To celebrate the launch, Whole Foods Market will host a “Style Your Sole” event at both Austin locations on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. CST. TOMS will be available for purchase and Whole Foods Market will provide an array of decorating materials for shoppers to make them one of a kind.

Former Austin resident, Blake Mycoskie initially founded TOMS after being inspired by the traditional, rope-soled Argentine “alpargata” on a 2006 trip to Argentina. He was struck by the poverty and health issues of the country and imagined a company that would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need. Two years later, TOMS is giving shoes away in Argentina, South Africa, Ethiopia, and has plans for the United States. TOMS has also received notable recognition from the likes of O Magazine, Vogue, Elle, and People Magazine, and in 2007, TOMS received the coveted “Design of the Year” award from NYC’s highly respected Cooper Hewitt Museum, beating out the iPhone.

Today TOMS Shoes announced the June launch of an eco-friendly and vegan collection that will be available exclusively at Whole Foods Market.

“I wanted to find a way for more people to be able to truly understand the core of TOMS Shoes,” explained founder Blake Mycoskie. “With the launch of the eco-friendly collection and our partnership with Whole Foods Market, we will be able to reach even more people, and ultimately give more children their first pair of shoes.”

“At the stores’ Style Your Sole events, our shoppers will learn how a simple, affordable addition to their wardrobe will help a child with a basic necessity and support TOMS important practices such as fair wages, working conditions, and manufacturing,” said Elizabeth Smith, Community Relations Coordinator. “These comfortable shoes can indeed change someone’s life.”

The six style options that comprise the exclusive line of eco-friendly TOMS Shoes will be available at Whole Foods Market stores in the Whole Body department beginning in June for $49. High resolution images are available. For more details on TOMS shoes, visit www.TOMSshoes.com. For a listing of stores, visit www.wholefoodsmarket.com.

“The Lakewood store will offer shoppers the ultimate Whole Foods Market experience, with an incredible variety of natural, local and organic foods in an environment designed for every member of the family,” said Carmen Fort, Store Team Leader. “Knowing the Lakewood area is truly a community, we have created indoor and outdoor seating designed as a relaxing haven and social gathering stop for friends and families.”

Because the Lakewood area has expressed an interest in the store being as “green” as possible, the following aspects are highlighted:

1)      Whole Foods Market’s company-wide commitment to the environment and energy conservation is evident throughout the Lakewood store.  The store will receive L.E.E.D. certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the U.S. Green Building Council’s rating on designs that reduce environmental impact while improving occupant’s health and well-bring. The store design brings Whole Food Market’s Green Mission alive, reducing the demands for artificial lighting with 47 skylights plus photo-responsive daylight controls that turn lighting off when daylight is sufficient; beautiful countertops made of recycled bottles and jars; and ample bike racks and bike route assistance maps to cut down on car emissions.  Even the lights in the frozen food case don’t turn on until someone walks near them.

2)       On opening day, Whole Foods Market/Lakewood will be presented with an award from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership.  The store is the 2^nd grocery store in the country to achieve GreenChill certification, and the 1^st to achieve a Silver Level Certification.  The award is granted exclusively to food retail stores with environmentally-friendlier refrigeration systems that improve the carbon footprint of the facility.

3)       Special parking places are reserved for Hybrid and Fuel-efficient cars.

4)       The courier service used by our Concierge Service, “Go Green,” only uses hybrid and biofuel vehicles.

 The Lakewood Whole Foods Market marks the move of the Lower Greenville store, a fixture in the area for the past 22 years. The sales floor of the new stores is around one-and-a-half times the size of the Greenville store, providing for a much larger and broader selection of products.

Following the bread-breaking ceremony, grand opening activities will continue throughout the week and will include in-store tastings, local producers and chefs, and entertainment.   

• In addition to indoor and outdoor seating, there is bench seating amongst the landscaped area and the outdoor fountain..  Free wi-fi reaches from the indoor café out to the seating in the front of the store.
• Considered a “neighborhood store,” there are several touches that are strictly Lakewood: the southernmost corner of the store will have an approximate 10-foot stone column, designed to replicate the historical columns you see as you enter Lakewood from the south. Walking into the store, you’ll see a 60-foot timeline marking notable events in Lakewood history as well as important dates for Whole Foods Market, and décor throughout the store features red oak leaves, a predominant tree in the area.

