I feel I must begin by stating that I am not an air conditioning unit (huge fan) of health food…read moreshops at all. For me frequenters of such businesses are in the main middle-aged mums and their now-teenage daughters (they also have new daughters) in the desperate task of defining their identity by being part of a trendy culture under the guise of doing something worthwhile. Having got that off my chest, let me go on to pass more neutral unbiased comments upon this health food shop in the heart of Didsbury, just off the main road. If it's a health food shop you're after, then this one is excellent. All your organic health food bars, juice drinks and fennel toothpastes are available here, as well as huge selection of those vitamin things and essential oils and the like. The food is pretty tasty, and well, it looks really healthy. If you want to aviod the evils of gluten, wheat and fat, then this is the place for you. Basically I'm not the perfect person to review this health food shop, as I like kebabs and chips, but I think even my untrained eyes can see that if health food is your thing, then this place will be a bit of a heaven. So, a slightly begrudging four stars it is awarded.

Have just returned from a most interesting evening at Healthy Spirit. First there was a delightful…read morevegetarian meal. Then we had two talks about useful food supplements. Hopefully taking one of them throughout the winter will stop me getting viruses like I did last winter. There were quite a number of people there and a real buzz of enjoyment and interest. I think that we are very lucky to have such a resource in our neighbourhood.

I used to visit this health store years ago, and something contrary happened. I was a vegetarian…read morefor around 10 years and often bought items from this shop on Wilmslow Road. However, I was struck by the sheer miserableness of the staff here in contrast to the happy, warm butchers just a few shops down (further enough away so the aroma of meat didn't 'pollute' the soya products et al). This differences in attitude helped me manoeuvre back to a full on carnivorous diet I so clearly craved. I respect the vegetarian diet and learned a great deal from my decade in 'soyatude'; in fact to this day I'll often switch to a vege diet (falafel and hummus is still one of my favourite snack combinations full stop). This health store today however is a much happier place. The staff go out their way to help as all successful shops do. My missus went to buy some jewellery from there last week, but unfortunately the buyer was, well, buying in India. There's such a diverse range of goods in there you struggle to understand how they fit it all in such a small footprint. In the current climate these stores should start picking up a load of business. Unicorn in Chorlton has never been as busier. Withington Health Foods, although not really the same scale enterprise certainly delivers on price. They gave me a top tip of the week a few days back: instead of buying a £1.50 (ish) packets of beans (for sprouting) from Unicorn (small handful at best) then here they sell dried beans which yield (when soaked overnight) a tenfold increase on the pre packeted variety as sold at Unicornand all for about 60p (I estimate this would cost £10-£15 for the relative amount at the Chorlton store). Get bean sprouting folksit's the future and it's really easy to do.

his is an expensive whop, bu does what it says on the ti. Sells healty food. However, if i was to…read moreend up like the staff that work there after eating the overpriced glorified fruit and veg, then i would turn to the aitkins diet and just eat meat!

So glad I discovered 8th day during my last trip to Manchester. It's a co-op grocery store on the…read moreground level with a restaurant underneath. It feels like an old school natural shop in the best possible way. The food in the cafeteria below was amazing--such a homemade like quality to it and the desserts were rich and flavorful. The staff was also helpful and patient with confused ordering. Upstairs, their grocery store has all the essential goods. More importantly, they have deli style cases full of vegan savory pastries and sweets! My partner and I took home an almond croissant, donut, and sausage roll and it was all brilliant.

Thank you Rob for delicious coffee and friendly welcome Downstairs cafe is clean and breakfast…read morewas tasty. Excellent service and prices

Well, it's only fair to give this place a little analysis since I mentioned it while looking at…read moreGNC. This is definitely more within my comfort zone, although some of the supplements rub me up the wrong way ethically when they involve shark cartilage or what-not. However I've never been one for imbibing strange substances and am more than happy to stick to my vegetarian pork pies and flavoured health nuts. There are some sporty powders incorporated in the selection at this Deansgate offering, alongside stuff I'm totally clueless about like the equivalent of Gillian McKeith's ultimately useless yet hilariously titled Horny Goatweed. Do you know, I can't stand her to the extent that in Home Bargain there was some nice-looking cereal at 99p but I refused to buy it because her smirking face was on it. How on earth could I wake up to that every day? Back to H&B, as you can tell I'm selective about what I purchase here. I'm more interested in the health foods than the capsules, things I haven't tried cooking with like quinoa which is meant to be so healthy you actually develop a halo. Also the gargantuan bags of banana chips, dried fruit and nuts are great for stocking up on to add to puddings and porridges. Definitely one for the odd perusal, but you shouldn't live your life in here. I refuse to believe anyone who prefers carob over chocolate.

I love this shop! being someone who believes in eating as healthy as posible and taking…read moresupplements its my heaven being in here! from organic flaxseed to amino acids to almonds i could literally buy almost everything in the shop. when they have the offers of buy one get one half price or buy one get one for a penny then i stock up! althought you are limited to whats on offer? they sell a wide range of other things to like creams and toothpaste without flouride and even pet products. staff are not as knowledgeable as they should be but try to be helpful and are friendly. so know your product before you buy is always best.

Holland and Barrett have recently expanded their Market Street branch, now including some of the…read moreold BHS unit, it's like a whole new store since the refurb, it's now over two floors, it's a very, cool impressive store now. They do have lifts and escalators, making this one of the largest branches I have seen. I was drawn in due to how the branch looked, it was pretty cool and a nice addition to Market Street. H&B is more of a health store, they sell loads of free from stuff, including some things which are harder to source down elsewhere such as Isabel's mixes, Clives Pies, stuffing and cake mixes and all varieties of Ten Acre Crisps and Sweet Mandarin sauces, the prices were quite expensive and high end, but with an offer throughout the store to get another item for half price, which was even reminded to me at the checkout, who saved my place while i went to get something else, that made the price situation slightly better and of course my server saving my items and place in line, while I went to get something was good customer service for me. The store isn't perfect however, as some items do seem expensive which does put me off, especially for items which are more widely avaliable such as some of the biscuits this place stores, which are basically in every major supermarket. The drink selection could also be slightly improved such as making some of them more affordable, and more well known brands such as health drinks, there were a number of items here which were formely on Dragon's Den such as "Secret Sausages" and "Simply Bee Water", the latter I've tried before and strongly disliked as it is too watery. Overall, this is a nice store and does deserve three stars and it has been made so much better since the refurb, where it does stand out now, and isn't just another store in such a large city of Manchester.

Stocking potions and pills and everything under the sun that could be used to cure you of your…read morecreaky joints to thinning hair. Holland and barret is nice enough, they do some good deals on products occasionally. They have a good selection of health foods with plenty of kilogram bags of nuts and dried fruits. Recently Holland and barrets protein section has gone from strength to strength. This thanks to a new generation of blokes who like to buy whey protein and attend the gym two to three times a week, sorry fellas this ain't how it works. I can't count the amount of my mates who seem to neck protein shakes then follow it up with a shocking program of mincing around the gym and doing sets of weights, sorry boys that ain't fitness and your just going to get fat then mistake it for bulk.

Great Home delivery organic food. They use sakers bread what more can i say this stuff is the king…read moreof bread! They don't delive to my area but i got one delivered to my nanas in stretford and it was great i will defo use them again but just wish they would deliver to my home. The boxes are great as they encourage you to eat things you wouldnt buy instore i'm terrible for buying the same old fruit and veg.