First Alternative Natural Foods Co-op South Store

Linda Sebring

2024-03

Good quality food. Organic. Local. Good prices. Bulk spices and tea. U-grind nut butters. Wonderful selection of wines, both local and from far away. Gluten free IPA ! Seasonal and imported fruit and local veggies. Hot sandwich bar at lunch & dinner. Salad bar with tempeh and othervegan options!

EJ Lillie

2024-03

I love the coop. Shopping in bulk saves a lot of money. I appreciate all the locally sourced products.

Mark Whitney

2021-05

You can always find great food & beverages here. We recently re-newed our co-op membership. As a local MR you can recycle big styrafoam for a modest fee at the store & they take cork from wine bottles. Also convenient location S. town to recycle many items at the adjacent recycling center.

Madi

2022-05

One of the best natural foods stores Ive been to!!! Their hot bar and salad bar foods are fresh, the baked goods are incredibly delicious, the store has a lot of variety of products, and they have a cold by-the-pound area that includes beautiful red miso!!!!

Elena Sandbo

2020-05

Wonderful salad bar! I just recently rediscovered this place and am so happy I did! Great variety to choose from groceries to makeup to ready to eat and bakery items.

Kathryn Cater

2023-07

So in love with this place. Visited twice on our vacation and wish we had something like this in our part of the valley!Great value for healthy food, gluten free products, ingredients that are often hard to find in conventional stores. There's more than you would imagine possible in a small space. Feels like a discovery.

Jenifer Taylor

2023-05

The customer service skills were lacking, the store I went into literally had nothing on the shelves, absolutely crazy how some stores are run and maintained as they can be very different depending on location. Store manager and checkers are arrogant and unfriendly to talk and start a conversation. We used to have fund shopping at the coop, but no more, i would recomend to spend your money at some other store in town.

Andrew Stafford710

2024-04

Amazing sandwiches 🥪 great organic food and beeswax candles

Rachel Wilder

2022-05

First Alternative is well organized, I like the size, and the staff is well trained and attentive. I love many of the foods they make in their kitchen. I do wish they would stop using polyunsaturated fats and so many sweeteners in they things they make in their kitchen and that they had more soup options. The same two soups all week long means I rarely buy soup anymore. I do tend to buy more paleo options from one of their competitors.

Laura Warren

2018-05

I really enjoy going into both of the co-op, really good selection of food and the staff really knows their store. I'm always finding things that I want to try! Their produce is always so tasty! I love getting all their salads. Bulk section is great. I feel healthier for eating/ shopping here, I love my little hippy store

Che Dean (Tuxramus)

2014-05

This is a really great store, the staff are friendly and helpful and the produce is amazing. They have a great choice of craft beers and their organic food is a must try. My wife introduced me to raw goats milk from this store and I haven't looked back. They even carry Kerry Gold butter at a reasonable price which was a great taste from home for me.

R.J. Baynum (Cyberphoenix)

2022-05

Spendy, a little, but worth, for members, it really, do the math, and your homework on this one..., if you care about your health, which is wealth. It is at, The Alternative Grocery, in South town, my favorite place, Awesome Talented experts in health, organic, and by being a devoted loyal member, a win-win, for all.. its always been fresh, fragrances in the produce dept. Prices are indeed cheaper for members. They treat members well too.And so now, for me, I pick stuff up on the fly, I Live good here, in Corvallis Oregon, and so, now, thanks to them, I also live better, and better educated too. Now...learned a lot, they are very patient with me., but thanks to them. Best Grocery one town, ( South town on 3rd,) helped the men's shelter one year. As I remembered they are true, member-supported, I like to buy local! Community, enhancing appreciation of our Oregon.. and also OSU, Ag. supporters, ..SOIL!. With, ... devotion to serving the community.

Alexandra Bowman

2020-05

Great organic grocery store! You can easily trust what you're buying here. Also, the staff are very friendly and personable. It doesn't feel like an uncomfortable, impersonal chain grocery store. I feel like the staff actually care about their work and that they care about the customers too.

Krystal

2021-05

Every trip I have taken to this store has been enjoyable. There is always a great selection of produce and fresh foods. The staff is helpful and friendly and they seem to love what they are doing. Highly recommend checking out both the North and south co-ops as they both have different things to offer.

Jules Cooper

2021-05

This Food Coop has a long history and is well grounded in its guiding principles. Great variety of local, organic foods. Pays its employees a living wage. The North Store has better lighting and is newer but both stores have amazing customer service and variety of organic foods.

PyroNymph -

2022-05

I am always able to find sustainable food. Use your food dollars as a statement of your values; support your local Co-Op! I am able to find medicinal mushrooms (Lion's Mane, Maitake) here which are unavailable elsewhere unless I grow my own. I love their wide ethically-sourced meat selection.

