Whole Foods: fantastic selection of foods yet just a little pricey

I visited one of the Houston 'Whole Foods' stores recently, and this place is just remarkable. Almost every thing that I wish I could find at my local grocers (HEB, Walmart, Kroger, etc) I can find at Whole Food. Their selection of meats, including grass fed beef, is amazing. I sampled a chicken noodle soup and was just blown away, not only by how good it was, but that I could find a tasty chicken noodle soup without hydrogenated oils, msg, hydrolized additives, preservatives or nitrates (take note, Campbells... and even your supposedly "natural" soups still have "yeast extract".... the same thing as MSG. Take out ALL the MSG and I'll start buying your soups again.)

Anyhow, the bakery, the fruits, the dairy, etc... it's all just fantastic at Whole Foods, but the prices.... ay-yi-yi! I've heard the store referred to as "whole paycheck", and there's something to that. The lunch and groceries that we purchased brought us a hefty bill, but oh, was it worth it. Even their bakery has good, non-garbagy, non-hydrogenated baked goods, and that's so refreshing to find. I wish more stores would take note of this place, and start carrying a similar lineup of foods (Market Street HEB in the Woodlands is sortof close, but it's got a long way to go.) This place was a nice grocery refuge, and the selection was fantastic nutritionally, but the prices make it a place I can really only visit on occasion (and besides, there isn't a location close to the Woodlands/Spring/Conroe area anyhow...)