Eating

Edge of the Woods

379 Whalley Ave.
New Haven, CT
(203) 787-1055

Budget extra time if you're grocery shopping at Edge of the Woods. You'll probably see a bunch of people you know and get distracted by the bee hive upstairs, the juice bar in back, or the vegan and kosher delicacies on display in the bakery case. Edge of the Woods draws customers from all over the area, making it an ethnically-mixed and culturally organic shopping experience. "Peter Dodge, the owner, has been in business for a long time," says store manager Guldeniz Dodge. "You can go in and see the owner. It's not like a CEO."

For a small store, Edge of the Woods really packs in the healthyliciousness, with vitamins and elixirs upstairs, a huge array of organic and hard-to-find items downstairs and one of the best reduced-price, dented-but-not-damaged racks anywhere. And where else are you going to find Acai berry concentrate, thought to fight cancer, or farro wheat (also known as emmer wheat), an ancient strain from Eastern Europe? Look soon for an Edge of the Woods TV commercial featuring a guy in a bear suit wandering the aisles asking store staff for help. The message: "Bears are more aware of conscious foods and eating healthy," store manager Nathan Dodge jokes.