Elm Health

I shop at this place at least once a week.
– great selection of health food (what I like to call «hippie snacks»)
– organic produce
– vitamins and natural body care products
– friendly, helpful staff!

Easy to connect to pharmacy staff– way better than the big box chain pharmacies. Everyone is friendly and nice. Great selection of organic products. Love it :)

Our receptionist called the pharmacy to confirm they could fill; when we double checked they said they could, when we went there they said they didn’t have it. total waste of time and poor attitude to boot

Stumbled upon this place while killing time in Chelsea and ended up leaving pleasantly surprised! I had recently spoken to my trainer about vitamin supplements — what I should be taking, what I can rely on food for, what will help with muscle recovery, etc. She gave me a few suggestions/​brand names to look out for and just a few hours later, I saw a store that seemed promising — Elm Health.
It was Memorial Day, so the store was tumbleweed empty. This worked to my benefit, because a sales associate spotted me soon after I started cluelessly scanning the rows upon rows of vitamins/​supplements/​remedies/​etc. With the little information I had from my trainer, I was able to find a women’s daily multivitamin made exclusively from food (no weird ingredients you can’t pronounce) and some magnesium concentrate oil thing (you can put it in juice/​shakes/​etc) for muscle recovery. They have whole sections for the brands that my trainer had recommended, so I’d say this place is definitely well-​stocked.
I was also happy to find that Elm Health carries a lot of items that I can typically only find at my local health food store (the Health Nut), so I did a bit of extra shopping as well. I recently made the switch from olive oil to coconut oil for cooking, which was only made possible by the impressive selection of coconut oils here. I’ve been fully satisfied with the quality/​taste so all smiles here.

This place is both a pharmacy and a natural food store; the pharmacy is based more on the European model of offering both allopathic and homeopathic medicines. At the back is a prescription center, but most of the store is devoted to both natural food and homeopathic medicines /​natural remedies.
I recall when they were located on First Avenue at 16^th street; they seemed to concentrate more on health and beauty aids – with some food items – at the time; also, they were called «Elm Drugs.» This location has a great selection and pretty good prices.
So I’ll trek over to 7^th avenue and 14^th street if there’s a product I can’t find at my local food store; this place is extremely well-​stocked. Also, as other reviewers here mentioned – it’s NOT A CHAIN. Support your local independent stores!

Useful helpful nice people. I should use it more. Great service and friendly.

This place has an extensive nut selection as well as dark chocolates (they have this amazing carob-​almond butter cup) and many other healthy snacks & foods. They also have a smoothie and juice bar

Whenever I need anything herbal/​health/​organic related I stop by this place. Staff members range from very helpful & nice to annoyingly stalking you around the store even if you frequent often.
On the plus side, they have an awesome selection of fresh fruit and a great juice bar. Nothing here is really cheap (neither in price nor quality) but when they have deals, they’re too good to miss.
Samples are usually offered and the facilities are nearly immaculate with good turn around on produce.

I have been shopping at this location for about a year now. I enjoy their selection of vegan items.
But I have to say, I’ve purchased things from here that were stale and everything is WAY overpriced! They literally charge $ 7.50 for an item that I can get at whole foods two blocks away for $ 4.39? Come on.. I guess the ridiculous prices are to make up for the lack of customers. I have been here on different days of the week and at random times and I’m almost always the only person shopping in the store.
Also, they do not honor manufacturer coupons. Yesterday I picked up about $ 60 worth of groceries and I went to check out. The cashier was friendly, she rang me up and I gave her my $ 1 off coupon for a frozen vegan entrée. She scanned it and I kid you not — the manager ran over and stopped her and yelled at her in front of everybody. They went back and forth for about 5 minutes until she eventually just backed down. He made huge scene and I could tell she was humiliated; she just kept apologizing to me. How embarrassing and unprofessional!
This store would rather lose a customer’s business over a $ 1 coupon? Nice! Needless to say, I will never be returning to this store. I will just go to whole foods or fairway where they have the same items for way less money and way less attitude.
Staff is ok, management is horrible. Check expiration dates before you check out.

