Culinaria Responds To Competition From Fields Foods, Improves Produce Department
When Fields Foods opened in January on the near south side, just south of downtown, those of us who’ve regularly shopped at Culinaria at 9th & Olive were envious of the produce selection. Culinaria also noticed, prompting changes in their produce department.
The selection is still lacking compared to Fields Foods, but greatly improved over what it has been. Glad to see management is willing to change when a tiny upstart opens not far away. It’ll be interesting to see how both respond when Whole Foods opens in the CWE late next year.
— Steve Patterson
I checked out Field’s on their opening weekend and I was underwhelmed to say the least. I thought that there prices were way too high and their selection nothing special. I have not gone back. So I am a little curious if others felt that way and how their business is doing. I don’t mind paying extra for the convenience but I thought that everything at Fields was not even in the ball park. While the selection at Culinaria is somewhat limited, their pricing is much better than Field’s and their location is within walking distance so Culinaria wins for me hands down. Culinaria also benefits from a better location being downtown as they seem to get a lot of transient traffic. I can’t see Fields or the new Whole Foods location in the CWE having much of an impact on Culinaria as I can’t imagine a lot of people from downtown driving out to Fields or Whole Foods unless they were planning to shop at the Brentwood Whole Foods anyway.
It depends on the item. For example. Boursin cheese at Culinaria is a couple dollars more than Fields.