Whole Foods is switching up its Akron plan and will open one of its lower-cost groceries, a new concept called 365 by Whole Foods Market.
Whole Foods — often referred to as “Whole Paycheck” — is set to open the more affordable store in spring 2017 on West Market Street. That’s the site of the former West Point Market property that was originally going to be a traditional Whole Foods.
At 30,000 square feet, it will be 10,000 square feet smaller than a traditional Whole Foods. But the smaller, 365 model will be about 6,000 square-feet larger than the now-razed West Point.
So far, the Austin, Texas-headquartered natural grocery giant has revealed 19 locations for 365 by Whole Foods, with the first one set to open later this month in Los Angeles. The stores are seen as a way to compete on price amid increased competition as traditional groceries boost their organic/natural foods offerings and more specialty stores emerge.
The announcement regarding the Akron store came early Thursday from the city of Akron.
Akron Council President Marilyn Keith said the change is good for the area.
“It’s exciting,” Keith said. “Don’t you think [having more affordable items] makes it more available, more appealing to the neighborhood?”
Keith represents Ward 8, in which the store is located.
Whole Foods has been keeping much of the details of the 365 concept under wraps until the Los Angeles store opens, but Whole Foods Co. CEO Walter Robb said in a call with analysts earlier this year that the stores will have a “very curated product mix.”
He told the analysts that they will be “very focused on creating value for customers, a convenient, quick, shopping experience.”
Robb said that “365 stores can go into a lot of markets we think Whole Foods can’t go in with these bigger” Whole Foods stores.
Close competition
The 365 by Whole Foods will be built less than a half-mile from the Acme Fresh Market No. 1 store, where workers are wrapping up a $9 million renovation. And the 365 store will be about a mile and a half west of the Highland Square Mustard Seed organic/natural food store and cafe, one of three Mustard Seeds owned by the Nabors family of Akron. The Acme store is part of the Akron-headquartered Fred W. Albrecht grocery chain.
Phil Nabors, co-founder and co-owner of Mustard Seed, said he had heard speculation that Whole Foods would opt to build one of its smaller stores in Akron.
He said the 365 store will no doubt “take a cut out of the pie,” but given the demand for organic/natural food, “fortunately the pie keeps growing.”
The Mustard Seed store in Solon is not far from a Whole Foods, while the Mustard Seed in Bath Township is not far from the Earth Fare natural food chain.
Nabors said Mustard Seed will continue to nurture its “longtime relationships with customers, vendors and employees … We’re the real deal. … We’re not a publicly traded company. The money stays here.”
Motley Fool, a personal finance and investing website, reported that the stores’ smaller size means they won’t cost as much to build as the larger Whole Foods stores. The 365 stores will feature more of Whole Foods private label goods, Motley Fool said.
Jeff Turnas, president of 365 by Whole Foods, told the Business Insider website that the stores will have a streamlined design. He said there will be no printed signs in the store. All price tags, will be digital, he said.
The stores will not be a “bare bones” operation like some discount groceries, he said. Prepared food bars will be in the center of the stores. Business Insider said that the 365 stores would offer about 7,000 items, about a third of the products that the traditional stores offer.
Additionally, in-store restaurants are planned.
The Akron 365 by Whole Foods will anchor a shopping center called West Market Street Station. The center is being developed by S.J. Collins Enterprises of Fairburn, Ga. S.J. Collins also is developing a center in Toledo, which will be anchored by a 365 by Whole Foods.
Last month, West Point Market went public with the location of its new store in Fairlawn: the vacant shopping center at 33 Shiawassee Ave. — about 2 miles west of the old store, which closed at the end of last year.
The site is where the iconic Akron specialty grocery plans to reinvent itself, after selling its old site to make way for Whole Foods.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.