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Whole Foods

T

tudararms

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Whole Foods has opened in Oakville. Beautiful store!! Thank God I can find dry-aged meat at last.
 
From: www.canada.com/nationalpo...f95fb8ce06
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Whole foods eyes 2nd location to rival Pusateri's
Avenue and Lawrence
Andy Georgiades, National Post
Published: Friday, February 02, 2007
Whole Foods Market Inc., the high-priced natural food retailer, has its eye on a second Toronto location across from Pusateri's at Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue, according to a retail-industry source.
For years the proposed site housed a St. Hubert chicken restaurant, along with an RBCbranch and a Mac's convenience store.
But Toronto's condo market remains a hot alternative for first-time buyers priced out of the housing market, and so most developers covet the site, surrounded by trendy boutiques and restaurants, for multi-storey, residential/retail development.

A Whole Foods spokeswoman said new stores are only announced during its quarterly earnings calls. The next one is scheduled for Feb. 21.
Whole Foods' choice of location could also be considered payback of sorts. About a year after Whole Foods opened its first Toronto store in Yorkville in 2002, Pusateri's -- a well-known family- owned luxury food retailer -- opened its second store down the street from the U.S. newcomer. Both stores feature a wide variety of prepared foods, catering to the condominium residents and office towers in the area.
But the new Whole Foods store isn't a done deal. A spokesman for a community group said no formal application has been filed with the city yet. In addition, there's talk that some homes adjacent to the site have already been purchased by a real estate company in order to expand the site.
That would indicate that the project, thought to be a condo/ retail development, could be a lot bigger (and taller) than the community is willing to tolerate, and could draw the ire of local residents concerned about traffic congestion and other matters.
As it is, the neighbourhood isn't starving for food stores, with privately held Bruno's Fine Foods and No Frills already present.
Since opening in Yorkville, Whole Foods has opened additional Canadian stores in Oakville and Vancouver. A second Vancouver site is in development.
 
Whole foods eyes 2nd location to rival Pusateri's
Avenue and Lawrence
Andy Georgiades, National Post
Published: Friday, February 02, 2007
Whole Foods Market Inc., the high-priced natural food retailer, has its eye on a second Toronto location across from Pusateri's at Avenue Road and Lawrence Avenue, according to a retail-industry source.
For years the proposed site housed a St. Hubert chicken restaurant, along with an RBCbranch and a Mac's convenience store.

The last tenant was the Joe Volpe leadership campaign headquarters. I'm not so sure the location lends itself to success.
 
Just curious what people are hearing about Whole Foods expansion plans?

In the Yorkville store they responded to a note about crowding saying '2 new locations to be announced shortly'.

That was in January, no announcements yet.

Staff say they have been told Sherway, North York (either opposite Pusateri's or in the a new condo scheduled for the s/e corner of Sheppard/Yonge).

Downtown, The Bay-Adelaide Centre and Harbourfront we're also mentioned.

I think the staff are a bit confused since that's 5 possible locations, not 2.

Anyone have more up to date or accurate info?
 
Any more info on expansion plans?

I think a Whole Foods put in the Harbourfront or Yonge and Sheppard location would really increase the marketability of the areas. It would be the utmost sign of gentrification of an area; akin to having a Starbucks, Dominon or Loblaws opening except at a higher level. It probably wouldn't boost the profile of the surrounding areas of Avenue Rd. and Lawrence as much considering they are already very well established and have a Pusateri's.
 
Whole Foods Expansion

They have officially confirmed a new store for Sherway Gardens.

It will open in the first 1/2 of 2009.

No other new stores confirmed yet....

But I am told a North York location is picked out, and its just a matter of finalizing the lease.

Not sure about others in the T.O. area yet.

However, since their merger with the other U.S. 'natural' retailer 'Wild Oats' got approved in May they just became much bigger in Canada.

Wild Oats operated under the name 'Capers Community Markets' in the Vancouver and Victoria areas (4 or 5 stores) and had plans to expand to Calgary announced.

I don't know, but would assume that the Calgary store will go ahead as a Whole Foods, in Vancouver they will re-banner most of the stores as Whole Foods as they are expanded/renovated, one or two might be closed, as I'm not sure Vancouver can support six Whole Foods stores.

I've also heard whispers about locations in London and Ottawa.

We shall see.

Next expansion announcement will be made with their latest quarterly earnings sometime around the end of this month, we'll see if there's anything Ontario in there then.

****

Expect more from them here (Canada) though, they just hired a Canadian Private label buyer to source many of their 'house-brand' "365" products here.
 
thanks for the updates. Hope to hear where the North York location is soon.
I guess the Sherway Gardens location would reach a lot of people visiting the mall.
 
With the imminent loss of Dominion at Yonge & Sheppard, one would expect a replacement grocery store of some sort...adding thousands of people while removing a grocery store makes no sense. Except I don't think Whole Foods would do spectacularly well there, not yet anyway. Give it 5-10 years.

"North York" almost certainly means Avenue & Lawrence like stated above...if memory serves me correctly, it's *just* within the boundary of North York.
 
I thought the Dominion location at Bayview and York Mills would've been ideal for a Whole Foods, but maybe not enough population around the area?
 
The Capers that I've been to (4th ave, Vancouver) has a relatively small footprint (about the size of a large Rabba) and works very well. It’s across the street from a fairly large Safeway and is still quite busy; different product, different customers. I figure a number of these could be opened around Toronto.
 
The tiny Dominion at Yonge & Lawrence could be a great model, but, as far as I know, it's the only small-scale *big* grocery store.
 
The Sobey's Express on Yonge seems to have about the same selection as that Yonge & Lawrence Dominion.

I love the idea of small grocers in the downtown core. It's so convenient and combines serving lunchtime commuters as well as locals needing groceries. They also seem to be a great source of urban activity. We've come a long way downtown in the past few years when it comes to grocers but I still think there's still lot of space in the downtown market for small grocers. It seems quite remarkable that just 10 years ago all the major grocery stores chains seemed to have no comprehension of urban locations that weren't located in strip malls surrounded by parking. Look at London with its Tesco Metros, Tesco Expresses, Sainbury's Centrals, small Marks&Spencers, Waitroses and others all over the place.

That poses a good question. For all you long-term downtowners, what supermarkets were there downtown 15 years ago? Did the Dominions at the Merchandise Building and St. Lawrence replace other locations, or was there simply nothing?
 
Whole Food prices, I wonder if it will survive in Canada. Maybe it will go the way of Maxi & Co.
 

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