Mid-Michigan Dining

• 201 63rd Street
• Willowbrook, IL 60527
• (630) 655-5000
• Website

The Whole Foods Market on 63rd Street in Willowbrook, IL

When you’re within a couple miles of a Whole Foods Market, you have to go.  Right?  That’s the case with us anyway.  We were in Willowbrook for lunch at The Chicken Basket and J said there was a Whole Foods right down the street.  It’s the store where she was first introduced to the store we’ve come to lovingly call Whole Paycheck (thanks Amy).  When we lived in Peoria, J would make the drive to her parents house quite often.  On those trips, she and her mom would run to Whole Food and stock up on pre cut fruits, veggies, and those delicious pre-made salad.

Whole Foods has a number of markets in the Chicago area.  The Willowbrook location is on 63rd Street right off of Kingery Highway (IL-83).  We actually drove by it the first time because J thought it was visible from Kingery, but we found out pretty quickly, it’s not.

The store is a stand alone and the parking lot is really tight.  Whole Foods is definitely not your typical mega mart with concrete parking lots as far as the eye can see.  There’s plenty of parking, but it’s not spread out and there’s not a lot of empty spaces.

The Willowbrook Whole Foods sets the standard for J.  She compares every Whole Foods we go in to to this one.  I actually thought the store was cramped compared to the two Ann Arbor stores, but she thinks there’s more room.  The theme of the weekend was Cinco De Mayo and there were a number of sample tables throughout the store.  It’s too bad we just came from lunch because we really could have eaten our way through.

One of many Whole Foods Markets in the Chicagoland area.

The store itself is not much different than the Ann Arbor locations.  I still think both locations there have a bigger deli area, but I could be wrong.  The thing that really impressed me was the butcher.  I’m sure this is true of any Whole Foods butcher, but it was nice to hear this guy actually say what all butchers should.

There was a lady who was buying fresh hamburger patties for dinner.  She couldn’t make up her mind between the patties that were already made or just buying ground meat and making the patties herself.  She mentioned to the butcher that the patties were too big, but she likes the way they’re made.  The butcher told her he could make new, smaller ones for her.  She looked at the guy and said, “You can do that?”  He looked right back her and said, “I can do whatever you want me to do.”  It’s one of those small things that had no effect on my shopping experience at all, but it made my smile to know that there are still people willing to go above and beyond to make the consumer experience the best possible.

We didn’t buy much because we didn’t have a cooler and a three hour car ride that could have a couple stops would be bad for fruit that needs to be kept cold.  J picked up a couple containers of the pre cut fruit to snack on this weekend and a drink for the ride home.  Still, she dropped $15 on three items. 

I’ve said it in past reviews for Whole Foods, as much as I like the place, it’s a really good thing there isn’t one close.  The food is great, but you really pay for the premium food you get from Whole Foods.