Each area is different I guess. In NYC Whole Foods is among the cheapest of the supermarkets and one of the highest in quality. For example, Gristedes and Morton Williams cost more and their fruits/veges selection is poor.
I think you mean Manhattan, the other boroughs have a few more options like Waldbaums and Key Food, etc.
Manhattan sucks for decent affordable groceries because there's a substantial culture of frequently eating out and those that eat in normally do so because they want the gourmet experience at home, so they're looking for high-end stuff. That and everything costs more in Manhattan.
Go across the river to NJ and right away you'll see Wholefoods is obscenely expensive when compared to Trader Joe's, H Mart, Pathmark, Shop Rite, and local farmers markets.
Manhattan sucks for decent affordable groceries because semitrailers, are not permitted in most of the city. Everything has to be transferred to smaller trucks, which usually means a pass through, and possibly resale at, the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center in the Bronx, or through some facility in New Jersey. In many parts of Manhattan, trucks aren't allowed at all during the daytime. So there's lots of extra handling required.
Yes, but there are only 3 Trader Joe's in all of Manhattan. Two of them are down near NYU and the other is on the Upper West side, which makes them difficult to access for people living in midtown, uptown and virtually the entire east side.
On the upper east side, where I live, the options are pretty much Gristedes, Morton Williams, Food Emporium and Fairway. Gristedes and Morton Williams are overpriced with a bad selection of produce. Food Emporium is worse. Fairway's prices are more reasonable and the produce selection is actually quite good, but I tend to think the quality of Whole Foods' produce is a bit better.
Except I've found the produce in the small corner grocery stores (like Associated's) to be much lower cost and the same or higher quality (due to the turnover).
Tim Harford tried to myth-bust this a few years ago. Yes, you can buy Maldon sea salt at Whole Foods, but you can also buy (more prominently displayed) Morton kosher, and it's priced the same was it is at Safeway. There are organic lemons that cost $1/unit more than conventional lemons, but there are also conventional lemons.
The way you tend to spend more money at Whole Foods than you would at Safeway is, you go for staples and end up buying premium stuff. So: don't do that.
The "Whole Paycheck" trap is mostly a problem for people who aren't price sensitive when picking out groceries.
The boxed mac & cheese at the Whole Foods near me is cheaper than that at the local corner store. You can spend stupid amounts of money at Whole Foods, but they've got a reasonable selection that is reasonably priced when you look past the overpriced stuff.
I am one of those vegan health and fitness obsessed girls and even I find Whole Foods a bit pricy, but they're doing well so they seem to have an appeal to a lot of folks.
