Whole Foods is a health-food store where you can buy natural products that aren’t available elsewhere. It’s also known for having high prices. But does it provide financial services as well? Several of the supermarkets in my area sell money orders, cash checks, and provide other banking services. So I decided to see if this health-food store provided any financial services. It doesn’t look like Whole Foods provides any financial services but here are the categories I checked and some alternative options.
Does Whole Foods Cash Checks?
Whole Foods doesn’t cash checks. If you’re looking for an alternative, you can cash checks at Ralphs and Albertsons and these stores also sell some organic and natural foods. Discount grocery stores also offer check-cashing services but many of them don’t stock much health food so they’re not really good alternatives here.
Does Whole Foods Sell Money Orders?
Whole Foods doesn’t sell money orders and it doesn’t cash them either. It’s rare for grocery stores to cash money orders but several stores sell them at their Western Union desks up front. Again, if you’re looking for an alternative in this category you’ll probably want to buy money orders at traditional grocery stores that stock some health food in addition to their other products. These stores include Ralphs and Vons.
Can You Send or Receive Money at Whole Foods?
You can’t send money transfers or receive them at Whole Foods. You can’t send remittances there either. While several grocery stores have partnerships with financial services companies like Western Union and RIA that offer these services, health-food stores typically don’t have these partnerships. Ralphs is also a good alternative in this category because it has partnerships with both of these firms.
Can You Reload Prepaid Cards at Whole Foods?
You can reload Whole Foods’ branded gift cards but this store might not offer reloading services for other prepaid debit cards. I didn’t see any of its locations on the store locator maps for prepaid cards like Green Dot. Again, this service typically isn’t available at health-food stores but is frequently available at traditional supermarkets as well as convenience stores and discount stores. Many stores will only allow you to reload prepaid cards with cash.
Can You Pay Your Utility Bills at Whole Foods?
Whole Foods doesn’t offer bill payment services either so you can’t visit its stores to pay your electricity bill or your rent. Some grocery stores have partnerships with the bill payment app PayNearMe and support this service, and it’s also available at stores that have Western Union service desks. One alternative in this category is Stater Bros. You can also pay your bills at the service desks in the front of Ralphs and Albertsons stores.
What Are Whole Foods Alternatives That Provide Financial Services?
Albertsons operates customer-service desks that provide financial services at its stores. It also sells some health food and may stock more of it at stores in high-income areas such as Santa Barbara.
Ralphs is another traditional grocery store that offers services such as money transfers and prepaid card reloads at its customer-service desks. In some neighborhoods it also has Fresh Fare stores that stock more health food than its standard supermarkets.
Vons is an Albertsons family supermarket that also provides financial services at its in-store customer service desks. It also sells some health food but it doesn’t stock as much as Whole Foods does.
Conclusion
Whole Foods doesn’t provide financial services so you can’t use its stores as alternatives to banks. That’s not surprising, though, because it’s a premium health-food store so it’s highly likely that its customers have bank accounts that they can access at local bank branches and don’t need to visit a supermarket to access financial services. If you’re looking for a place where you can buy health food and get some banking tasks done, large traditional supermarkets may be the best option, although they have limited product selection in comparison with this specialized grocer.