Penzeys Spices

This is a place that I can not get to easily-it’s quite a drive. So when I do like to come I enjoy using the coupons and stocking up my spice pantry. I had a coupon that was a couple days expired and even though I was purchasing other items, they would not accept it. So I turned around and left… without purchasing anything. Because turning away a paying costumer over honoring one of their store coupons 3 days after the ‘exp date’ is good business. This store will not be on my list to of places to stop in when I’m in the area.

This is a spice lovers paradise! Aisles and aisles of every spice you could ever want. The quality is much better than the spices you can usually find at the grocery store, but the prices are a little higher. They have all the major spices and even a vast hot chocolate section. They also have salad dressing mixes and an extract section that is really beautiful. They have the best quality vanilla and almond extract I’ve ever purchased. If you’re looking for a hard to find spice or seasoning or just trying to find the best quality ingredients for a special dish, this place is a must.

Great mom and pop spice shop with top quality products. Semi-​helpful staff is always friendly. I’ve been getting my spices here for the past couple years

Large selection of both sweet and savory spices. The location is kind of a pain because finding parking is awful. The customer service is awkward and nothing special.

I love cooking with Penzeys Spices. You can sign up for their catalog and emails. They will mail you recipes and coupons.
I enjoy stopping into the store to pick up a free samples and purchasing new spices. The store is clean and organized. I’ve always walked around and looked at new spices without assistance. I’ve noticed if you’re looking for something specific you have to find an employee.
Overall– large variety and great spices. My advice is to stop in for something new but don’t expect great customer service.

Five stars for Penzeys’ existence, and for the wonderful aromas throughout. They surprisingly didn’t have what I was looking for: powdered cheddar cheese. (Yeah, I’m going to make cheddar cheese popcorn as good as yours, Garrett’s; so I no longer have to go poor when I need a fix. I’ve already got the caramel corn down!) Then again, that’s neither an herb or a spice, and even arguably a dairy product.

Awesome selection of spices, and being able to smell them in the sample jars allows me to educate my nose regarding the different varieties of a given spice. Great location and ambience. If you’re not from Naperville, parking in the lot in front can be a hassle but look across the street; there’s a large parking garage over there.
The only thing I wish there were more of is flavorings; they have a small number which are of high quality But that’s not their main focus.

Penzeys will take your cooking to a new level! I was lucky to receive some for Xmas, and now my husband thinks I’m a gourmet chef! I’m a full believer and can’t wait to get my hands on some more of these over the years to come! The store is very well organized, staff is friendly and knowledgable, and their gift boxes make an awesome and unique housewarming gift!

I do believe this is my most favorite place to shop. I make it a special trip, plan it, get excited to go, and just leave happy. What? It is a spice store. If you love to cook or bake, this is the place to go. The selection and quality of their spices is beyond compare.
They have the best gift boxes — and these always make good presents for wedding showers, house-​warming, or xmas. Who doesn’t love new and different spices.
Also, the customer service/​help is excellent. If you sign up for the catalog, you will get coupons in the mail for free spices. If you are in the area, it is worth checking out.

In the other day for Christmas gift shopping… I love that I can count on this location for friendly staff, convenient location and delicious spices. I love their pre-​made gift boxes as well. I got some things for my own cupboard and my cooking will be better for it! If you haven’t been in… make it your New Year’s resolution to pop in for something to spice up your cooking this year.

Staff is always friendly and helpful. Store is clean and spacious. They continue to honor their coupons after expiration. They also have a kids’ table with crayons and paper, which is quite helpful when shopping with kids. I love that Penzey’s uses glass jars instead of yucky plastic. You can also buy in bulk — sans jar — which is significantly cheaper. My personal favorites are Vietnamese cinnamon, Fox Point seasoning blend, Raspberry Enlightenment (sauce), Sunny Paris seasoning blend, and Mexican vanilla extract.

I love the possibilities you feel, when walking into Penzeys. –The possibilities of making something new and exciting. The possibilities that come with discovering a new blend or a new recipe. The possibilities of wowing your loved ones.
I love everything about this store. The set-​up is very user friendly. They’re grouped together in ways that just make sense. Because of the set-​up, I can find spices faster in their storeroom than I can in a single isle at the grocery store.
The variety of spices is staggering. –do I want cinnamon from China, Indonesia, Vietnam or perhaps Ceylon Cinnamon? Maybe a blend of all of them? Best of all, they are not that much more expensive than buying from a generic brand at your local grocer, yet they’re so much fresher and smell so much better!

