Whole Foods Gowanus Says Its Knife Station Is Nothing to Fear

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Concerned shoppers recently expressed fear over the knife sharpening station at the new Whole Foods Gowanus. The day after Christmas, a reader wrote in to Effed in Park Slope:

If you went there you may have noticed the knife sharpening that was done right in the middle of the store. Now, its not a booth for knife sharpening, they put a grinder on a shelf and this guy is sharpening his knives right in the middle of the fray. I saw people bumping him in the back.

If you didn't know, a grinding wheel is running at about 4500 RPM's, if the knife has a burr in it the knife can get easily pulled out of his hands and sent flying across the store at 80 miles an hour. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be standing in front of an 8" chef's knife doing 80 miles an hour at my skull.

And according to DNAinfo, another shopper wrote in to say that her toddler stuck his entire hand in the grinder, which fortunately, wasn't in use. But Whole Foods thinks everyone should just chill out a bit.

A spokesperson explains, "These guys are professionals and we feel very confident having them out there. It's something people are not used to seeing, and because of that they question it." NYCutlery's Chris Harth, the store's main sharpener, adds that it would be impossible for a knife to travel 80 miles an hour across the store. "It's very safe. There's almost no way you can hurt yourself on the machine during its operation."

Furthermore, Harth clarifies that "[Knife sharpening] isn't a hipster thing, it's a service that used to be more common." Head to the story below for the rest of his explanation.
· Whole Foods Knife-Sharpening Station Has Some Shoppers on Edge [DNAinfo]
· Brush Up on Your Ninja Moves Before You Shop at Whole Foods [FIPS]
· Live on the Scene at the Whole Foods Gowanus Opening! [Racked NY]