Guido’s Fresh Marketplace

Good selection of local products. Their salad bar is cool too. Although we stopped for a quick snack while waiting on our car… Guido’s looked like a good local grocery store. We picked up rice and eggplant parm from their hot selection and they had a nice flavor to it. Our desert choice– toasted almond cream cake didn’t disappoint us too.

I don’t find Guido’s to be that much more expensive than other grocery stores. Sure, you definitely pay more for some items that you can easily get at Price Chopper or Stop & Shop — which is why I don’t do all of my grocery shopping here. However, the quality of their produce, meat, and seafood is far superior than you’ll find anywhere else. Their staff is always friendly and helpful and I find it to be a relaxing place to shop. It’s a nice place to grab a quick lunch from the salad bar or a cup of soup as well. It’s fun to poke around here and see the unique items they have available.
The major downside is the summer (aka tourist season) when all of the New Yorkers come to the area and shop at Guido’s. They’re very rude to those of us who live around here and actually support the business year-​round. On numerous occasions I’ve heard different out-​of-​towners say «why can’t the locals shop here during the week instead?’. Please just stay in New York and do your shopping elsewhere. We won’t miss you.

Came here on the recommendation from one of the front desk people at my hotel nearby. This is a great grocer that also has a hot food section, and good prepared foods. I got some delicious chicken and pasta to eat that day, then snatched up a chick pea salad that was to die for, a sandwich, and a huge piece of carrot cake. Yes this place is slightly expensive but I preferred it to just grabbing some junk food elsewhere.

The food is good quality and fresh. I’ve noticed price differences between the two local stores which seems like a bad business policy. When I go to the same store in a different location I expect the same pricing on things. Prices are high compared to other small markets in other states but I’ve prices to just be high in The Berkshires. Gas is low, good is high. I like the support of local so I shop here. I find items not available in grocery stores. The service is mediocre but I’m used to Oregon where the state motto is «Be nice you’re in Oregon». Adjusting to life from the west coast I’ve lowered my expectations on food and food shopping.

Clearly the high end grocer to the Berkshires. It has fresh produce and good brands. Of course, everything is really expensive here as well. Sometimes the identical item is much cheaper at the Price Chopper, which is just a few doors down. (Orange juice and milk are great examples.) And, the local veggies are better in season in the farmer’s market.
Still, there is no place better in town to buy fish or meat. This is the best place to get veggies when the farmers markets are closed.

Great little market, a good organic produce selection.

The produce is great, the prepared foods are pretty solid, and they have KOMBUCHA ON TAP. Bring your bottle back (with the Guido sticker) next time so you can avoid the bottle deposit.
The service is a little clunky and slow, and it can be absurdly pricey, but overall, I really like this store.

Super selection of quality food and groceries. I had a green drink, the best ever. Juicy navel oranges at better price and much better quality than other stores. A great place for a nice lunch. Also picked up tumerick and slippery elm lozenges. People are very nice. Great place!

This is a phenomenal market. Everything is so fresh and pristine. Beautiful fruits and vegetables lots of organics the meat section also has a lot of grass fed meats and the fish section has a lot of local fresh fish lobsters scallops different types of salmon.
There’s a café in the back they have really good soups microbrewed kombucha-​juices coffees you name it all great quality stuff. OK so I admit it’s pricey but you get what you pay for!

In town for business, I needed to get some of my Paleo staples and Guido’s fit the bill. I was hoping to get something in their prepared meal area but everything had grains and sugar so I wasn’t able to try anything there.
Parking was insane at 5 pm on a weeknight.

This place is obscenely expensive and quite frankly I’m sick of their arrogance as well. I have a weekend house in the area and this place makes Whole Foods look like a friendly bargain market. There’s huge attitude exuded by everyone like they’re doing you a favor by allowing you inside and the prices are ridiculous. It’s too ‘precious’ for my taste and I have decided to never step foot in there again. On top of that, the service sucks.

Just moved to Western Mass from San Francisco, and after countless trips to the Big Y — I was getting worried that I would have to order my staples online (do people not eat tahini out here??).
Guido’s saved my life. They have everything I could ever need — prepared foods, great bulk section including spices, organic and conventional produce, health and beauty, house goods, etc. I was also pleasantly surprised at the prices — lots of sale items just for the hell of it (didn’t look old to me!) including my favorite tea, health products and even tempeh?! I think I’m in love…

It was kinda disappointing. I went in wanting to pick up some organic snacks for my travels but was disappointed in the selection. Most were NOT organic. Looking around I saw mainstream brands such as boars head and Heinz.
I ended up buying a fresh juice from the juice bar and some nuts and dried fruits. I probably wouldn’t be back.

I live in Great Barrington and love the Guidos there. However, this location pales in comparison. I went in during the week for lunch and my soup was warm at best. When I mentioned this to the employee at the counter I was met with attitude to say the least. I went back a few days later also for lunch and went to the prepared foods dept and was very disappointed with their selections. I ended up skipping lunch altogether.

Stopped by here for a quick snack/​small lunch while in the Berkshires. Decent selection, friendly staff, but pricey.

The best fresh market in the Berkshires. I always buy my picnic stuff for Tanglewood there. Fresh sandwiches, amazing fruit, cut cheeses — wish you were in New Jersey. Do not miss this place — a fun and delicious shoppong experience.