Inside, every department presents a superb selection of offerings:

• The Bluebonnet BBQ Smokehouse features brisket, slow-smoked with hickory for 12 hours, and smoked pork, ribs and chicken. Pick up a jar of house-made Bluebonnet BBQ Sauce to complete the meal. You can buy meat by the pound, or have our Pit Boss make a sandwich for a quick meal.  
• In addition to the oven-ready and market-made sausage we will also offer Dry Aged Beef, a variety of fresh buffalo and local grass-fed beef.   
• When your meat or seafood purchase is put on the scale, our computer gives you options for recipes as well as wine suggestions. 
• The Allegro Coffee Bar opens at 7 a.m. for beverages and breakfast, and you can enjoy pastries, house-made breakfast tacos, yogurt parfaits and kolaches to start the day.
• The Concierge can do your personal shopping, whether it’s from your grocery list, suggesting items for your Pantry Stock, Office Break-Room Stock, or for all the elements for your dinner party including flowers and wine. For the month of March, your first personal shopping service is free.
• An extensive produce department has nearly 600 items; nearly half will be organic. Seasonal items will be emphasized, as will local produce.  There will be a dozen varieties of fresh squeezed juices made in-house.
• An expanded floral selection and items for the gardening enthusiast are on display.
• A fresh seafood counter, with a wide selection of freshly-caught fish, sustainable seafood choices, and ready-to-cook serving sizes at value pricing.   The Prepared Foods area is the ready-to-go department, with all items prepared in-house. We will have “gourmet to go” on a wall that is three times larger in size of the selection from the Greenville store. You’ll find a large selection of charcuterie items, with in-house roasted and smoked meats for slicing. We will have an extensive sandwich case with eight feet of fresh-made sandwiches, and a large selection of Hot and Ready-To-Go pizzas, calzones, strombolis, pot pies and quiches. The selection in our Global Food Bar , with a rotating menu, features food from around the world.
• The dairy department is twice the size of the Lower Greenville store.
• The bulk aisle features fresh honey, syrups, agave nectar, tamari and oils, and gourmet bulk salts.
• Frozen food selection is twice as large as the Greenville Avenue store.
• 400 specialty cheeses (local, domestic and imported) butters, patés, caviar and other gourmet and everyday items.
• The olive and antipasto bar also features local products, spreads and other authentic selections from around the world
• Extensive wine and beer department, with 800 types of wine and a 40 foot case for beer.
• A full-service bakery features hearth-baked breads, in-house baked challah and ciabatta, cookies, cream cakes, and cornbread.  House-made candies include barks, brittles and fudge.
• Whole Body department, with its sleek design, has a large selection of super-foods and a complete line of natural cosmetics and mineral makeup, natural bodycare, homeopathic remedies, vitamins, supplements and bulk bar soaps.
• Value will be key, both during opening week and beyond.  Look for amazing opening deals throughout the store, and as always, great deals and sale signage will be easily identified. The “Whole Deal” magazine features coupons, recipe ideas, ways to live green, and how to shop seasonally and with flair.

Since 1980, Whole Foods Market has pioneered the organic and natural foods movement. Products meet Whole Foods Market’s strict quality standards to ensure they are free of artificial additives, sweeteners, colorings, preservatives and hydrogenated fats. Skilled buyers search the globe for the finest authentic products, artisans, and renowned purveyors of produce, meat, seafood, cheese, coffee, and other delicacies.

“We are very proud to become an active member of the Lakewood community,” said Fort. “This store continues the tradition of Whole Foods Market, providing the best possible service and shopping experience to our customers at their friendly and healthy neighborhood store.”

The new Whole Foods Market Lakewood store is located at 2118 Abrams Road at Gaston, and will be open daily from 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. with a coffee and pastry bar opening at 7:00 a.m.  The store’s phone number is 214/824-1744.

“The post-Katrina rebuilding process has proven to be more challenging than anticipated and we are at a critical juncture,” noted Kristina Bradford, community relations coordinator for New Orleans, Metairie, and Baton Rouge. “As a Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board Shrimp Task Force board member, I’ve heard stories from shrimpers at just how critical the situation has become for family, friends, and them. The Whole Foods Market king cake promotion will provide tremendous relief to the shrimper community and help preserve our unique culture and industry enjoyed worldwide.”

In the Company’s Southwest stores in Louisiana and Texas, the promotion begins January 5th and concludes Mardi Gras Day, February 5th. For the South stores in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina locations, the fundraiser runs January 19th to Mardi Gras Day.

A project of Loyola University’s marketumbrella.org, the White Boot Brigade is a small band of Louisiana shrimpers that focus on smaller, smarter boutique production to cultivate new markets and reward their triple bottom line of economic innovation, ecological sustainability, and cultural preservation.

Last year, the promotion collectively raised more than $15,000 for the White Boot Brigade and provided vital assistance for rebuilding and marketing efforts to expand the shrimpers’ businesses. Whole Foods Market’s South region stores originated the king cake fundraising project to support the post-Katrina community by donating one dollar from the sale of king cakes to the Crescent City Farmers Market while the New Orleans stores were in the final rebuilding phase in 2006. Their efforts raised over $9,000 and reinforced Whole Foods Market’s commitment to support the communities in which we work and live.

This year, the Company’s South and Southwest regions will work together again to support the White Boot Brigade whose campaigns have introduced chefs and consumers to the unique Louisiana “sweet water” shrimp and have raised awareness through their traveling shrimpers road show at the Crescent City Farmers Market and Red Stick Farmers Market as well as New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, Kenner, Covington, New York City and the West Coast.

