bentonite clay, aloe gel, couple bottles of apple cider vinegar, snick snacks (kale chips and broccoli bites by Rhythm, Louisville jerky, and cookies by Lenny & Larry's), a few more bottles of vitamins, and more than six months passing by, I started feeling ashamed of myself of not having yelped such a quality business. The owner and his wife are knowledgeable of the products they sell and are always happy to share their expertise with customers. In addition to the items I like to purchase, this place has enough health food staples to skip Whole Foods Market for a few weeks (at least). And the owner's happy to order items for customers too. There always seems to be a sale on something - including vitamins - and they publish their own flyer with those items featured for easy reference. And if I remember correctly, there's also some "buy X amount within 30 days and get X off" deal as well. Pretty cool. Oh! And they're open until, like, 8pm so you can swing by after work. Convenient, right? So if you were into health food stores before the chains took over, Lark Street Natural Foods is definitely worth frequenting. They've got the goods, so I'm glad they're around. read more

How nice that the Albany food desert issue is starting to be addressed. Right in the heart of Lark St. is this new, little natural foods store. I noticed it because of their banned outside and found myself drawn in. For as small as the place is, they have an excellent selection of natural products and they even have a decent produce section. All the produce is currently conventional, and non-organic, but the owner tells me that's coming. There's definitely room for improvement and certainly expansion is one of those improvements, but for what they are, they do a good job. While they're pricey, the prices are comparable to Honest Weight Food Co-op and they carry a few name brands and products that you can't always find at the co-op. If I lived closer to Lark St., I think I would shop there on a regular basis, and if I'm in the area, I fully intend to support them as I can. People who live nearby, though, I expect will spend the few extra bucks to get organic and natural foods close to home. read more

If you live on this end of Center Square, this is a really great spot to quickly pick up quality items you've run out of. I've stopped in several times for sauces, pastas, teas, and vegetables. I mainly come in for things I only had realized I forgot to pick up after I already started cooking. Excellent resource! The owners are always willing to help you find what you need, and take suggestions. read more

My uncle needs a special supplement for a health issue and found it here. Convenient location.

Nice, little place. This shop is easy to miss, but check t out. It has a lot inside and is extremely convenient for those of us in the lark area that are sick of price chopper and bodegas. The prices are reasonable and a pretty good selection of items. Also, the owners are as nice as can be. I highly recommend it. read more

Omg, growlers, bottles and cups of Aquavitea Kombucha available on tap! I enjoyed my blood orange Kombucha and wandering through the store. Great variety of products and very convenient location. I will definitely be coming here again to refill my Kombucha bottle when I visit Albany. read more

This is absolutely what we have needed on Lark St. This little but quite substantial store has everything from local milk to organic cotton tampons. The selection of items is on par with the Honest Weight Food Co-op (which I also love) relative to its small size. It is a pleasure to be able to walk down the street to get my essentials while helping a local business. The family that owns the store is absolutely wonderful and they deserve the neighborhood's patronage. They are always asking for ways to change or improve their product line. So, stop in and find what you need. read more

I love the This store. It's just what the neighborhood has needed: good, healthy food products. They have a surprisingly large and diverse selection of vitamins, crackers, soups, chips , beans, health bars, drinks and different types of dairy products. They even have pet food. Also, any place that sells produce is ok in my book. read more

This little shop has provided a huge service for Center Square and Washington Park neighborhoods! Definitely really good foods selections, always lots of things on sale. They will stock things for you if you're a regular and let them know what you'll always buy. Basic fruits & veggies are always available along with other essentials like health and beauty aids, and some frozen things. It's so easy to pick up a few necessities after work. They definitely will work with you. read more

Friendly owner and fantastic products/prices. I picked up some Myers dish/hand soap here and a few awesome fair trade dark chocolate candy bars. Also a great location to pick up skincare products like witch hazel and tea tree oil. For such a small shop, they have a great variety and range of products. Such a friendly owner who shared with me this article about Amazon/large corps elbowing out more local mom and pop joints. Will definitely be back again! read more

This is an excellent little neighborhood health food shop! I was more than a bit disappointed that Honest Weight chose to move further out from the center of town when they really ought to have come closer in. Lark Natural to the rescue! I try to make it there once a week or so as I live a few short blocks away and can go on foot. I get my gluten-free baked goods there, Synergy kombucha, dairy, spices, frozen foods among many other purchases. They carry a good selection of well known health food brands as well as local milk and meat. As another poster mentioned, the prices are comparable to HW. I always feel satisfied that I paid a fair price for what I walked out with. The owners are great people and very friendly. They are extremely responsive to customer requests! So glad to have this little gem in my neighborhood! read more

