TWIG Podcast: Each Whole Foods Store Is a Snowflake
The TWIG Podcast talks to Christina Minardi, EVP of growth and development for Whole Foods Market and Amazon, about how Whole Foods creates a unique shopping experience at its stores spread across diverse locales.
It begins with real estate.
“It's really important for us to not only be in the right community but really look at the location – does it have great accessibility, is it in a community that we feel we can really flourish and grow,” explains Christina. “We spend a lot of time in analyzing and making sure we have great real estate.”
From there, Whole Foods moves onto the design phase. “We don’t have cookie cutter stores,” she says. “We spend a lot of time to get to know the communities that we're in and then design the store to fit in well.”
Christina boasts about how customers describe Whole Foods as a second home for them. “One of the things that customers really love about the Whole Food stores is how they feel,” she says. “Our desire when we're designing these stores is to get customers excited by what they see, smell and taste when they come into a Whole Foods store. We’re built on high standards, high-quality food and we want to have an environment that is very inviting.”
Whole Foods currently has approximately 75 stores in development, plus five new Daily Shops. Designed for customers in urban neighborhoods, the company’s new concept Daily Shop stores range between 7,000-14,000 square feet, or about a quarter to half the footprint of an average 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods store.
Although small in size, these stores won’t be short of product or selection. Whole Foods Market Daily Shops will feature a variety of fresh, seasonal produce; prepared foods; and essential grocery items.
“The idea around Daily Shop is to create this quick shop for customers," says Christina. "It's kind of like a fill-in concept in between our bigger stores."
And unlike Whole Foods stores, which stay away from cookie-cutter designs, Daily Shops will have “a consistent look and feel when it comes to décor,” explains Christina.
“We have five locations in New York City that we're going to open this year and into next year and then we do see this [concept] continuing to grow to other cities,” she adds.
The first Daily Shop will open in New York City's Upper East Side in the fall. The company recently revealed the second location will be in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood – no opening date has been announced for this location yet.
Christina also talks about working with the Amazon team more closely for real estate and store development. She created a “hybrid team” that combines the best aspects of Whole Foods an Amazon and is very excited about the work the team is doing thus far. “In the coming years, we're going to have new designs and new layouts that we're going to introduce and we're going to keep trying and testing. Our idea is to really be to win in grocery across all brands.”
Plus, Christina reminisces about growing up in food, emphasizes the importance of female leaders in career mentorship (she's a past TWIG winner), and shares what’s in her own Whole Foods cart!
(Do you prefer to watch this episode instead? CLICK HERE to view the video.)
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Progressive Grocer’s podcast focuses on the trends, topics and interests that move women forward in grocery retail. If you have an idea for a TWIG podcast topic, contact [email protected] and/or [email protected].
