The Nature Stop

Can’t get more neighborhood and local than this shop! They have all the vitamins and supplements behind the register counter and are eager to help. For being a small shop, they sure know how to layout the store well and have ample supplies in the grocery, wine, and organic veggies/​fruits areas. I also enjoyed the fact that they have oddball items I was looking for (like cider vinegar pills and quinoa pasta). The prices are not bad for an organic and natural store — and now that I know they are there, I will try to support them on a regular basis as it’s just a short walk if you live in North Beach!

The Nature Stop has been doing a North Beach body good for 3 decades.
If it weren’t for TNS, the ratio between healthy versus unhealthy would be even more pronounced in this neighborhood. Do you know how many bars & restaurants there are in NB? We really need the balance of a completely health conscious establishment to counteract all the surrounding debauchery.
We owe you NS.
There’s a full juice bar to get our wheat grass concoction du jour on. I don’t do it so much anymore, but if I do, I like to order a grasshopper. ²⁄₃ carrot juice, ¹⁄₃ apples, a bit of beet, a squeeze of lemon, & a shot of wheatgrass. I can’t stand the taste of wheatgrass on its own. The carrot & apple juices balance out the bitterness. Trust.
It’s a small shop, so the selection reflects that. It is not a full service grocery store, & it’s not supposed to be. So if that’s what you need, you’ll obviously be dissatisfied here. But they carry all the staples, complete w the bins of nuts & healthy treats along the back wall. When you’re stocking up on almonds & cashews, grab some malt balls, too. Balance.
The veggie sandwich is good, but the deli hours can vary. So if you’re hoping to order a sammie, you might want to call first.
I’ve been in the neighborhood for over 20 years. The owners & the staff have never been rude to me, & I’ve never witnessed them being rude to anyone else. And Charles is a total gem.
A friendly, neighborhood, natural foods store.
4 stars.

The owners are rude and have bad customer service; I am neighbor with the store, and as much as I like to give my business to small retailers, they don’t deserve it.
I had an incident where i bought a yogurt and it turned out to be open. Nader, one of the owners, argued with me that I probably opened it without noticing. I then tried to exchange it and then he was very suspicious that I was trying to get it exchanged for another type of yogurt. It was awkward! I ended up paying for both, and he gladly took the money and never mentioned it again.

The only health food store in North Beach. I love the owner he is a sweetheart. I hope Charles is still there.

They make a really nice effort to get the best quality produce and it’s always fresh. But the staff are so unpleasant, I just can’t continue to try to make the effort to keep small business alive. I’d rather go to Safeway where the quality is not as good, but at least the staff, many of whom are disabled, make an effort to be polite and offer good customer service. I won’t go back, that was the last time I will put myself through such rudeness.

This place is a serious rip-​off. The owner loves taking advantage of people, especially locals. Please take the extra time and effort to shop elsewhere.

Overpriced. Rude. For what they charge, the staff acts as if they work in a Kwik-​E-​Mart with dirty bathrooms off the I-​5. What the staff and the owners need to understand is that the organic and natural product and food business entails more than just stocking your store with goods and charging outrageous prices for them; I don’t think this business is in it for the better good of us all, they’re just in it to line their pockets and thank you there’s the door. I imagine they stock their store not by what is necessarily healthy and wise, rather, «how much can I profit from this.» Better to buy from a business that has heart and understanding behind the façade.

I’ve been shopping at this place for 10 years. It’s friendly and the staff know the answer to pretty much any nutrition question which makes it a nice place to pick something up and chat for a minute about health food. They claim to have awesome produce, although I honestly only pick up a few odd items here, mostly soap and valerian. They have killer yogurt and other items like coconut coffee drinks, etc.

I can’t speak to their vitamins made out of all-​natural rocks, or Sea Lion-​free soaps, or most of the other products I would consider in the «hippie snake oil» category.
However, what The Nature Shop has in the food department, I consider pretty valuable. Gluten-​free pasta without corn in it, a serious selection of good wines, and an interesting, if unresponsive cheese selection. Unresponsive in that we asked the owner if he could check out a cheese we like from the same manufacturer he was already buying from, and he never came through for us – our cheese never materialized.
That said, given the extremely limited number of grocery stores in North Beach/​Northern Russian Hill/​Telegraph Hill (a great meat market, some awesome Chinese fish places if you walk a bit, and… one of the worst Safeways I’ve ever shopped at), I think there’s a good niche here for The Nature Shop.
I’ll still be coming to them for food I can’t get elsewhere until someone realizes there’s a huge gap in the market here. Basically, The Nature Shop benefits from a lack of competition with the nearest Whole Foods being outside of walking distance, and the similar shop on Polk St. carrying different items (and also being further away).
My guess is that I’d reduce my rating if I had more options, again, due to price, strange selection (bodega-​type stuff mixed in with health food and fine wine), and unresponsiveness to customers.
But, since they’re the only shop in town? A-​OK seems about right to me.