For a physically small store, this place has an extremely wide variety of natural and organic products, as well as some fresh produce. The owner is also very nice and helpful. I like shopping here because of the awesome selection and the fact that I supporting a local business. read more

I moved to the neighborhood last summer, and have walked by this place a hundred times, but never went in until today. It's a small place, but it's jam-packed with stuff. They have all the "health" food and specialty items that I would normally get at Honest Weight, Trader Joe's, or Whole Foods, and some bonus stuff. I bought flax seed meal and some bananas, but will definitely go back again. They have a much wider variety of items than I expected. The owner was incredibly nice and informative, and made it clear that they are more than willing to cater to customer needs. I will definitely be going back again. read more

This place made me happy. Made me wish I lived in the neighborhood. I imagined myself popping in for last minute recipe needs, for a stuffy nose or just a snack. Dry goods, fresh produce, frozen delights and fermented delights on tap. The owner was behind the register and was friendly and knowledgable. I mentioned VeganEggs to him. That he could scoop the local market and I fully expect him to check them out. He'll likely have them before Honest Weight. The selection was far better than it should be for the size of the place. I found things I haven't seen elsewhere. The prices were good, too. Why did I wait so long to check it out? Why have you? read more

Organic bodega. Pricy but a good place to grab something easy last minute or an ingredient you ran out of. Wish they stocked better produce. Owner is very friendly and always says he will begin stocking something if a customer requests it -- but that produce isn't feasible because it goes bad before he can move it. read more

Very nice man working behind the counter (he started the business with his family) and a good selection of spices, raw honey, sardines, essential oils, etc. All the stuff you want in a health food store! read more

Love this store!!! Management is really really nice and open to suggestions/special orders etc. The milk and meat is AWESOME. The farm they order from, which doesn't do home delivery in Albany, delivers to the store 2x a week so everything is fresh. They also carry a bunch of the organic products that trader joe's does not- like organic vinegars and spices. Overall, a great place! Such a necessity on Lark! read more

A wonderful, family-owned and operated store, with a wide selection of products. I especially like their all-natural skin/ hair/ bath/ vitamin items, and they have great, fresh produce (bought perfectly ripe advocados here). I also highly recommend trying the sprouted grain bread and English muffins, which are excellent, as well as the Newman's Own Vegan Fig Newtons (better than the original!). read more

I was initially so thrilled to have a natural food store open in my neighborhood. There are times when, as someone who chooses not to drive, Honest Weight and other larger natural stores aren't convenient when I just need one or two items like milk or raw sugar or herbal teas. Unfortunately, my first visit was also my last. First, the owners were so unbelievably rude when I asked them two routine questions any first time customer might ask (I wanted to know if they carried a particular brand and needed to know the price on something that wasn't marked). Second, I don't mind paying a little extra for the convenience of local store within walking distance, but the price on each item I was interested was unjustifiably high. read more

This place was great at first, or so I thought... I live on the same street so I would go here often. I like the fact that a family runs this place and that its a local place to shop. I prefer shopping local as there seems to be some care toward customers versus simply about the $$ as with bigger corporate companies. The impression they have left me with is that they simply care about profits. If you are supporting this store because its local, might as well go elsewhere. I say this because numerous times I have seen expired items which i had purchased by mistake and have returned them letting them know its expired. You would think they would take it down. Even if people wanted to buy expired goods at least advertise that its past dated and at a discount. They do not do this and continue to have them on their shelves for the next sucker to come along and open it. They also sell non healthy items like "Naked" from pepsi corporation, which is currently in a law suit for fake advertising it as healthy and natural. They also sell GMO sauces from pepsi corporations. They are essentially doing what these big corporations do, falsely advertise and look to make profit. They also have advertised sales and do not mark all the items with that are on sale with the correct pricing label. therefore if you buy crackers that are priced 3.99 and are on sale for 2.69 they will have both tag listings, depending on which box you pick up you will get charged a varying price. This has happened to me over four times. I am not sure if they are just careless or really trying to increase profits. This is the impression they have left me with, which is deeply disappointing. If you are going to shop here: 1. check expiration dates and 2. make sure you are being charged correctly. Also very important if you are buying an item on sale check that date I foolishly bought on sale vitamins that were soon to expire and because i already opened them i could not return them, again really makes you wonder why you would sell vitamins that are 60 day supplements in the month before it expires.. really? read more