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Beyond the Numbers

Products / Quality Standards / Differentiation

Whole Foods Market© commits to full GMO transparency

SIX New Stores Opened in Q2

Katy, TX

  • Opening date: January 30, 2013

  • Store size: 40,000 square feet

  • Highlights: Folks from all around southeastern Texas stood in line to be the first customers in Katy’s beautiful, sprawling “Homegrown in Texas” store. The store celebrated its opening with an all-day local crab boil, performances from nearby high school bands and a donation of part of their sales to five local charities. The store has already become a popular hangout, thanks in large part to the in-store coffee bar, A Conscious Buzz, and the beer and wine bar, Katy Station.

Del Mar, CA

  • Opening date: February 27, 2013

  • Store size: 33,000 square feet

  • Highlights: Located on the Pacific Coast, Del Mar utilizes the community’s signature mark, a stylized Torrey pine (with pinecones), throughout the store. The store’s bar, called “The Trifecta Tavern” in deference to nearby Del Mar Racetrack, has a rotating selection of craft beers on tap along with an extensive food menu and indoor and outdoor seating for 100. “Fairgrounds,” the coffee/juice bar named in reference to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, uses all organic ingredients. Opening day featured a DJ spinning tunes and three-time World Sumo Wrestling Champion By­amba, who made his appearance to help promote a new seasonal favorite, the delicious Sumo Mandarin.

Kildeer, IL

  • Opening date: March 6, 2013

  • Store size: 50,000 square feet

  • Highlights: Kildeer is a relocation of the Palatine store, originally a Fresh Fields that opened in 1993 and joined WFM in 1996. Just two miles up on the same road, the new store features a retro-chic décor throughout and offers a taquería, panini station and sushi bar. Family friendly, Kildeer has mini shopping carts for its littlest customers and a classroom that’s constantly busy with birthday parties and kids club events. Kildeer Mayor Nandia Black declared opening day Wednesday, March 6th Whole Foods Day in the village of Kildeer.

Upper Arlington, OH

  • Opening date: March 6, 2013

  • Store size: 37,000 square feet

  • Highlights: This new store was built on the site of its original 1998 Wild Oats location (WFM since 2007) while Team Members held down the fort in a 9,000-square-foot temporary location nearby. Down the street from The Ohio State University, part of the store’s décor is based on athletic memorabilia (pennants, etc.). “The Social” pub features a fireplace, 10 beers on tap, organic coffee bar and full menu with breakfast served all day. Seafood features locally caught wild Walleye and other lake fish, and Prepared Foods offers oven-ready home-style entrees like local favorite City Chicken.

Mishawaka, IN

  • Opening date: April 10, 2013

  • Store size: 25,000 square feet

  • Highlights: Mishawaka marked the 40th store opening in the Midwest Region. The store was highly anticipated by the community and broke a WFM store opening record with nearly 17,000 Facebook likes which continue to grow. The store features several new innovations in almost every department including: “Kalecamole” (Health Starts Here guacamole with kale) in Produce; in-house-made cheese spreads and a Kids’ Corner devoted to kid-friendly snacking cheeses in Specialty; Grab & Go 6-pack burgers and 4-pack Kebobs in Meat; and Grab & Go Do-it-Yourself Yogurt and Granola in Grocery, just to name a few.

Brookline, MA

  • Opening date: March 6, 2013

  • Store size: 15,000 square feet

  • Highlights: The Brookline store was opened after just four short months spent remodeling the former Johnnie’s Foodmaster location. This opening was somewhat of a homecoming for the North Atlantic region. Whole Foods Market entered the Boston area with the acquisition of Bread & Circus, which opened its very first store in Brookline but later relocated it to a newer site in Brighton. We were welcomed back to the area with great excitement. The community was so excited to have us back, in fact, that the Brookline Fire Department stopped by about 30 minutes before the grand opening to say hello and be the first to welcome us back. This store is primarily foot traffic, being close to housing for a couple of the colleges in Boston. We’ve heard from many students that are very excited to have a Whole Foods in walking distance, and many of the customers we met at the opening live in the neighborhood.

Recognition

Dark Rye’s “The Unseen Bean” nominated for Webby Award

By individually toasting 352 slices of bread, Whole Foods Market production team leader Honey Thompson created a portrait of music legend Willie Nelson entirely in toast for the launch of Dark Rye, the store’s new online magazine. It’s was on display at the Haus of Hipstamatic in Austin, Texas during this year’s SXSW festival.

FORTUNE once again listed Whole Foods Market among its 2013 World’s Most Admired Companies. We came in at #19 on the overall list of 50 companies and were ranked in the top 10 for innovation, social responsibility, employee retention and product quality. This year we were the only retailer listed in the food and drug store category! To view the complete list, click here.

WFM has been recognized on the Ethisphere Institute’s 2013 World’s Most Ethical Compa­nies list. This is our fifth time to make the list since 2007, and out of the list of 145 international companies, we’re one of only two U.S. companies named in the retail food stores category. Ethisphere evaluates companies in more than 36 industries, and selects only those that sur­pass their industry peers. To read more, click here.

Foundations

Whole Planet Foundation’s 2013 Prosperity Campaign ended March 31st, and this year’s drive was a resounding success. Team Members and shoppers raised $6.26 million, well above last year’s total of $5.3 million. To read more, click here.