Oh, I need to go in here more often!
I love place for how great their spices taste. The are amazing, and have some great blends too.
I found out about Penzeys a while back, and enjoyed going in there store a lot. But, I realized the true power of Penzeys when I was getting into make chili.
The Chili that I was making, was my secret turkey chili that I’ll have to give away two of the secrets in order to do this review. Promise you won’t tell anyone?
Ok, this Chili has a little red wine and cinnamon in it. The first couple of times I made it, you could taste the wine way to much. So, the thing that tames the wine is the cinnamon, but increasing the cinnamon only gave it a sweeter taste that I didn’t want either.
I could tell that if I could just tweak these two sub ingredients that this would be the perfect chili to take for friendly chili off’s. But I just couldn’t figure it out.
Then while in Penzeys I realized, duh… there are several varieties of cinnamon.
I read all the descriptions, and consulted with the spice experts here, and now I have the most awesome chili, ever.
I wont tell you what kind, but it took all the advantages of the cinnamon flavor but it’s just not as sweet.
They also have a great ranch salad dressing mix, that I use as a dry rub on potatoes and they are so good!

We like Penzey’s okay enough. If the spices and seasonings were solely being rated, then it is a 5 star rating. The 4 stars is for how expensive they are (there’s another spice merchant that is a little cheaper and grind spices actively in-​house, whereas Penzey’s packages are sealed and it is unclear if they are ground at the location… I admit, I might be wrong here since I’m not there every day).
I was also irked a little because when asked if they sell peri-​peri (an African chili) we were told, «here is our version (and then was shown Berbere).» First, the customer service was very nice and it is possible that the lady did not mean to imply that this Cayenne-​mix of spices were like a single type of chili. Second, as someone from South Africa and who knows what a peri-​peri pepper is, I found it a little deceiving. It just does not seem right on their website either to say, «it’s not just hot, it’s peri-​peri hot.» (Technically, though they are related, peri-​peri is hotter, so I am not sure about this statement. Anyway, that’s my biggest issue here.
The staff was very friendly and helpful otherwise. The store has a logical lay-​out with plenty of space to move around. The big jars are nice to smell, but if you’re like me you can’t help but wonder if someone «breathed on it». I’d recommend smaller smell jars.
Go check it out. It’s worth it to have fresh (ish?) spices and seasonings. We left with $ 50 of it after all.

I made my first visit to Penzeys the Saturday before Christmas. Walking in, I immediately loved the layout and how each section was clearly labled (Herbs, Chili, Seasonings, etc). Initially I wasn’t looking for anything in particular (I had recently stocked up on spices at Geneva Spice House), but I ended up finding the perfect gift set for someone.
The part I like about Penzeys is that the smell isn’t overwhelming when you walk in. GSH has a very strong smell; enough to give you a terrible headache. Not Penzeys. There was a very pleasant aroma that was just enough to entice you spend your money there. Well played.
Their prices may seem to be a big on the high side, but it seems the quality of the spices makes it worth it. You can also get small «test» jars, so you’re not overspending on something you’re not quite sure about.
It’s nice that they have multiple varieties of gift sets, so you’re bound to find the perfect gift for any occasion. I myself had my eye on the «Spicy Wedding Set» (if I get married, that’ll be the first thing I’ll beg people to get me. Ha!)
I do NOT like parking in downtown Naperville, and I spent nearly ten minutes ciricling the parking garage ten times, waiting for a spot. I know there’s immediate lot parking by Penzeys, but I didn’t even bother looking over there. Once I parked, I looked around the private lot and sure enough, all those spots were full. So you’ll certainly need a healthy amount of patience if you plan on visiting here. Or, be smarter than me and go during the week and not during the holiday season.

