I thought I would treat the Otterbein ladies with a French pear tart from Whole Foods. I had not been to Whole Foods in years because of their outrageous prices. Since I had not been there in a long time I did not realize how far their bakery had fallen. I remember a few years back I had a big Christmas gala here and bought all the desserts from Whole Foods. It was a glorious spread set up on the sun porch in December, the items kept well and were near the bar, so the glassed in porch was a busy section of the house on party day. Each an every selection looked as though it had come from a French patisserie. So when Beth called to order the tarts they said they didn't carry the pear tarts but little ones could be ordered from another outlet. I ordered one apple tart and 6 small pear tarts. When I picked them up I was so stunned that I could not speak. They looked awful and they were awful! The tart was actually a coffee cake. I was ashamed to set them out, but it was too late to bake them myself. I just can't imagine what happened to this bake shop area of the store. Few people were in there for one thing and I guess they got tired of giving the ones not sold to the food bank. I bought cornbread there too and it was not like it once was. This was the Sawmill Whole Foods. Now we are getting a new Whole Foods at Easton and I cannot wait to see how it looks, what they've done to the bake shop, and to see how successful this store is going to be. I have one suggestion for success...lower your prices and you won't have to give so much away at the end of the day AND people will shop there more often. You have a lot of competition in that area, so wise up Planners. Also, the prices on opening day and the sales during opening week should tell you that people will come there to buy if the quality and correct pricing are there. (Oh, and forget charging $3. for one tomato, that's just silly.)
