The other day I was looking into specialty food stores around Amman to see if I could pick-up some harder to find items and I came across Select Foods Shoppe and decided to check it out.
Their Goal
Select Foods Shoppe, located at 7th Circle, “aims to be the pioneer outlet in Jordan to provide customers with a new taste of selected food choices with best value for money.” Sounds like a pretty good aim to me and with approaching 100k followers on Facebook, they must be doing something right.
The Shoppe
When I first walked up to Select Foods, it reminded me of a gourmet small-town grocer, with airs of Whole Foods (maybe it’s the green and white logo?) and Trader Joe’s, two big gourmet grocery chains in the US. The shoppe is spread across one floor, and despite its relatively small size, I found that it carries A LOT of products and variety.
Their Products
One of the first things I spotted when I walked in were Pop Tarts, a very American product, and upon exploring more, I saw many brands that I recognized from back home.
If you’re looking for a hard to find product I am quite sure that you can find it at Select Foods, and if you can’t find it, write them a message on their Facebook page and suggest it! I had been writing back and forth via Facebook with their Co-founder and Bus Dev Manager, Laith Al-Faraj, and he was extremely helpful and open to feedback.
Another big part of their store is the deli, which as a vegan doesn’t exactly cater to my needs, but they do offer vegan cheese and to the left of the deli you can find non-dairy ice cream. In general, they have a good selection of vegan-friendly products in the store at a reasonable price. They also have a special collection of Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free products.
Their Service
I’m a stickler for good customer service and I was extremely pleased with how nice the shop attendants were. For example, at check-out, I refused a plastic bag, because, yes, I’m one of those recycle-freak environmentalists whose first words in Arabic were ma beddi kees (I don’t want a bag). Even though I could carry the products on my own without a bag, the cashier insisted that they bring my purchases to the car for me. A very kind gesture. They also surprised me when I had a bit of bad luck buying a carton of rice milk that the screw top had broken-off of. They immediately offered to not only fully refund me, but to also give me 4 more at no cost.
The verdict
I definitely recommend Select Foods Shoppe if you are looking for a different sort of offering on products from all around the world.
Visit them and check them out for yourself…
Location: 7th Circle, near Royal Jordanian City Terminal, Sami Khawaja Building
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