Even before Katrina’s devastation, the Louisiana commercial fishing families had experienced serious challenges with the onslaught of global competition, isolation from consumers and their evolving tastes, and confusing governmental regulations. Katrina left the state of commercial fishing families in perpetual crisis, with the loss of any shrimper impacting the regional economy, restaurant culture, and the state’s reputation as Sportsman’s Paradise.

“I’m proud of this project and look forward to helping the shrimpers and their communities. They have given us so much culinary joy and tradition that it’s only fitting to return the favor through a food promotion,” remarked Bradford. “We wish all of our guests and Team Members a wonderful Carnival season and appreciate their help in supporting the White Boot Brigade.”

For more information on Whole Foods Market and the White Boot Brigade, visit www.wholefoodsmarket.com and www.whitebootbrigade.org

“Let’s face it, plastic bags fill landfills, harm our water systems and wildlife, and litter our roadsides and communities. We are discontinuing the use of these bags in support of our Core Value of ‘caring for our Communities and our Environment,’ which includes adopting wise environmental practices.” said Seth Stutzman, Whole Foods Market’s Southwest regional vice president. “By partnering with our shoppers, we can together bring the plastic bag issue to the forefront in Austin to help protect the environment in our hometown and our planet at large.”

Eliminating plastic grocery bags at its Austin checkout counters will be a test for the Company and will serves as the first step to ban such bags companywide by early next year. Paper bags made exclusively for Whole Foods Market from 100 percent recycled content will continue to be an option for shoppers.

“Day by day, bag by bag, we can really make a difference by choosing alternatives to plastic at retail checkout counters. As the first major grocer in the area to take such an aggressive stand to protect the environment, I applaud our homegrown Austin grocer, Whole Foods Market, for leading this charge of awareness and I challenge other Austin retailers to look for alternatives to plastic bags at the checkout counter,” said Austin City Council Member Lee Leffingwell. Along with Mayor Will Wynn and Council Member Mike Martinez, Leffingwell sponsored a resolution earlier this year that would limit or ban the use of plastic bags in Austin stores.

To further bolster the reusable bag program the Company has had in place for years, Whole Foods Market is now selling “A Better Bag,” a stylish reusable bag with a colorful and whimsical design made from 80 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. It sells for only 99 cents at checkout areas in all Whole Foods Market stores nationwide.

The Company also announced its two Austin stores will increase the refund from five cents to ten cents per bag to shoppers who bring their own bags to use at the checkouts. Shoppers can opt to donate their ten-cent-per-bag refunds directly to Keep Austin Beautiful, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental stewardship. Additionally, Whole Foods Market will match donations from bag refunds and all money collected will go to helping fund Keep Austin Beautiful’s city awareness campaign about reducing plastic bag use in the Austin community.

“With the increased rebate to shoppers for bringing in their own bag, Whole Foods is motivating their customers and providing simple solutions for them to make positive environmental choices, said Brian Block, Executive Director of Keep Austin Beautiful. The easy, automatic donation at the checkouts will not only encourage Whole Food’s customers to bring their own bags, but it will also make a difference citywide since the funds will go towards our campaign to raise awareness about reusable bags and plastic bag recycling.”

Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic bags annually, according to the Worldwatch Institute, and only 0.6 percent of them are recycled. Austin generates more than 1,000 tons of plastic bag waste per year, according to Council Member Leffingwell. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says plastic bags not only endanger wildlife by polluting land and water but also pose an environmental threat, as it takes more than 1,000 years for a plastic bag to break down in a landfill. Each bag shoppers bring in to use at the checkout has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.

To highlight these statistics, each of the two Austin Whole Foods Market locations today is giving away the new “A Better Bag” reusable bags to their first 1,000 shoppers. Customers who take advantage of the giveaway may also be the lucky winners of Whole Foods Market gift cards ranging from $10 to $100, which will be randomly inserted into dozens of the bags that will be given away.

Eliminating plastic bags at the Austin checkouts is just one example of how Whole Foods Market is strengthening its commitment to the environment. All of the stores, facilities and offices in the Company’s Southwest region participate in a composting program where all organic matter, including food waste, vegetable scraps and compostable paper goods, is regenerated into compost. In the Company’s prepared foods departments and at the food and salad bars nationwide, the stores use containers that are made from bagasse, a biodegradable byproduct of sugarcane production. The downtown Austin location is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified store. On the national level, Whole Foods Market has won the prestigious EPA Green Power award the past four years in a row for its renewable energy credit purchases.

Plastic Grocery Bag Facts

• When they are discarded, often after one use, plastic bags fill landfills, clog our sewers, pollute our rivers and lakes, threaten our wildlife, and litter our roadsides and communities.
• Each bag shoppers bring in to use has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.
• Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic bags annually, and only 0.6 percent of them are recycled.
• Plastic bags not only endanger wildlife by polluting land and water but also pose an environmental threat, as it takes more than 1,000 years for a plastic bag to break down in a landfill.
• Countries that have introduced bans or taxes on non-biodegradable, petroleum-based plastic bags include Ireland, Italy, Australia and South Africa.