I follow a few celebrities on Instagram (who doesn’t?). Some time ago I saw Ian Somerhalder post about a website called Thrive Market, but it didn’t fully register with me because it appeared to be a brick and mortar location in Los Angeles, and I live in Brooklyn. Then Olivia Wilde posted about Thrive Market more recently, and my ears perked up. I started doing some research on Thrive Market, and my conclusion was that it’s brilliant.
So what is this new-ish online marketplace? Thrive Market is a membership-based website that offers 4,000 of the most popular natural and organic brands and products. Why is this different from any other site that carries this type of item? There are two main reasons: 1) the products are offered at wholesale prices, and 2) for every membership purchased, Thrive donates a one-year membership to a low-income family in need. Their overarching goal is to make healthy living affordable to everyone; the ability to eat healthy should not be a privilege of the wealthy! An annual membership with Thrive Market costs $59.59, so for about $5 per month you gain access to 25% to 50% off many of the products you might already be buying regularly at places like Whole Foods. And shipping is free for orders over $49! Gotta love those free shipping offers. 🙂
Thrive Market isn’t solely about food—they also offer a robust array of healthy living products in the beauty, bath, body, home, kids, and pet categories. The website also allows you to filter by all kinds of values such as organic, raw, paleo, women-owned business, sustainably farmed, non-GMO Project Verified, and more.
What kind of brands does Thrive Market carry? You can find Bob’s Red Mill, Garden of Eatin’ (we love their chips!), Nature’s Path, Earth’s Best, Rao’s, Justin’s, Yogi Tea, Annie’s Homegrown, Seventh Generation, Dr. Bronner’s, and so much more. They actually carry 400 brands! Because this is more of an Amazon than an Instacart, they don’t carry refrigerated items like dairy or deli (so no eggs, hummus, cheese, butter, cold cuts, etc) . Think of it as a place to stock up on your pantry items, toiletries, and home goods. You can even buy fermentation starter kits for making kombucha, whole wheat sourdough, yogurt, and kefir!
I recently signed up for a free 30-day trial with Thrive Market to try it out because of course I like the idea of saving money on some of the items we buy in-store, but I also love that Thrive gives free memberships to families who couldn’t otherwise afford them. Once my 30-day trial is over, they’ll charge me $59.95 for the year membership and send a free membership through to someone. (I can cancel my free trial before the 30 days are up, if I want.) The membership program makes Thrive sort of like “a Whole Foods meets a slightly more expensive but charitable Costco.” If you start using Thrive as your go-to shopping center, you’ll end up making up your membership fee in savings.
So far I’ve only placed one order from Thrive Market but I plan to order more soon. Just for registering for the website they sent me a code for 25% off my first order, so I spent $60 on $80 worth of stuff which would have cost significantly more in-store! Before I signed up for the website I made sure to do research to confirm that Thrive Market’s prices were lower on things we buy regularly, and lo and behold, they sure were. Some examples:
- 33 oz bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Lavender Hand Soap refill costs at least $7.99 on Amazon. Thrive’s price: $6.45.
- Tom’s of Maine Whole Care toothpaste? Whole Foods’ sale price is $4.99 (regular price $6.79). Thrive’s price: $3.95.
- A bag of Tate’s Bake Shop Chocolate Chip Cookies costs $5.99 at Whole Foods. Thrive’s price: $3.95.
- Yogi Comforting Chamomile Tea is $4.69 at Whole Foods. Thrive’s price: $3.45.
- 32 oz bottle of Bragg’s Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil is $19.99 at Whole Foods. Thrive’s price: $15.99.
The savings on those five examples alone is almost $12! I think I’ve made my point. **Drops mic, walks away.** 😛
So…you wanna see my first Thrive Market haul? Ta-da!
I’ll also note that my order shipped quickly and all of the items were well packed for their protection; everything delivered in one box, in one piece. There was a significant amount of packing material inside the box, but without it some of the glass items might have busted in transit. Fortunately all the packing material was paper, so it’s recyclable.
One more thing I want to point out: I am dying to get my hands on one of these natural crystal salt lamps once they’re back in stock. I’ve been wanting to get one for some time now, and Thrive Market has one for just $19.99 (retail: $29.99)!
Have you heard of or tried out Thrive Market yet? I’m curious to hear about your experiences with it!
