Good Earth gets 2 stars from me just for not being Whole Foods. Most Bay Area small towns lost their old health foods stores with the advent of the Whole Foods monopoly and it's great to see this store hanging in there and so widely supported by locals. Good Earth gets an additional 2 stars from me for their organics and healthy basic groceries. Their produce section with its emphasis on the exact number of miles it takes to bring the produce to you should serve as a model for other stores (are you listening, Whole Foods). The bulk section gets a big thumbs up, too. If you eat organically, are vegan/vegetarian or just natural-minded, you will find something to eat here, for sure. On the downside, the 'scene' here isn't very appetizing. Fairfax is known for its alternative lifestyle component and that's great, but the truth is, some of the employees and many of the customers look dirty and ragged. If this is a lifestyle choice (rather than a condition of poverty), I ...

one of my favorite places in the world... THE best salad / food bar i have found, bar none it is well thought out and well cared for. GE is a great community hangout as well as offering some of the best LOCAL organic produce, groceries, herbs, vitamins and supplements. i get a little nervous telling people how wonderful it is, it's already so busy... i'm afraid i won't be able to find a place on the bench to sit down and enjoy my delicious lunch.‎

They have a great variety of natural foods and products, some that you can't find anywhere else. And they bake their own bread! My favorite is the spelt bread. Their food bar is also wonderful....delicious wholesome oatmeal with ...

Good Earth Buys and sells some of the best food available anywhere. The original owners are more than fully comitted to organics; they have been instrumental in writing national and international organic standards. In this regard, they are unsurpassed. Anyone who eats organics owes them a debt of gratitude for their efforts.

Unfortunatley, their comittment to the human aspect of the equation is deficient. The management structure is virtually all white, all male ( it's Marin, what do you expect). Beyond numbers, the management culture is patriarchal. While they do give back "10%" of the "profits" to employess, that's about where the good will ends. Exploitive labor practices in the kitchen, uderpayed, latino men and women. generally, they treat what could be their greatest asset-their employees....poorly.
This place is a throw back to the 60's......the 60's stuff we can all do without. These guys don't get it that without human liberation the organic movement is greatly diminished.

Dear Customers of Good Earth,

As a former employee of Good Earth (I left on my own volition), I would like to inform you of the real Good Earth, the one you just can't seem to see.
Although Good Earth is passionate about the environment, they do not seem to realize that the treatment of people equally has to be humane.
Not only has Good Earth over the past few years hired illegal immigrants with the intentions of paying them lower than "white man" wages but they have routinely fired each round of them to hire more at a new low first hire cost. How many old faces do you see when you walk through Good Earth? How about that friendly Mexican dude, is his still there? How much are they paying him? Would he go to the police if they treated him with prejudice or just flat out wrongfully let him go. Would Fairfax even notice?
Although many of the "Fairfaxians" are health conscious, environmentally conscious and extremely well educated individuals, Good Earth has been continuing to shock me as far as human relations within the store.
They have an extreme turn over rate, resulting in food safety violations due to new under-trained employee's. The owners make a huge amount of money and give 10% of the profits to the employee's, which is sweet but you have to have been working at the store for a year and only their buddies stay that long.
Most employees, if you take the time to ask them yourselves, will have a very dim look on the store, a place they only work at because there is simply no other alternative.
Good earth keeps their cost of employees low because they keep firing them and hiring new ones. Its pretty sad and it is an untold story because most of the victims are illegal immigrants the store willingly hires, who are afraid to fight bac