I've been avoiding this thread for the past couple days, and I'll admit that I once thought that only wealthy, pompous turds shop at whole foods. I shop there every now and then, and just have two things to offer:
--The quality and variety of their produce, dairy, and meat is amazing.
--Though a common perception is that it's much more expensive than other grocery stores, this is only true for certain items. The produce and meat, for example, are pretty comparable with any supermarket. It's when you start buying **** like frozen pizzas, breakfast cereals, soda, potato chips, etc. (**** you shouldn't be eating much of in the first place) that the price tag starts ratcheting up.
The best supermarket ever is a chain called Wegman's in upstate New York (and expanding a lot to the south); I doubt Whole Foods can ever top them, but they're better than 95% of supermarkets I've been to.