Staff with great knowledge at this store, couple of times I was certainly saved by their holistic products!
Great selections of products & organic produce. Love this store :)

I have been a customer of Elm Health since week one when they handed out cloth shopping bags with their logo on them in green and yellow! I have mixed feelings about my experiences there so I give them a four star. The security guys at the door are friendly. The manager was friendly, respectful and held to the store’s policy over $ 1 coupon that the cashier neglected to deduct from my total order of @ $ 150. When i brought the coupon back in to apply to the next purchases, another @ $ 120, the manager required a receipt from the first purchase. I thought really? I am here every two weeks buying hundreds of dollars worth of food. You can’t give me credit for a one dollar? I respected her rules but it actually hurt my feelings. Ridiculous I know but it makes the difference between keeping a valued customer and following the rules.
I love the cashiers and the people behind the coffee/​smoothie counter. The guys who stock are friendly and recognize me when I shop. But after the manager refused me the respect I felt I deserved and earned, i went to Garden of Eden, Whole Foods and West Side Market for months because it felt better to stay away. But I will be back eventually after all, she was just doing her job.
All in all, I am glad the market is there and love supporting organic shops. Also the pharmacy is a huge plus. I am a medical professional so i send my clients there to purchase supplements.

Since it’s opening, I have been shopping here almost every day. The selection of dried goods is good, but much of the fresh produce is somewhat sad looking. Additionally, It is definitely overpriced and trader joe’s sells many similar products for ½ the price. Initially the prices were more reasonable, but as more customers were lured in they quickly raised them.
One majorly negative criticism I have for the store is their management. They do not favor the customer in every case. I recently brought back rancid nut butter and was told it was too bad because I didn’t have a receipt. I was also told by previous employees that they were not treated well by management. Despite the convenience to my apt, I won’t be shopping at elms health anymore.

Elm Health has the best selection of products, hands down, no question. They have stuff here that I’ve never seen in stores, ever. Like food grade hydrogen peroxide. That’s strictly Amazon territory. They even have Metagenics products which you can usually only buy through a healthcare provider. Their prices are super duper reasonable as well. They have a good selection of meat (organic, grassfed) in addition to the copious vegetables and frozen goods. Excellent beverage section as well. Honestly, I love this place. I haven’t tried the juice bar or the pharmacy, but I bet it’ll rock your taint square off. A+++ recommended.

If I could give this establishment zero stars I would. I went to the pharmacy today and brought my prescription and the pharmacist was the most unprofessional one that I have ever encountered. He took my prescription and kept touching it and checking it as if it were fake… repeatedly. Looking at me then looking back at the prescription finally I said to him this is a real prescription and he shook his head and said i do not carry this go somewhere else.
I was shocked at how unprofessional this entire ordeal was and I would also think a real pharmacy would have a substantial way of checking prescriptions other than a rude man rubbing his thumb on it and shaking his head.
I am a local and will never ever go back here. I need a pharmacy who will serve its purpose not cast guilt. They should look into hiring more professional individuals.

I love Elm drugs. They have a AWESOME pharmacy the customer service from all of them is excellent. Excellent. They have called me to tell me when my meds are ready. Who does not that? The blond lady in the pharmacy department is awesome as well as the other staff.
Now on to the negative, the following customers needs to cease! I came there one am very early and had one worker stand behind me, as I shopped. They have all the great foods I love w/​o the whole food prices, but you have to be followed around to get anything, I did purchase something that I didn’t have one item that I didn’t have enough cash for, I paid for my groceries, and to return the item became a horror show. I was told they don’t return items???. The «manager» was rude and the cashier bless her was clueless. I will continue going there for my scrips but I will go to Whole Foods, that way I won’t be followed or have a manager tell me I can’t return an item.

Wholefoods on steroids & less yuppie hype. Make sure you wander all the way to the back. You might not emerge for 2 hours but that’s ok.

I’m not a health food person, but I still love this store. I tried the Immune Zoom smoothies from the juice bar along with some strawberry Kollar Cookies (vegan with less wheat and dairy), both taste great for what they are, and I felt good indulging them, too!

Elm Health is a great alternative grocery store when I’m looking to purchase organic, vegan or health foods. It’s also where I go for my prenatal vitamins, herbal oils and smoothies or juices.
The store is kept very clean and well stocked. The produce that’s available is hit or miss (although this isn’t surprising because the same can be said for the other health food grocery store in the area, Integral Foods).
I love the juice and smoothie bar. The staff gives out samples of new juices on a regular basis, and it’s easy to watch your drink being made. The only gripe I have is that the same gloves that are used to handle the cash register, receipts, etc. are also used to handle the fruits and vegetables that are put in my drink. So while they’re definitely trying to be sanitary, there is a component that’s missing.
Obviously, you won’t get any meat products here, but anything else you could want is available: frozen foods, drinks, cereals, snacks, fruits, pastas and sauces … even products for children. They also have a natural beauty section, which I haven’t used personally, but looks really nice.
Overall, I think Elm Health is a welcomed addition to the neighborhood grocery store options, and one that you should definitely visit, even if you’re not vegan or a health food nut.

I’ve walked past this place a million times but never gave it much thought. I went in for a juice but the line was long, the produce (in the juice bar) looked slightly sad, and I wasn’t impressed with whoever was working at the juice bar.
All that said, I went in tonight (with a coupon!) and had a great experience. They offer a huge variety of vegan and organic items and while the prices are comparable to other health food stores (like Lifethyme and Earthmatters) — slightly pricey! — they had some really good deals that I was able to stock up on. I was particularly excited that they carry the large container of the (new?) almond milk yogurt — AND it was really cheap. I’ve only seen the small containers at a couple stores around the city but I hate wasting all the small cups so I prefer to buy the large tubs. Thanks!
I was also impressed with the deli. The vegan offerings (egg roll, potato knish, soy chicken nuggets) were much more interesting than I expected. I was also really glad to see they offered Vegan Diva sweet treats to mix things up a bit. I was juice fasting when I stopped in today but I will certainly be back for soy nuggets and a donut!

I’m surprised that I’m only the 2^nd person to review Elm Drugs! More people should know about this convenient, well-​stocked, and friendly neighborhood drug store/​market.
#1– Greetings at the door!
Every time I enter and exit here, I am saluted at the door. There’s a 99% chance the door will be opened for me by an Elm employee. It may feel like the twilight zone in comparison to the requisite coughs in the face at Duane Reade, but pinch me — it’s true.
#2– The most efficient Pharmacy… in all of New York?!
Alright, not quite. The pharmacy closes at 7:30 on weekdays, which stinks. BUT they fill your prescription in M-​I-​N-​U-​T-​E-​S. Minutes! 5 minutes is the longest I’ve ever waited! And, probably due to the fact that no one seems to fill their prescriptions here, they tend to have medications that are always out of stock at Duane Reade and CVS.
If you’ve been to Duane Reade’s pharmacy recently and grown tired of their slow-​as-​molasses computer «upgrade,» I’d consider switching to Elm. The pharmacy gets 5 million stars in my book.
#3– Friendly service
At the pharmacy, at the checkout counter, in the aisles… everyone is really kind. And fast. I leave feeling so much better than when I go to other drug stores.
#4– Not the place for all your groceries
Although Elm has a wicked frozen food section, this is not the place for all your daily groceries. It has more health food related, specialty products, but lacks the essentials that would make this my go-​to market. Also the produce selection is pretty small. I consider it a hybrid alternative to the local Duane Reade and Westside Market (grocery store).