Penzey’s is, as always, a delight. You walk around sniffing anything and everything, before you choose a few and leave in a headache due to the 70 different scents you just huffed in the last 15 minutes. Some are expensive, some are reasonable, but all are of good quality. They have all of your basics — great sea salt, amazing vanilla, spicy curry, etc. etc. They also have some unusual and (usually, but not always, delicious) combinations for use on all of your meats and veggies. Service is always very friendly at this and all Penzey’s locations.

My wife and I love Penzey’s. We buy all of our spices here. Our only complaint is that we have to travel all the way to Naperville to get our closest «fix.»
We bought jars of each of our spices years ago and have filled and refilled them countless times since with the 8 oz. bags.
The quality and selection of spices are beyond compare. The cheap mass-​market stuff in grocery stores are exactly that — cheap and you get what you pay for.

My mother treated the kitchen as her holy temple, the one room in the house entirely her own. She cast culinary spells in her treasured pots and pans, using rarefied ingredients and fresh herbs and spices, blending them together according to secretive recipes in her head. She allowed me in to clean dishes, pack my lunch, and eat. Cooking and baking rarely occurred.
I knew how to set water on fire and make simple meals after leaving home upon graduation. I hadn’t a tenth of her knowledge, and I acquired much of it only through trial and error. The day I found Penzeys was like gaining entrance to the coven of Awesome Cooks and Amazing Chefs.
Tim K.‘s review says it all: take a deep breath of the spice-​laced air, and just be with this incredible shop located in new digs next to Starbucks and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in downtown Naperville. Huge windows allow warm light to stream in upon the slightly rustic wooden shelves and racks displaying a vast array of seasonings, baking spices, herbs, rubs, and blends worthy of a king’s ransom. Indeed, they sell actual saffron, which once commanded its weight in gold.
A caravanserai bringing the wealth and wonders of the known world, Penzeys is a true joy to explore at random. Anything you might need is available, be it chili seasoning or one of twenty types of pepper or rich cocoa. The vanilla sugar is a staple in my baking, and I have had love affairs all across the savory world, in Krakow (Nights), Singapore (Spice), and Paris (ien Herbes). Blended seasonings are a real steal for their versatility and punch. Penzeys spices aren’t the dried out McCormick’s found on the shelves, and a little can go a long way. Jars allow you to freely smell and sample, so follow your nose as much as your eyes and stomach.
They carry empty jars, do-​it-​yourself kits, and premade boxes ranging from an assortment of four essential baking spices to amazing wedding boxes with a massive range. All products are available in bags to refill jars, a nice economically and ecologically friendly touch.
Any meal preparer, amateur to professional, deserves a stop in here. I started simple with Pasta Sprinkle and Sandwich Sprinkle to liven up sauces, and I have since progressed to mixing tablespoons of beloved Raspberry Enlightenment into salads, drizzled over fish, and mixed into drinks. Recipe cards and an extensive online recipe database offer suggestions for preparing cookies to roasts to salad dressing. Sometimes it’s hard to stop at just one or three or six jars.
Penzeys’ staff deserve special recognition for their love for what they do and dedication to customers. Ask for help and you shall receive in spades. Many are accomplished cooks and knowledgeable on a full array of products, and they never leave me feeling put-​out for a lack of experience. Quite the contrary, I think they want to share their interest.
The only downside: parking can be scarce and *very* cramped in their lot. Use the free parking in the structure across the street.
Sign up for the bimonthly newsletters — a small magazine indexing their stock, and featuring seasonal recipes — for free coupons for generous jars of a featured spice or serious discounts good in-​store or online.

Penzeys is the spice of life. The shop is neatly organized by spice category. A spice for everything from baking to grilling to marinating. Just be careful not to inhale to heavily when sniffing the smelling jars. Penzeys has very strong spices, a little goes a long way!

I was worried when I heard they were moving, but I really love the new location! Excellent choice! The new location is huge and has an adorable oldie time kitchen display in the back with all of their cinnamons. Also, they have restrooms, which is great since I often take awhile to decide on what to get.
Parking tip: there is parking (and an entrance) behind the building that works out perfectly. I wish I could describe when to turn in, it’s the alleyway behind Rosebud that gets you into the lot, and it’s a bit hard to see but Penzey’s has their name on the back door that you enter through. It’s best to call them and I am sure they will tell you exactly how to get in there.