New Longmont Sprouts Looking Fine

So the new Sprouts in Longmont (on the west side of Hover Road just a bit north of the Diagonal) opened this past Wednesday, and I've already had a couple of chances to check it out.  I'm liking the layout, which seems considerably larger than our Boulder Sprouts on Baseline, and probably also larger than the former Sunflower, although that one's trickier to assess because of its two-tier floorplan.  Offerings seem pretty similar to what we see in Boulder, with some exceptions.  Organic produce has always varied in Boulder, with the former Sunflower having more organic produce power (IMHO) than the original Baseline Sprouts.  While it's still not Whole Foods for breadth of options, I think the new Longmont Sprouts possibly edges out our former Sunflower, and definitely wallops our original Sprouts.  The Longmont location also offers a very active fresh sushi counter, with sushi staff concocting samples as quickly as shoppers could scarf them up.  But our original Baseline Sprouts reigns supreme on at least one front:  it has the certified Fair Trade organic coffee (including decaf) under the Sprouts name that neither our former Sunflower nor the new Longmont store carries.  I mentioned it to the coffee guy in Longmont, who seemed very interested in adding it.

I visited the Longmont store on opening day and also yesterday.  While it was pretty much a zoo on both days, the staff was doing a remarkable job of keeping everything together, from stocking to cashiering.  Samples were liberally distributed around the store, although I'd expect that to end once the opening fever has passed.  They were also giving away reusable bags to pack all your purchases in, including yesterday, when I was expecting one free bag for opening day only.  One of the bags I was given yesterday had a hole in it, but that's also happened to me at Whole Foods.  I guess the moral of that story is to keep collecting those bags, as some of them will barely make it through their first trip home.