| Not Rice-a-Roni |
It’s Rainbow Grocery. The greenest and greatest grocery and general store in Northern California, if not the entire galaxy. Its solar-powered location in SOMA (South of Market), in the shadow of the 101 freeway overpass, sure ain’t glitzy. There’s always a homeless guy peddling the Street Sheet (a newspaper put out by the homeless) out front. But we’re tellin’ ya, this place should be a Top 10 destination for every green traveler to the Bay Area.
You may think you have a decent natural foods store where you live, but you haven’t been to Rainbow. Where else can you buy organic natto miso? Thirty types of flour? A legion of herbs and teas? All in bulk. Literally hundreds of items are sold this way. Bring your own recycled container for a bulk purchase and get a 5-cent credit. Other stand-outs: fresh organic produce sourced by farm, the overwhelming selection of nutritional supplements and beauty products (ask the knowledgeable workers), the excellent cheese selection, and the food and health books, the eco-friendly stuff for kitchen and home.
Organic bananas? Of course!
No greenwashing here. Every item on the shelves is carefully screened. You won’t find meat here, either, though not everyone who works at Rainbow is vegetarian or vegan. But that’s how the store started out (in 1975), and it hasn’t wavered. It did add beer and wine a few years back. And if you buy organic eggs, you can consult the chart that tells you as many things about the chickens that laid them as a listing in Who’s Who.
Rainbow always has a float in the city’s Gay Pride parade and a booth at the Green Festival. Among its official holidays are International Workers’, Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez Days. Did we mention that the store is owned by its staff—one of the most interesting cross-sections of SF types you will find anywhere? We could go on, but this sums up best…
The Rainbow Mission
Buying goods from local organic farmers, collectives, bakers, dairies and other local businesses whenever possible
Providing our customers with the best possible service
Providing Rainbow Grocery Cooperative’s workers with a livable wage
Creating a nonhierarchical work space based upon respect, mutuality and cooperation
Offering low-cost health care products and resources
Supporting other collectives and worker-owned businesses
Supporting fair labor practices
Donating to local nonprofit organizations and schools
Encouraging bicycling, mass transit and alternative transportation
Composting all in-store green wastes; recycling, reducing and reusing resources whenever possible
Creating a diverse, non-discriminatory multi-lingual environment
In a world of cookie-cutter chain stores and soulless malls, Rainbow shines. Final tips: 1) If you’re 60 or older, ask for your 10% discount. 2) No one in San Francisco eats Rice-a-Roni, and they definitely don’t sell it at Rainbow.