Not only is this place extremely overpriced, but they have some of the rudest people I have ever met working there. Every time I have come here everyone has always been very unfriendly and cold. Go somewhere else.

Took me long enough, but I finally cannot take this place any more! I have been coming here for years, and hating it EVERY time, without fail. It is close to where I live, and one of the few places to buy healthy items in my area. But, forget that, I’m done. I will take the extra time/​effort to get in my car, and drive to Whole Foods, parking lot and all.
Things are way over priced, EXPIRED, and stale. And to top it off, the staff is extremely unfriendly, almost alien-like…especially the older gray haired man. Nanu Nanu, I’ll be shopping elsewhere.

I’m torn on this review. I feel like I should give it more stars bc I go here at least twice a week, and I’m not sure what I’d do without it in the neighborhood. But also feel like it deserves fewer stars for the prices, selection, and quality… so I will average out at 3. It’s really nice to have an organic market in the neighborhood, and they carry a good selection of produce, wine, canned goods and other non-​perishables, juices, and snacks (and Casa Sanchez salsa!). I can always find the ingredients I need for a good vegetarian dinner.
My gripes: many items are expired (check the labels!), bulk items can be stale, produce is often past its prime, very few meat options (ground beef, chicken breast, packaged sausage, and a few cured meats on a good day), poor cheese selection, rarely have fresh bread, and prices are higher than Whole Foods. That said, I can deal with most of these shortcomings, as I’ve learned what to buy and not buy here (don’t bother with meat, and go down the street to Little Vine for cheese and French Italian Bakery for bread). I’ll continue to use it to supplement my regular grocery shopping and for those last-​minute items that I prefer to buy organic.

I’ve lived and worked in the neighborhood for almost 20 years. While The Nature Stop stocks a decent selection of produce, it has never been my go-​to grocery store because of the high prices and limited selection of shelf items. With this in mind like most locals I don’t mind paying the price at times to stop in making the rounds in the neighborhood to pick up a few things.
My wife and I love to support local businesses in North Beach where in recent months we’ve probably dined over a dozen times like we did today at Pistos, a couple of doors down. After lunch we thought we’d pick up some groceries for dinner and the rest of the week. After bagging my own purchase and walking out the door I turned around to hear some shouting. My wife thought it would be fun to take a photo of their sandwich board. You know, something to share with friends, like «hey look at this great place to eat» — status check in or… share on Unilocal.No big deal. Accept it was. Some little man ran out and was barking at her in front of the entire store for «illegally taking a picture». It was quite embarrassing. She said I’m sorry and diffused the situation by saying she meant no harm and just wanted to share the photo… maybe give them some free advertising. He said nothing, just turned and walked away in a huff to which I shouted back at him «we’ll be taking our business elsewhere in the future».
And that’s the truth. Small grocery stores in the area like RJs and Real Foods are far better choices and treat customers with appreciation. Not like annoying tourists.
The photo of the sandwich menu was deleted. Not shared here or on Facebook or with anyone. Because that would be «illegal». Like the few posted for this store’s profile and about a million more for others on Unilocal.Geez. Get some manners and learn how to show some love for your neighbors.

Small selection, high prices. Thus, a quintessential «convenience» store.
I’ve been in here 3 times, and each time the man at the counter hasn’t been friendly. I’ve seen him chit-​chatting with other customers, so maybe it’s a nice-​to-​regulars sort of thing. I’m in the area a lot just because I like North Beach, and for long days in the City I always run out of snacks and want to pick up fruits, veggies, and supplement bars. None of the veggies are snack-​ready (I need a bag of baby carrots, not a head of cauliflower), the supplement bars are priced higher than anywhere else I’ve seen, and I bought an individual string cheese that specifically had a label reading «not for individual sale.»
I also made the mistake of clicking for more details when I saw how low the health score rating was here on Unilocal.Ewwww.. .. In the store’s defense, it all looks well-​organized and well-​stocked in that bins are full and items aren’t misplaced.
However, I think my attempts to snack something healthy in North Beach are coming to an end, and from now on I’ll just have some ginger gelato (from Gelato Classico Italian – still dreaming about this flavor) and call it a day.

