PHOTO GALLERY: 1st Whole Foods Market in Jersey City Now Open
Whole Foods Market finally opened the doors to its first store in Jersey City, N.J., on Nov. 9. The community has been anxiously awaiting the opening since news broke in October 2020 that the organic retailer would be coming to the rapidly growing downtown area at Washington Street and Columbus Drive.
Situated on the Hudson River directly across from Manhattan, Jersey City has been undergoing an extensive revitalization the past couple of years. The design aesthetic of the new Whole Foods, which is located at Washington Street and Columbus Drive, is inspired by the city’s love of art. With graphics representing the Hudson River in the store’s backyard, a cool-toned color palette was also chosen to provide a sense of calm in the busy neighborhood.
“We’re thrilled to open our first Whole Foods Market store in Jersey City,” said Nicole Davia, SVP of operations for Whole Foods Market. “Jersey City is already home to one of our store support offices, and we know our neighbors and many community members have been anxiously awaiting this opening. We look forward to serving them and introducing them to a shopping experience unlike anywhere else!”
John Lawson, senior local forager for Whole Foods Market, helped source the new 51,156-square-foot store’s product assortment, which offers more than 1,000 local items from the Northeast. For example, the specialty department, dedicated to celebrating cheesemakers and artisan producers, features mozzarella from Lioni Latticini Inc. and fresh pasta from Severino Pasta Co. The cheese counter is overseen by trained cheesemongers who can offer recommendations for any occasion and create custom boards.
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“After nearly 20 years with Whole Foods Market, I feel privileged to help open the first store in Jersey City,” said Masud Alam, store team leader for Whole Foods Market. “I’m ready to introduce our customers to our passionate and knowledgeable team members committed to serving this community. I’m also excited for customers to discover hundreds of products from local brands we love featured across our aisles.”
To give back to the community, Whole Foods Market has donated to nonprofit organizations The Sharing Place, Triangle Park Community Center and The Community Food Bank of New Jersey. Additionally, a Whole Foods Market refrigerated van, previously donated through the grocer’s Nourishing Our Neighborhoods program to nonprofit organization Table to Table, will make regular pickups from the Jersey City store to transfer rescued food to community members in need. Through the program, the grocer has now donated two refrigerated vans in the state of New Jersey, including a donation to Morristown-based nonprofit nourish.NJ. To date, Whole Foods has donated 38 vans to food rescue organizations across the United States.
Whole Foods Market in Jersey City will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods has more than 500 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seattle-based Amazon, which is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of top food and consumables retailers in North America. Both Whole Foods and Amazon were named among PG’s Retailers of the Century.
