OPEN – New Sprouts in Northeast Mesa at Longview

It seems like it’s been FOREVER in the coming but today was the grand opening for the new Sprouts in Northeast Mesa (at Recker & the 202)!  Woohoo!  Those of us in the area (Las Sendas, Red Mountain Ranch, Mountain Bridge) have been waiting what seems like decades for something like Sprouts to hit the neighborhood.  We decided to check out the festivities this morning at about 9:30 and the parking lot was packed.

This new Sprouts store didn’t disappoint.  Of course, there were the traditional things that Sprouts is known for: an amazing bulk section, beautiful produce, high-quality meats, artisan breads, etc.

There were some new offerings not seen in some of the other local stores.

Oil & vinegar bar – such offerings as avacado oil, grapeseed oil, various vinegars and several aminos (we bought coconut aminos).  You can sample them if you’d like and there was a helpful employee answering questions and chatting with customers.  These are filled into mid-size glass bottles and weighed at checkout.

Big deli with beautiful sandwiches, salad bar, fresh squeezed juices, pastries and a nice-sized seating area:

Expanded bulk coffee & tea:

A honey (& agave) station – filled into little plastic bears or larger containers to the right:

And the exotic fruits were fun to marvel at:

Melissa’s/World Variety Produce was there sampling stir fry peppers, dragonfruit with pineapple, and juice.  As hubby and I were looking at Uniq fruit trying to figure out what it was (basically a cross between a mandarin & a grapefruit) a representative came up and offered to sample it for us.  Very tasty and we were right.  It peels easily like a mandarin and has a super juicy, sweet, citrus flavor.

In the end we walked out with strawberries, cranberry raisin walnut bread, and a couple of mangos.  For lunch we used the bread and mangos to recreate the best peanut butter sandwich ever…this coconut peanut butter, mango sandwich like we had at a restaurant across from Disney’s Aulani in October.  It was amazing!

Check out the new Sprouts when you get a minute and let me know what you think!

 

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