Beaches gluten-free shopping options growing

For Beaches residents, the gluten-free shopping options just keep growing and growing.

Native Sun opened its Jacksonville Beach store last month, and today's Times-Union reported that another organic and natural foods chain called Lucky's Market plans to open its first Jacksonville area store in Neptune Beach next year.

I finally visited the new Native Sun and I liked what I found. It seems like the cafe area is bigger than the cafe in the Baymeadows store and the grocery shelf space is smaller. However, as I walked through the aisles, it looked like all the gluten-free products I've previously found in Baymeadows are available at the Beaches store.

They even have their gluten-free bakery products available, including the doughnut bites.

As I've written before, Native Sun's director of research, Ginny Nehring, does a great job checking on products that claim to be gluten free. If you see the "no gluten added" tag on the shelf at Native Sun, you can be extremely confident that the product actually is safe.

We'll have to see what Lucky's Market brings next year. But I checked its website and it says its deli offers gluten-free items and as far as the grocery section goes, it said "we’re also working hard to expand our already large selection of gluten-free items."

So we're getting a lot of good shopping options at the Beach. Trader Joe's opened last year, and even though that store frustrates me at times, you can still find some good gluten-free stuff there at a good price, particularly their hamburger buns and bagels.

And of course Whole Foods is planning to open a Jacksonville Beach store sometime before the end of this century.

Okay, they actually say it will be in 2021, but I'm betting Whole Foods opens before that.

Now if we could just get an Aldi at the Beach, I'll be fulfilled.