Skip to main content

PHOTO GALLERY: 1st Look at Whole Foods Market in St. Petersburg

Florida store features sunny vibe, 800+ local items
Lynn Petrak, Progressive Grocer
St Pete produce
The produce section in the new St. Petersburg Whole Foods Market includes local organic greens from Lady Moon Farms and herbs and salads from Hardee Fresh.

Whole Foods Market closed out February with a new store opening, less than a week after unveiling a relocated site in Albuquerque, N.M. On Feb. 28, the grocer welcomed shoppers to a 40,100-square-foot store in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Located at 201 38th Avenue North, the new Whole Foods Market reflects its surroundings. Given the fact that St. Petersburg is dubbed the “Sunshine City,” the store features several sun motifs and was designed with a warm palette. 

The assortment at the St. Petersburg store is also designed to brighten shoppers’ day. More than 800 products from Florida suppliers are available. Many of those local options can be found at the full-service seafood counter, meat case, bakery and produce section, in addition to the center store aisles. Behind the scenes, team members are busy creating made-in-house offerings, ranging from fresh sausage to seafood empanadas to hearth breads. 

As with other Whole Foods locations, this one includes an eclectic prepared foods department, with pizza, in-house charcuterie, sushi made daily and hot food and salad bars. Shoppers can also choose from a selection of more than 180 craft beers in the alcohol section.

“As a Tampa-area native, opening a Whole Foods Market store in St. Petersburg feels like a personal milestone. This moment has been eagerly awaited, and I’m honored to be part of the team bringing our store to such a vibrant community,” said Mario Torres, store team leader. 

Whole Foods held a grand opening on Feb. 28 that included the retailer’s traditional bread-breaking ceremony with leadership, giveaways including tote bags and coupons and a “Stuff the Van” event with its community partner, Good Neighbors. The grocer is donating a refrigerated van to that organization as part of its Nourishing Our Neighborhoods initiative.

The St. Petersburg Whole Foods Market is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time.

This is the third Whole Foods store to open in 2024. The retailer also finished the fourth quarter of 2023 with three openings.

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.

Advertisement - article continues below
Advertisement
X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds