Paradiset

After hearing so much talk about Paradiset I was going there with high expectations and that was perhaps part of the problem. When I was outside the store my first reaction was that it looks and feels like an old Coop store. That is perhaps not all bad but it did not excite me much. Right at the entrance of the store is a nice looking vegetable and fruit section but I was a bit surprised to see that not everything was ecological and when looking at the selection I right away noticed that both the selection and the prices were not at all as good as my local store (that is of course one of the best in Stockholm, Ica Liljeholmen).
When I continued to browse around in the store it felt more and more as if this is about trying to show a nice surface — trying to get the hipster in the area to believe that all things in the store are ecological when in reality that is not the case. While the store is not bad the selection is surprisingly limited and I would have expected a lot more. I have seen the comparisons to Whole Foods and I can see that it has been an inspiration but this is a very pale copy of it.
There is a food court upstairs that serve some burgers, pizzas, ice cream and salads. Pretty decent food, the burger was not bad just overpriced for what it is (95 SEK for just a burger and some crisps is a bit too much). I would have hoped that they would have gone for some better quality food and really some better ice cream (I struggle to see the greatness of Stikki as their ice cream is usually way too sweet and also lacks the proper ice cream texture).
I do still however think that they are better than the average grocery store and hopefully they are looking to continue to improve things.

Wonderful Eco/​Organic store with a great Food Court upstairs. The food is beautifully displayed, and almost everything is organic. If you like Whole Foods, you will love this place. I can really recommend the salads from the food court. I had a salad with salmon and different types of toppings and it was 115 sek. A bit expensive, but really worth it.
I value safe and convenient bike parking very high when shopping groceries, but there is none of that here.

I gave this place four stars because I love that another eco and organic grocery store has finally opened in Stockholm! There are a few brands here that I hadn’t seen in Sweden before, which is nice! I especially like that they carry a lot of unique items like wheatgrass presses (and the grass), Ball mason jars and cool new spices from the Cool Chili Co (excited to try them!) However, most of the brands I saw elsewhere in the store I’ve already become pretty familiar with. I buy them regularly at the places I already shop at – ICA Kvantum in Liljeholmen and The Good Store in Hornstull.
I have to say that I was expecting a little more of this place because of all the hype surrounding it (thus, only four stars). Is it a Whole Foods? No. It definitely isn’t! A mini Swedish-​style inspired one? Yes, and thats just fine. Only one negative I can think about in regards to this place would be that It’s not the best at carrying special dietary need items. I think my neighborhood ICA and The Good Store have a lot more variation when it comes to the gluten free, lactose free, heath food and vegan products. However, I do think this place is a really great start towards making the grocery stores in Stockholm better. We, Stockholmers need more places that offer a luxurious and eco-​conscious experience – than the current «cheap and dirty» one (i’m looking at you Willys, Coop, ICA and Lidl!). So, I really have to applaud it! If I didn’t live right next to the best grocery store in Stockholm, I would probably come here all the time! I think for now I’ll probably just check in once in a while to see if it has new fun things in stock! If your in the area, I would definitely recommend coming here first before trying any of the neighborhood ICAs or Coops (with the exception of the ICA Kvantum in Liljeholmen, of course!)
Cool stuff to check out while your here:
–the fill-​your-​own olive oil section
–the grain and bean dispenser wall
–the grind-​your-​own nut butter area
–the fresh organic bakery upstairs
–the restaurant upstairs

tl;dr — 1^st & only Stockholm organic eco grocery store (I think). It’s essentially a Whole Foods rip-​off but that’s not a bad thing!
I was expecting this place to be expensive as [expletive deleted] but it’s not that bad. It’s on the expensive end, yes, but ok enough to warrant coming here every now and then. The prices span from inner city Stockholm grocery store prices (which is expensive of course) to far on the expensive end for what I presume is hard to find eco stuff. Chicken breast file for example was super expensive and only available in one brand. It’s one of my food pillars so City Gross will keep being my main supplier for that and numerous other things that were too expensive or hard to find at this eco store.
The venue is nice and clean spanning 2 floors. Staff was friendly & pretty much everyone greeted me with a smile. The place had a mixed bunch of visitors as well — not just weird hippies and hipsters which I would’ve guessed. Need to work on my prejudices I think.
I also had a take away salad from the upstairs food court, which by the way is something I need to try soon as they have eco beers and burgers and whatnot. The salad, with a mixed base, beef and mixed seeds, nuts, berries topping was amazing! Lot of food, healthy and just the type of salad I dig 100%. It’ll run you 115: — which definitely is on the steep end. If they’d lower the price to 100 I’d be prepared to give it a tie with For Friends for Sweden’s best lunch salad.
I see it’s raining 5s over this place. It’s not a 5 in my opinion, but a well welcome addition to Stockholm’s sparse food fauna that I think people crave and thus rate it higher as it’s unique. On a 10 scale, which would be perfect now, it’s a solid 8, or 8.5 which is really, really good. I’m gonna give it a 4 here and it’s definitely a strong one. For the 5 star rating it needs to be a bit cheaper so anyone, not just the more well off, can go here for day to day shopping and the selection could also be a bit better as noted above.

One visit and I’m hooked. The first store in Sweden that could be compared to Whole Foods. All sustainable goods and simply a really nice store with great service. Haven’t tried their food court upstairs, but will definitely give it a go next time. There’s a new era coming, people — so get onboard now or stick to your sinful lives filled with mcnuggets and other processed evils. This is my new church and I’ll spread the good word about the good food. Preach!