I don’t know about the rest of the store, but the coffee/​smoothie café is incredibly disappointing.
During a recent trip to the area, I was in search of a place that served almond milk with coffee. I know what you’re thinking, good luck with that, right?
But, based on some quick research, I thought I had found caffeinated bliss in Guido’s Café — almond milk and rice milk are a main component of several of their smoothies, so they should have some on hand, and getting it into my coffee should be simple, yes? Turns out I was wrong, oh so wrong.
The experience started positively enough — the café was clean, the selection of gelato was enticing (I thought I might even snag some to enjoy with my coffee because the Sea Salt favor sounded redonkulous), but then it went all down hill.
«Do you take credit cards?» I asked the slightly sullen teenager behind the counter. «Uh huh,» she replied. Sweet! Halfway there. I could feel the caffeine kick already. I soldiered on. «I see you use almond milk in your smoothies,» I said. «Would it be possible to make a latte with that?»
«Um, no,» she said. «Because it’s raw almond milk, and it would, like curdle, and stuff.» I mentally ran through my experience with almond milk. Nope, no curdling. Not even with raw almond milk. Not wanting to contradict her, and really, really wanting my coffee, I replied with a smile, «Oh, that’s fine. I don’t mind.»
«Oh, sorry, I can’t do it.» She didn’t give me a further explanation.
REALLY? For real? For serious?
I left empty-​handed, decaffeinated, and frustrated. Work on your customer service, Guido’s!

I visited this place while in the area and was not impressed. One of the other reviewers remarked that this place was like Whole Foods minus the pricing scheme – but I disagree. I think it is overpriced just like Whole Foods.
I’ve lived and travelled in many parts of the country, and I have shopped in numerous natural foods markets from the smallest to the larger supermarket-​sized ones.
Some of the aspects of this store that I think could be improved include:
(1) Produce. I recognize that I was here in winter, but I know there is better local produce. I have lived in Delware and Philadelphia for 5 years of my life, and in that region, I buy outstanding apples from NY State, as well as apples and pears from PA, all winter long. The apples and pears stocked by Guido’s were mostly pacific northwest sourced – which I find inferior in flavor and higher priced than eastern and midwestern apples. The produce from far away was also not competitive in price. I know my prices and I’ve been able to obtain the same types of fruits and vegetables I see for sale here at much lower prices (often half the price).
(2) Seafood. This place presents itself as an environmentally-​friendly store, but their seafood offerings did not impress me as the most sustainable. I use both Seafood Watch (
) and EDF’s Seafood Selector (
) to guide my seafood purchases, and there were very few of my favorite «eco best» choices available here. I also found the seafood overpriced. Much of the fish was well over $ 10 a pound. Especially in New England, but even in other parts of the country, it’s possible to get very good fish for under $ 4 a pound which is both low in contaminants and sustainably harvested. This place mostly stocked the bigger fish which are more expensive and higher in contaminants. If you want to see a really low-​end store that has both low-​priced and sustainable seafood, I would point to ALDI. I’d rather buy ALDI’s frozen seafood than the stuff here.
(3) Tea. I’m a tea person. This place’s tea selection was pretty mainstream. A lot of natural food stores have a bulk tea section, selling loose-​leaf tea and herbs from companies like Frontier Coop or Mountain Rose herbs. The bulk section here did not contain any tea. The only offering here that I was really a fan of was the Rishi Tea, sold in small, loose-​leaf tins. Rishi is pricey but I do think it delivers sufficient quality to justify the price.
(4) Cereal. I’ve discovered natural cereals that I really like. For example, I buy this brand, Mom’s Best, which makes shredded mini-​wheats which are made from whole wheat with no extraneous ingredients. It’s an environmentally friendly brand, and very cheap. But instead I found this place stocked with mainstream brands like Cascadian Farms, which are higher-​priced.
What was my favorite aspect of this store? Why did I give it two stars? I was impressed with the cheese section. The prices on imported cheeses, like Gouda and blue cheeses, were quite reasonable. They also had a decent selection of Italian cheeses, which I found a pleasant surprise. Is it run by an Italian family as the name suggests? If so, this certainly shines through! But this alone wouldn’t be enough to make me choose to shop here regularly.
I would recommend for the people who run this store to take action to address my points of concern. I think they could do better. I think it would be particularly easy for them to carry more low-​priced offerings. Maybe they don’t need to. If that’s the case, then perhaps I would fault the customers shopping here more than the store owners. But either way, I’m not interested in shopping at a store in this price range, because I know there are lower-​priced options available that are just as sustainable and environmentally-​friendly as this place. It’s the same reason I don’t shop at Whole Foods.
Oh…and one more comment on sustainability – this store is located in a suburban shopping plaza, where it requires a car to get to it. This is true even though there is plenty of vacant space in downtown Pittsfield. This is yet another reason that I think this place doesn’t deliver the value in terms of sustainability necessary to justify its high prices.

It’s so nice to see an upscale local grocery that ISN’T Whole Foods doing well in it’s own right. This place is Whole Foods in many ways… minus the pricing scheme and the unmistakable air of pretense…
Particularly impressive was the grains section, which must have offered 75 different choices by the pound… Oats, Quinoa, Kasha, Spelt… dare I say, It’s more than just a «run of the mill» :).
Other highlights include good fresh produce, fine meats and cheeses, and a little coffee/​smoothie shop in the corner if you’re feeling parched.
I’m not from the area, but I sure wish I was, because I know I’d be a regular there. Is it an every-​week-​grocery-​shopping kinda place? Surely not… but at least it doesn’t break the bank like Whole Foods, and you’ll be coming home with some fresh and unique food products.
Oh, and three words: San Marzano Tomatoes. THE BEST.

The transformation did not work. Why didn’t they model off the location down in Great Barrington… now that’s a well put-​together operation.
What once was a very large produce section is now mostly gone.
What’s the reason to now go here?