Whole Foods’ 365 Concept Coming to Brooklyn
Whole Foods Market will open its first small-format 365 location in the New York metropolitan area in Brooklyn. The store, which will be located at 300 Ashland Place, within the borough’s Cultural District, is poised to further heat up the Brooklyn supermarket scene, which will soon include new Wegmans and Fairway stores.
“365 is all about quality, value and convenience,” said Jeff Turnas, president of 365 by Whole Foods Market. “We’re thrilled to bring our fresh new format to shoppers in Brooklyn.”
“We opened our first Whole Foods Market store in the city in 2001, and our first Brooklyn store opened in 2013,” noted Christina Minardi, president of Whole Foods Market Northeast Region. “Now we can’t wait to introduce our new store concept to Brooklynites.”
The first three 365 stores opened last year in the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles; Bellevue, Wash.; and Lake Oswego, Ore., with the next location slated to open this April in Cedar Park, Texas. The value-focused small-store concept currently has 23 store leases in development.
The Brooklyn store’s opening date hasn’t been set yet.
In related Whole Foods news, the Austin, Texas-based natural food retailer is poised to open its 11th New York City store on Jan. 28 at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan's Bryant Park. The 43,000-square-foot, two-level location will offer such features as the “News Agency,” a coffee and juice bar, modeled after one of the city’s famed news kiosks, and an extensive array of prepared foods, including the Frankies Spuntino in-store restaurant; sushi; a raw bar serving oyster towers, lobster rolls and seafood-centric small plates, as well as alcoholic beverages; Turkish-style artisanal breads from a local purveyor; a tahini mill; quick-service kiosks, Detroit-style square pizza pies; artisanal flavored toasts; and a stand-alone Allegro Coffee espresso bar.
Among the store's other noteworthy features will be “Produce Butcher,” an on-site associate who will cut, slice, dice, julienne, chop, and grate any produce item in accordance with shopper requests, and locally sourced groceries.
The first 400 shoppers on opening day will get a special-edition Bryant Park tote bag; additional opening-day festivities will include giveaways, vendor samplings and tastings.