Watkins Glen is a good 45 minutes or so from my house, so if I’m traveling there, I’m out to make it worthwhile. The main reason for my most recent trip to Watkins Glen was to stop at Good Groceries, a natural foods grocery store that has been around since 1999. I wanted to pick up two items that I have not been able to locate at any stores nearby: The Merry Hempsters Vegan Lip Balm (orange flavor particularly) and the best vegan hot dogs I’ve ever had, Loma Linda Linketts (even if they do come in a can!). I knew that Good Groceries had carried these items on previous visits to the store.

I was out of luck on both accounts when I arrived. They were all out of the orange flavored Merry Hempsters vegan lip balm and liquidated all of their Loma Linda hot dogs recently (because people weren’t buying them). This was very disheartening. Another customer in the store mentioned something about joining the buyers club. I was then told (at least for the lip balm) that they could not be included in the buyer’s club because of the vendor that was used. The nice man behind the counter did find the Loma Linda Linketts in one of his ordering books, but I really wanted them for this weekend and did not have the time to have them ordered and have to make the trek to the store again.

I ended up getting 3 of the other vegan lip balm flavors that were available (1 spearmint, 1 peppermint, & 1 lemon-lime). Had the orange flavor been available, I would have stocked up and bought even more!

Regardless of this disappointing trip, I do think that Good Groceries has an excellent selection of vegan and vegetarian items for its size. You can find multiple brands of tofu (Ithaca Soy & Soy Boy in bulk!), vegan cheeses, vegan pizza, faux-meat products, snacks, produce, vegan ice cream, toiletries, and much more!

Overall, I rate Good Groceries a 4 out of 5 carrots on my rating scale!