Bulk Barn

Yes, many businesses ARE facing challenges due to COVID-19. And Bulk Barn on Macleod seemed to meet those challenges head on, enforcing safety far in excess of what most businesses were requesting... At first.

But now that in Calgary we're on track to potentially have 1,000 new cases A DAY by the end of the week? Masks are now optional at Bulk Barn, apparently. I know, because I just saw an able young woman get served without one, and my questions to the greeter/cashier were met with a claim she was asked to wear a mask, but she "said she didn't need to wear one". So they just let her stroll right in unmasked.

Since Bulk Barn is not even going to attempt to refuse service or accommodate maskless customers in some other way, they will no longer get my business. I hope her patronage was worth losing mine and any of my elderly neighbours who decide they need to avoid the health risk.

I love bulk barn for all my baking needs, it's a great place to find the one off items or odd quanities of things that you need for a fun creation. I always end up picking up a bag or two of sweet treats in addition to the items I came in for. They are also one of the only place I have found liquid food coloring.

What an astouding place. Incredible variety of nuts, dried fruits, candies, treats, coffee, oils, pet food etc. Great prices too. Well-operated, with a fun and very professional staff.

It seems to me that this would be an odd location for a Bulk Barn. This location has been restaurants until now. Santa Fe Grill was here for years, followed by a Greek place.

Either way, this Bulk Barn serves up what you expect. It seems a little smaller than most locations but I don't notice anything missing. They have everything and then some.

For those that have never been to a Bulk Barn, they do have "extras" that don't come in bulk. They sell candy forms to go with the melts they sell, many baking supply items like cupcake papers, muffin tins, and cake decorating items. At the cash register you can find individually wrapped goods which mostly consists of candy, but does include stuff like real vanilla beans.

Whoever manages this Bulk Barn has common sense unlike some of its clientele who suffer from Covid-based OCD. Now that the bad flu season of 2020 has passed, most people suffering from recurring bouts are the ones who chose to destroy their immune system with experimental medications and wear masks outdoors. Because of their inability to fight off common colds without major problems, they expect everyone else to wear a mask which is scientifically proven to be effective against viruses. Bulk Barn sees the ridiculousness of the Covid Karens and allows people to only wear masks of their own choice (which is all they are able to do by law). Who goes out shopping if they're sick in this day and age anyway? Since Bulk Barn has decided to follow the scientific evidence that there is no such thing as "asymptomatic spread" and most recurring illnesses are happening with immune-compromised people who decided to take the mandated experimental medications, I have decided to visit this location on a regular basis. And to the reviewer who previously complained about refusing to break the law and refuse service, I hope they realize that their ridiculous review and pointing out the sensibility of staff has encouraged me to be a regular customer. Thank you Bulk Barn for not giving in to the unhealthy Covid Karens!

I love Bulk Barn with all my heart. My only beef with the company is that they don't have a location close (i.e. within 20 minutes) of my neighbourhood.

I come from the east coast where Bulk Barn has been an established company for along time. When I first moved to Alberta 6 years ago, I was quite sad to find no Bulk Barns in the whole province. Here we are today, though, and the company has set up shop around the province.

Bulk Barn is a bulk foods store with an additional varied selection of specialty food products (mainly in the categories of "health" and "baking"). I like Bulk Barn for the wide selection of nuts and candy. At the store, you'll find both generic and brand name products at decent prices.

Check out the company's website for a full product listing. As well, you can often find a coupon for $3 of $10 purchase. I will note that not all Bulk Barns are equal. For example, the location in the NE by Sunridge is small and doesn't have a full product offering. Others are bigger with a wider selection.

Very good selection and different items on sale every week. The staff is always polite and helpful, and they have a good selection of organic bulk foods that I use often.

I have a love-hate relationship with this place!
I love it, because they have so much good stuff and a lot of baking supplies that you often don't get at the regular grocery stores. And because it is bulk you can get just the amount you need!
I hate it because I always buy much more than I wanted and then I munch right through it, like right now...aaand empty.
I love it because they have 3 Crown tee (for a very low price) which is produced by a company in a tiny town in East Frisia, Germany where I grew up. I was so happy to see that!
I hate it, because I always feel like sticking my hand into the bins to grab a small piece and try it, but I am not allowed to, it sucks! (yes, I understand why and it's probably a good thing otherwise families would go there for lunch, but still, it's so tempting)

So the hating part is obviously my personal problem, that aside I love this place :)

I am having a lot of fun exploring what Calgary has to offer on all fronts, and Bulk Barn is definitely one of my new favorite places. A couple of people have mentioned that there is only one location, which isn't true anymore. There are two in South East and one in North East. Therefore, you now have 3 great options for quality bulk goods in the city. I am reviewing the one in SE (on MacLeod) so I hope people notice there are more around the city.

Ok, so this is a store in an old-fashioned dry goods store. This is the sort of place where you can find pretty much anything non-perishable that you would find a grocery store. This includes (but definitely not limited to!): coffee, tea, pasta, rice, candy, flour, spices, granola, grain, and even dog food! It was very hard for me to walk into that store and not walk out with one of everything.

Instead, I loaded up on my spices, got coffee, flour, sugar, cocoa power, granola, and an wasabi pea snack mix. I spent less than $30 on all of those things. Absolutely amazing. Even the bulk sections of Community Natural Foods, Planet Organic, or Co-op cannot compete with that. The ingredients are quality and the prices are amazing. They even have name-brand stuff like Kellogs cereal if you need it.

The spice and tea collection was sizable. They didn't have the obscure spices, but they did sell spanish saffron in small packets and there were many different varieties of tea (from green to black to oolong) so i can't complain. Like I said, I loaded up on my spices for a fraction of what I would pay ANYWHERE else.

The only thing is that you pack all of these items into plastic bags and tie them off. You need to have a cabinet full of glass jars to make good use of this stuff at your house. IF you don't, I would stop by at the Dollarama (which has spice containers 3 for $1). The dollar store also has other, larger containers for cheap ($1.5 - $3 depending on the size). Also, don't forget that after you transfer all your newly purchased yummy goods to your containers that the plastic bags can be recycled with the bags at your favorite normal grocery store. :-)

We dropped by this Bulk Barn location on June 16th. Wearing masks (re: COVID19) we entered the store only to be abruptly stopped. An older female staffer, with absolutely zero people skills, abruptly ORDERED that we disinfect our hands. When we stated that we had just done that before entering their store, this older female staffer then stated: 'This is our store and you are required to do so'. We looked at the line up of 3-4 customers, and asked the approx. wait time. Again, this older female stated: "about 1 hour". Although we have shopped at this Bulk Barn location before, we abruptly left. We SHALL never return. We advise other shoppers to bulk purchase at the nearby Superstore or at another Bulk Barn. The reason we support businesses: Customer Service. WE DO NOT SUPPORT this BULK BARN (Mcleod Trail ) !