Whole Foods Market - Charlottesville

New rating, as of May, 2023: Meh. Bar and taps are gone, no more build your own 6-pack that I can find. Standard selection you'd find in any grocery store in the area. Avoid, as parking/accessibility to practically every other grocery story is easier. OLD RATING: 3/5/8/11/14 Terrific. And free delivery with Amazon Prime. What more could you ask for? Well... a larger beer selection, but it's not that their selection is bad. Good singles section, bombers on the shelf, 6, 12, cases of stuff, plus some taps. Not a bad stop at all. Or, if you're local, Amazon Prime Delivery it (no singles that I saw, but they'll do beer and wine).

UPDATE 5/1/23. Sadly I have to update this review. Since I left almost 7 years ago, the beer selection here has become kind of a joke compared to what it once was. I still visit Charlottesville once a year to see friends and I stop by Whole Foods to see my friends who still work there. The beer selection was great when I left. The big blow is the bar is no more. Taken out completely. No more draft beer. The BYO section was relegated to an endcap that was in a high traffic area and so it was a challenge to browse. The selection of large format beers is no better than a gas station. They still have a cooler full of six packs, but now a good portion is take up by seltzers and other non-beer things. Still some good craft beer six packs, but, this is a shadow of the place it used to be (for this, and other reasons which is a discussion for another place). No longer recommended. Old score was 4/8/13/15/80.

This is a place review years in the making. I’ve been working here longer than I’ve been on Ratebeer. Even worked here with good old Emeister84! My tenure began Nov. 30th 2005 and ended 4 hours ago. It was a great ride! There have been ups and downs over the years beer wise, but, generally its been one of the best grocery options in Charlottesville. The rest of the review will be about the store today. Ample parking, but terrible parking lot as nearly all Whole Foods’ have. Staff is overworked, but pleasant and helpful. Honestly, the food is okay but it frequently falls below the standards of other WFM stores. Beer is mainly in the back pub. 12 taps but more (not sure how many) are coming. 1 dedicated cider tap and one nitro tap. Solid beer selection with lots of local selections. Stella or something similar might be on, but the rest is craft. Bottle selection is good with a long cooler, several un-chilled 4 foot sections of bombers, and a new beer set just went in yesterday. There has been an inconsistent stream of beer buyers, but that seems to have changed lately. The selection has steadily improved and will hopefully continue in that direction. Usually a few offerings you won’t see elsewhere. Bar staff and the department staff are generous with beer, wine and cheese samples. Prices are competitive, and occasionally some incredible deals can be found at the pub. Overall not your first stop for bottles in town, but well worth coming by for a pint, slice of pizza and to peruse the bottles. Then again, maybe with me no longer around to keep them accountable...

A great looking grocery store, with very positive energy. The staff are very helpful in every department, and very knowledgeable with beer and wine. The pub has a fairly large amount of seating and a dozen taps that rotate decently often. The specials are outrageously underpriced. Great food as well, I just wish they’d change it up more often.

The selection here is steadily growing, and they now have a pretty decent amount of local and regional beers and ciders. The store itself is larger than your average WF, especially the tiny ones in DC. Worth a stop.

Definitely one of the better Whole Foods I’ve ever visited. It certainly doesn’t hurt that there’s two RB members on staff. Clean, well-maintained space. The service is pretty good. It’s basically impossible to shop in here without being getting offered assistance. The selection’s strong for a supermarket. This branch offers a bar with 8 or so beers on tap. On my last visit, they had Sumpin Wild on draft, so happy days. The bottles are decent. Maybe 100 on offer. Plenty of local stuff alongside all the craft big boys that you’d expect. The value’s decent, especially if you keep an eye out for offers. My only real criticism is that they do a poor job of keeping the public aware of what’s on tap through social media. In this day and age, there’s really no reason that I should have to walk into a place like this without knowledge of what’s pouring. Overall, worth a grocery run.

Both for the fact that they have a decent selection of bottles to buy and for the fact that they have a good bar in the store, While Foods is one of my favourite places to go. Friday afternoon happy hour from 4-6 is pretty much required post work week drinking!

Another stop while taking a break from camping in Shenandoah and visiting where my wife grew up. Bottle selection was certainly good for a grocery store. Whole Foods seems to do fairly well in that department, usually offering a nice variety of craft beer. It’s still a grocery store, so in addition to getting a couple of beers to bring back, managed to get something for dinner as well.

They do keep up with some of the new stuff coming in through local distributors but their selection is smaller than the better places in town and there are not that many beers available for mix-a-six. The best grocery store for beer in town, but not the best store by a long shot.

This store is in the same shopping center as the Market Street Wineshop Uptown location. Relatively small selection, but they do have a couple of nice aspects. The food is terrific quality. They have a *mix-your-own-six* program that features some local and regional micros. And this is the only place where I have ever found Redhook double black stout. Not really a destination for beer, but if you are already shopping here, or scoping out the wineshop, it couldnt hurt to take a peek.