Caedrek Daniel

2018-05

Amazing natural selections of foods and has great service. The place is taking care of really well and has a great atmosphere. They have a place if you want to go pick up a meal that taste great and is all natural. They also have medical pills and vitamins that are cheap and are high quality. If you want some delicous fruits and vegtible with high quality selection of all natural foods, please has some of the best service, please go here. I've been going here for years and they are amazing!

Rudy Venturi

2018-05

This is as good as natural food shopping gets here in the Willamette Valley. First Alternative might sound a bit like a bank, but don't let the name throw you off. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, the produce is first rate, the bulk section offers a good variety of quality products, and even the assorted non-grocery products are a much better set than you'll find most places. This is a gem and I only wish we had one in Eugene!

George Hutchinson

2021-05

Quality foods, excellent deli department, best whole bean coffee prices ( for Fair Trade, organically grown coffee ) in town. Helpful staff. I shop there every week. Locally community owned.

Joshua Kesling

2024-02

Perfect location, similar to North store.

Benjamin Merrell

2020-05

Closed my owner share after experiencing more drawbacks than benefits.First Alt lied to all its owners about the patronage dividend payout. The email everyone received says, “80% will be retained as equity under the Owners’ names.”This is a brazenly false. First Alt did NOT apply 80% of the patronage dividend to the owners’ equity as their email literally states. In other words, if you close your account, the equity they give back to you will only be the equity you originally invested. They will only apply your dividend equity to your owner share if they don’t use it for something else. It’s disturbing, but entirely within character, that First Alt would so grossly misrepresent the truth.Owners can open a “tab” if they are checking out and forget their wallet. Some random stranger put a charge on my account. Apparently, cashiers don’t check the person’s ID against the name associated with the account number. When I was contacted a week later to pay the bill, it took hours of emailing before they found proof that I didn’t place the transaction. This obnoxious situation would not have happened if management had better policies in place and communicated to employees.Almost every time I place a special order on a sale item, they price it wrong. On occasion, they drop the order entirely without telling me.Some of the deli staff is intent on avoiding customer interaction. Trying to get their attention to acquire meat/sandwiches/etc. is painfully awkward and unwelcoming.These long-term issues reveal that certain managers are thoroughly disconnected; they consistently fail to address feedback and make improvements. The hiring practices and pay rates are rife with double standards and inconsistencies. The label “co-op” is a façade—First Alt. operates about the same as any corporate natural grocery chain, except you have to pay to be a member. The benefits are negligible and not worth the investment.

Linda Sebring

2023-06

Local and imported ...produce here is best quality. Pre-made Deli, salad bar and hot foods ready to eat. Great take out options.Bulk foods: nuts, beans, flour, herbs, teas, spices and more.

Luke Barney

2017-05

This Co-op has some good variety for fruit, which is great. Usually the fruit is good quality but not always, they should test the fruit before selling it. For some things the prices are outrageous (like $4/lb for cheap tomatoes), so don't go here if you're in a pinch.

Leslie Maksun

2017-05

A great co-op with a sister store in north Corvallis. They have a great variety of all the typical health food store items, as well as salad/hot bar, recycling center, bottle/can drop off, solar powered, great sales items, very competitive regular prices, great selection of in season produce, extensive bulk section, friendly and helpful staff, lots of local products, and discounts for low GHG transpo. A fabulous co-op!

Joni Zander

2018-05

I love visiting natural grocery stores and First Alternative beats them all! They are responsive to suggestions, focus on local foods, and carry everything I use. I'm a total food snob, so it's unusual for me to "one-stop-shop". First Alternative is the only place I've ever been where I can actually do that.

Tim Whiteford

2021-05

I always love shopping here. They have best selection in town for vegetarian/vegan products. The staff is helpful, knowledgable, and down to Earth. Try the Divina Dolmas or the Fog City Mac in their grab n' go... theyre delicious!

Log On

2021-05

I bought a cool tie-dye hankie here just before the epidemic hit and made these items in high demand. Someone at the Happy Trails record store, said that that it looked just like ther Grateful Dead 50 year anniversary bandanna.

r b

2019-05

Good selection of organic goods and nice place to get a quick lunch or a tasty dessert from their deli/hot case. Very cool that they have hot organic coffee with dairy and non-dairy creamers at a reasonable price.

Justin Nartowicz

2023-05

Love the atmosphere here and the employees are very helpful. It’s a pleasant shopping experience…but even for locally sourced, prices are extreme.

Byron B

2022-05

Great store, good food and produce. We enjoy the deli chile relleno and the kids love their Mac N Cheese :) Very friendly staff.