The Nature Shop sells many things organic:
–vitamins
–baby products
–foodstuffs: fresh, frozen, canned
–juices, kombucha
–wine also…
drink: Alone «enrich» (1.99)
–interesting combination of pomegrante and cranberry, tart
–some aloe vera pulp and cane sugar added
–all natural, 3ish stars
notes:
–parking may be difficult
–good for the neighborhood, north beach. thus 4 stars
–lots of variety

Time: 2:35pm
Purpose: Wanted a quick healthy bite on this 3^rd day of summer as it was cold and a bit breezy today.
Ambiance: Has a feel of a store being out in a wild West film setting. Can’t get any healthy in north beach area as you’re surrounded by many Italian restaurants.
Staff: Very helpful and friendly by the looks I can tell that they don’t want to be bother that much and keeps to themselves. I’m okay with that as long as I get treated like a customer.
Cleanliness: In this category we might have a problem. Some of them salad bar items looks like a 25mph mini tornado hit it. Items from one tub toss on to others. The bottles of dressing seems like the tips hasn’t been wipe awhile. Some alfalfa sprouts were turning coffee brownish color. I won’t hold that against them as it was the weekend.
Eats: I got me a salad consist of baby greens, cherry tomatoes, crumble hard boil egg, carrots, soy beans, olives, baby corn, spinach leafs, beets sprinkle with sunflower seeds and raspberry vinaigrette dressing sparkling mineral water to wash it down. Salad was fresh as the crispiness of veggies snapping in your mouth echo’s through your jaws jawline munch, munch, munch. I can’t complain about my salad due to the fact that I made it myself.
Products: They carry most of the well known organic lable items. I won’t say a full line compare to other larger stores but enough to get you by til you can make it to a regular store. They carry fresh fruits and veggies, energy bars, smoothie drinks, raw vegan, gluten free items, elixirs… things of that nature. They also have a counter to your right prior to walking in and it’s mainly for freshly made sandwich’s, juice and smoothies.
Expectations: Again don’t expect them to carry everything that you want it’s just a store to get your basic items for the time being. Just be glad a store like this is in your neighborhood, otherwise you will have to walk through Broadway tunnel and head towards Real Foods.
Final thoughts: I like this store it really makes a person who you are is base on what you eat. I totally feel and see that different clientele enters this kind of shop. The kind of people that do comes in are like after their workouts girls in spandex carrying yoga mats and water bottles. That’s enough for anyone to see if they can change for the better. Parking is kind of tough as it’s a one way street then sometimes you get these clueless drivers double parking just to drop off clothes to cleaners.

Best value wine selection in SF. Owner knows exactly what I like, what I’m willing to spend and keeps me supplied with yummy, drinkable wines for under $ 10/​bottle.
They have a good selection of SunRidge Farms nuts, chocolate covered nuts and dried fruit. Good yogurt and chocolate selection.
Great place to send out of towners for sandwiches, smoothies and a salad bar (stuff we make at home or we would come here for them.)

No, you don’t come here for their customer service. But if you live in the neighborhood, you come here for the convenience. Need that last minute kale or spinach for a salad? They have it! Friend is coming over and you ran out of wine? They have a decent selection. In the mood for some gluten-​free pasta? You got it! Fancy some cheese, or polenta, or organic chocolate? You can get it here.
Although I do my weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, for whatever reason I find myself every now and then here either because I forgot something or really just browsing with a yoga friend after class. In those crazy weeks where I cannot do any real grocery shopping, I like to know that Nature Stop is right there to save the day.

This is one of the saving graces of this section of North Beach. With all the shitty strip clubs (and the even worse people they attract), tourists, and over-​priced italian food, the Nature Stop is a cool, locally-​owned shop. It’s great for quick meals, treats, produce, vitamins, healthy and body goods and more.
One of my favorite parts of their store is the little deli/​smoothie bar on the right as you first come in. Here you can get delicious tofu and falafel sandwiches for some very reasonable prices (I think $ 4 or $ 5.) They also have a wide variety of smoothies that can be freshly made, as well as the wonderful smoothie of the day for only $ 2.50. Even the salad bar next to it is always well-​stocked and decently priced as far as I can remember.
If you’re vegan, make sure to check out the Monster Cookies and Muffins right in front of the registers. Alternative Baking Company cookies use to by my jam when it came to store bought vegan cookies. But now I’m addicted to these Monster ones (made in San Rafael.) Instead of using cane sugar they are sweetened with fruit juice, and I believe most of them are gluten-​free but I could be wrong.
I wouldn’t do a ton of grocery shopping here because it’s definitely not going to be trader joe’s priced but if you’re nearby and need something quick, you gotta check it out.

This place is great! I might have just discovered my new favorite salad bar.
Picture this: dolmas, chickpea salad, delicious beets, avocado, peppers, jalapenos, carrots, olives, tomatoes, and more! And it’s just $ 4.99 per pound!
I spend $ 2.74 this morning for tons of beets (I’m obsessed), two dolmas (really good), a little bit of chick pea salad, and some avocado for our omelette. Awesome!
They also have sandwiches, smoothies, and tons of groceries.