5 Grocery Stores I Would Love to See in Yakima in 2025

One thing I never considered much when I travel to other towns are the other grocery stores that other people have in their neighborhoods.

Here in Yakima we have a few like Safeway, Wray's, Rosauers, and I suppose you could add Walmart and Target to those lists as well. Even Fiesta Foods where I could even see people traveling for many miles just to visit as they have a selection of items you won't find in other stores.

If you've been to bigger areas like Seattle or Portland or traveled to another town in another state and saw other grocery stores that aren't like what you're used to, but still basically the same on the inside, you know what I mean. It's just fun to shop at a place like Yoke's which has locations in Tri-Cities but not Yakima.

Here are 5 stores I'd love to see open up in Yakima. Again, not that they're really needed here in town, but would be fun to see.

Trader Joe's

Of course Trader Joe's is at the top of this list. These are never the largest stores on purpose. Meant to give you that home-town shopping feel where almost everything in-store is from the Trader Joe's brand. They have fresh fruit, a great cheese selection, and a wonderful snacks selection I don't find in most stores. Whenever I'm near a Trader Joe's I try to stop in to grab a few things I can't find in town.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods wouldn't be the type of place I'd visit often, but I might find myself there about once a month as needed. If you've never been, Whole Foods is like that aisle or two of your local grocery store that has the organic 'better-for-you' section, but it's the entire store. You won't find Hershey's candy bars or Kellogg's breakfast cereals at a place like this.

Aldi

Aldi is like a little touch of of the UK right here in the US. Aldi stores are unique where you have to use a 25 cent deposit to use a cart (which you get back), the cashiers are welcome to sit in chairs making their job more comfortable, and it's just a fun experience. They have items at Aldi stores you may not find in other stores as well. I'd love to see an Aldi come to Yakima or anywhere in Washington, really. They do have several locations across the United States including New Jersey and St. Louis.

Amazon Fresh

Amazon Fresh is a store like no other. With your Amazon account, it tracks you as you shop. You literally just grab items off the shelf and walk out the door and it knows what you grabbed and pays automatically when you leave. Your shopping cart is has the technology to scan items and look up items like as if each cart had a built-in iPad or something. It's nifty.

H-E-B

I was first clued into the wonder that is H-E-B when I was in Houston, TX. I was plesently surprised to find out they have their own breakfast cereal. That's not uncommon, many stores have their own 'local brand' of popular cereals, but they also had cereal that other companies weren't making like Horchata Crispies (think cocoa pebbles, but horchata-flavored) and cereal like Tres Leches Flakes which is also wonderful. It's unlikely they'd open a store in the Pacific Northwest but I can dream.