Wellness

[sfnative]

This is quite common in the California cities in which I've lived. The Whole Foods store (1 of 4) in our new "home town" has an excellent salad bar, terrific olive bar, soup bar, cold meal bar, hot entre bar, coffee bar and I think that's it. Behind small counters can be found fresh Chinese food made on premisis and dished up for you, fresh Mexican food (same deal), fresh Italian food (same deal but includes fresh pizzas - whole or by the piece) and then their terrific made daily side and entre items.

I could spend a fortune here, so try not to go to this end of the store.

[KYToby]

A lot of people like olives, and there are many varieties available, so why would a store not have an olive bar? After all, for varieties of olives other than the canned green and black ones, they can charge premium prices -- plus,. as some people become more interested in cooling, there are calls for different types.

Our store has an antipasto bar -- which includes olives plus roasted peppers and various other pickled and roasted items. It also has the salad bar and soup bar and a bakery bar (for lack of a better term) with at least half a dozen different artisan breads available.

We also have a local chain of liquor/wine stores with a gourmet foods section that has olive bars and bakery bars plus gourmet cheeses and cured meats.

[GCR18]

Two stores have salad bars here. Haven't seen any olive bars. We don't have stores like whole foods.

[Pickwickpapers]

Our Kroger has an olive bar, a soup bar & a salad bar in the deli and bakery area. You are charged by the pound. The salad bar is often busy especially at lunch. And the deli has a crowd requesting sandwiches and plates for the lunch rush.

[glmama]

Yes, yes, yes. My Whole Foods has an olive bar and I frequently purchase my olives this way. Primarily Kalamara, but we also enjoy lots of other interesting kinds. I use them in tons of ways----salads, pasta, pizza, etc.

[Tinkrbl44]

On 1/16/2015 brii said:

On 1/16/2015 spud188 said: And a hot food bar too,geez I must live in Mayberry. Lol

There's a soup bar too. LOL

Ours has all those bars AND both a huge Fresh Juice Bar AND a Sushi Bar, too !

[Bird]

Olives are imported in these big barrels, which I buy used, for emergency water storage. They hold 50 gallons and the olive aroma never leaves them:

[Campion]

What a great idea--those barrels. Do you have to buy them at warehouses?

[NYC Susan]

On 1/16/2015 stevieb said:

I like olives a lot but see little point to an olive 'bar'. The big joke is that at my local Safeway, they included an olive bar, but no salad bar... Go figure. Seems to me this is another supermarket trend that will probably fade away.

I doubt it.

The supermarkets I go to have had salad bars and olive bars for years. Soup bars and other types too. Not new at all, and certainly not a trend. And very, very popular - Otherwise, they would have gotten rid of them years ago.

[BlingQueen022]

On 1/16/2015 stevieb said:

I like olives a lot but see little point to an olive 'bar'. The big joke is that at my local Safeway, they included an olive bar, but no salad bar... Go figure. Seems to me this is another supermarket trend that will probably fade away.

I agree. My Safeway doesn't have a salad bar at all, but they do have an olive bar. I like olives, but they contain way too much salt. I have seen Giant on occasion to have both. At least one of the Frederick stores has both and Giant Eagle in Frederick has both. I very rarely purchase anything from the olive bar. Way too much salt and way too expensive. Rather spend that high cost on a good steak.