Family Health Foods

I go to the store at 4848 Arthur Kill Road and the service is excellent. the guy who runs the Tottenville store does an excellent job stocking and maintaining the place. He is also very, very knowledgeable about EVERY product that is in that store. from nuts to vitamins, he knows it all.

I’ve shopped here so so many times and I’m grateful it exists… and yet. I won’t go anymore unless it’s a sale weekend which they have a few times a year. They are just way too expensive. It’s a smallish space but it’s organized well. They have a large selection of dry goods, which makes sense but man I wish they had more organic produce. And the produce they do have is usually two days past it’s prime. Ah well.

This organic health food store is so-​so. Something just isn’t right here. Yes, it’s probably the best place on Staten Island to get anything strictly organic but it’s just… off… somehow. Tiny vegetable and fruit section. Pale, and unappetizing. So much room devoted to chips (however healthy they may be, that’s not food), vitamins (not food too) and dried fruits and nuts (who stocks this place, a squirrel?).
On the other hand, they have also pleasantly surprised me a few times. They do carry seasonings I haven’t seen anywhere else, like actual non-​irradiated vanilla beans, and their bread and cereal/​grain macaroni/​pasta section is pretty large, which probably reflects the clientele of Staten Island. And do try the frozen fruit yogurt strawberry bars that they have in there. The healthiest and best that I’ve ever tasted. Oh, and the herbal tea selection is good. It goes without saying that it’s more expensive than in Manhattan, but then again when you’re buying organic, you have to be prepared to pay a bit more. The question is, how much more?