Whole Foods Market is looking to expand into dense urban areas with mini-mart style outlets that are much smaller than its full-size supermarkets — and the Big Apple is a key testing ground.
The upscale, Amazon-owned grocery chain recently christened its first “Daily Shop” at 1175 Third Avenue in the Lenox Hill section of Manhattan’s Upper East Side — one of five stores planned for the Big Apple where people on the go can pop in to buy several items.
A company spokesperson told The Post that the Daily Shop will provide “a convenient option for grab-and-go meals and snacks, weekly essentials, and a quick, easy destination to pick up ingredients to complete a meal – with all items meeting the company’s rigorous quality standards.”
Whole Foods officials told the Wall Street Journal that the Manhattan location, a 9,100-square-foot space that is roughly one quarter the size of its chain stores, has brought in higher-than-projected sales figures since its grand opening in September.
Additional stores are in the works for Manhattan with locations in Hell’s Kitchen, the East Village and the StuyTown development. It is unclear when those stores will open.
The company hopes to replicate the success of the small-format store in Washington, DC, where a Daily Shop is due to open in the middle of next year, a Whole Foods spokesperson told the Journal.
“The idea of having a store down the block where you could go and get produce [was appealing],” Arthur Glauberman, a 72-year-old who lives less than a block away from the convenient Upper East Side location, told the Journal.
“I was thrilled that they opened.”
Whole Foods, which has 500 locations nationwide, joins other retailers including Walmart, Sprouts Farmers Market and Publix that have opened up “neighborhood markets” in select towns.
Walmart, which operates more than 150 such stores nationwide, recently announced that it would open two enlarged versions that are 17,000 square feet bigger than the original mini-marts — one in the Dune Lakes region of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., and another in the Vine City section of Atlanta.
The retailer opened its first three neighborhood market stores in its home state of Arkansas back in 1998.
In March, Trader Joe’s opened a small-format store — the 2,800-square-foot Trader Joe’s Pronto — in the Union Square section of Manhattan.
Publix, a supermarket chain that operates 1,440 stores primarily in the southeastern US, opened up seven GreenWise Market locations in Florida — with plans to expand.
The 25,000-square-foot small-format grocery stores place an emphasis on organic and specialty foods.
Companies are looking to take advantage of shifting tastes among consumers — an increasing number of whom have come to rely on fill-in shopping.
According to Placer.ai, big box retailers such as the Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market, Bloomingdale’s and BJ’s Wholesale Club have made inroads into urban areas by opening up small-format stores that have attracted a growing rate of foot traffic.
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