UPDATE: Decatur Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne declined to comment on this story.
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A report in the Atlanta Business Chronicle this morning about Whole Foods opening a new store at Peachtree Crossing in Chamblee includes this little nugget…
Whole Foods is also scouting for another store in the Decatur area and possibly the Cumberland Galleria, according to people familiar with the talks.
With 600 new apartments being built in downtown Decatur, rising home values in the city and surrounding area, and an EarthFare opening a new location closer to Decatur at Emory Point than any existing Whole Foods, this doesn’t seem a huge surprise. One question will be whether Whole Foods will open an urban location downtown or in a more suburban environment.
We’ve reached out to the city for comment and will update when we hear back.
Thanks to brianc for the heads up!
Photo courtesy of Whole Foods website
How is Earth Fare at Emory Point closer to Decatur than the Whole Foods at Briarcliff and Lavista? OK, it may be .5 miles closer. Silly.
From my abode, which is about as close to the center of Decatur as you can get, the Earth Fare is 1.8 miles closer than the Whole Foods.
It’s actually 1.4 miles according to Google Maps. 🙂 And traffic along that stretch is often quite bad. So it can be an extra 5 minutes. That’s not nothing.
Clifton Road is no dream to navigate either. 😉 Any way you come getting to Emory Point would have traffic.
For me in Oakhurst, it’s a simple, no-traffic drive to Emory Point…East Lake to Ponce to Clifton (by Ferbank), straight across North Decatur and you might hit one of the Emory campus lights. IMO, that stretch of Braircliff from North Decatur to Lavista is the worst. I go to the Whole Foods on Ponce…straight shot, yes with traffic, but it moves pretty quickly depending on time of day. Reeeally looking forward to that Earth Fare though!
Does this mean we get/have to start a vaccine denial group?
https://www.google.com/search?q=vaccine+denial+whole+foods&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
I am totally against this because it will undoubtedly be bad for my account balances. I need for WF to stay in its present inconvenient locations.
Trader Joe’s forgot to tell them that we aren’t affluent enough. 🙂
+1
Whole Foods has better produce and more complete selection than trader joes.
hee hee…*LIKE*
Thinking about that Chamblee location, I believe it will have the distinction of being the closest to a Walmart of all their metro Atlanta locations, fwiw.
Now THAT’S diversity.
You’ll be able to walk between the two on a converted rail-trail. So you could buy a bike in Wal-Mart and then pedal to WF.
I feel plenty close to the one on Lavista considering I use it as a boutique store and not for my nitty gritty groceries. Sprouts, please. You can keep your WF.
WF announced today that they are going to start a chain of lower priced stores to cater to cost-conscious millennials (no really it’s true – http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/05/07/whole-foods-cheaper-millennial-chain/70934302/).
Rumor has it that it will be called “Half Foods” (no, not true, but their stock is down 10% this morning).
Pumped for this news.
I agree with Poplar re: Sprouts vs. Whole Paycheck. The only real positive for me is that we get to send a “NYAH!” in Trader Joe’s direction. 😉
Something I still don’t get is why Decaturites don’t go to YDFM for all their fresh veggies, esp. organic ones. You just can’t beat the price and it’s so close by. Yes, it does involve going to another store for your other grocery items, but really, it’s a no brainer to me. Why would anyone pay whole foods prices for fresh produce or spices? Don’t get that.
The prices at YDFM are great, and if you go at an off-time, it doesn’t have that Who-Concert-in-Cincinatti feel. WF showing up here wouldn’t change much for our shopping budget beyond going there for convenience when we have to stock up unexpectedly.
I completely agree. I also for the most part don’t shop at WF, in part because of their CEO’s frequent criticisms of universal healthcare.
Not to get into a debate, but the employees of WF love the style of healthcare the company provides. He would just like to see that system become more prevalent. Man, you must not shop anywhere, as even some liberals don’t believe in universal healthcare (single payer)!!
It’s not about what healthcare is provided to WF employees. It’s about a CEO spouting bad public policy all over the media.
Sorry – It must be tough. But many of us are proud of CEOs who take a strong stand on issue we agree with. Too many are held hostage to aggressive activism and decide to simply shut up and count their money.
I don’t always agree, but I appreciate people who have the courage to live their beliefs in public.
I find this response HILARIOUS considering the owner of YDFM are well-known for bragging in the press about how he refuses to give health insurance to his employees and works through every loophole he can to limit benefits to a mostly immigrant workforce. He also does not pay a decent wage. So yeah, boycott Whole Foods, where employees have retirement, insurance, and decent wages because the boss of that publicly traded company is a blowhard.
I don’t shop at YDFM because I refuse to so directly support the corporate exploitation of its workers. We can’t seem to avoid it in this world, but that is just one place I refuse to support while it is under its current owners.
Because other business carries me out that way, I get produce and sometimes fish/seafood every couple of weeks or so at the Buford Hwy Farmers Market. It’s an all around much more pleasant experience than YDFM. I don’t even mind going there on Saturdays. Busy, but navigable.
How is YDFM a farmers’ market? I’m certain the farmers who YDFM buys their produce and meat from are nickel and dimed the same as the YDFM employees are. It’s all about the profit. YDFM is not a benevolent company as so many people perpetuate it to be. It’s not a force for good.
“I find this response HILARIOUS considering the owner of YDFM are well-known for bragging in the press about how he refuses to give health insurance to his employees and works through every loophole he can to limit benefits to a mostly immigrant workforce.”
Nelliebelle,
Can you point me to a source where the YDFM owner brags about these things? I’ve seen that they don’t give health benefits, but I haven’t been able to find anywhere (online at least) where the owner brags about it. I’m genuinely curious.
There is an article on the expansion in Creative Loafing. I’d dig it up for you but I have two tiny gremlins screaming for attention. There has been other stuff over the years- there was an article in the DeKalb Neighbor a few years ago and some other local stuff. I actually found out from former employees how truly bad working conditions are.
I definitely don’t fault employers for not being able to fully subsidize healthcare costs to every employee. But when I hear really wealthy people disparaging universal healthcare, something about it really rubs me the wrong way. Didn’t know that was the case with Whole Foods leadership. Thank you for passing that along.
YDFM owners got very wealthy off the backs of an immigrant workforce that they refuse to pay a living wage and offer enough hours to qualify for benefits. The co-founder of Whole Foods actually has policies in place that treat his employees quite well. I may not agree with his politics, but his actions put him miles above the YDFM owners.
That’s where I go for my fruits and veggies, every week. I can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods, mostly because of the Target Syndrome: I would go in there for two specific things and come out with fifteen, and be about a hundred dollars poorer.
What Isa said.
I was told by several people in City Hall that Whole Foods was very seriously looking at going into the future Cousins development on the Callaway Property at McDonough & Trinity. House Bill 85, which was just passed last month, allows for the City to lift the distance requirement to sell beer & wine there, even though it too close to the school under old state laws.
http://www.decaturish.com/2015/04/legislature-lifts-alcohol-restrictions-that-would-limit-callaway-development/
I’m all for the grocery option downtown and especially in that area, but is WF really the option that’s going to meet the needs of the broadest swath of the population? And I say that as someone who likes to pick up a few things there every so often (but NOT produce — hello YDFM). I’d hope that whatever grocery option we get in that vicinity would have something to offer folks at all income levels.
Sounds like the rest of us will have to continue battling our way to YDFM and either Publix or Kroger . . . Since “the rest of us” are a steadily declining portion of New Decatur’s citizenry, it probably matters not . . .
Let them eat (Publix) cake.
I remember when Publix WAS the expensive, rich peoples’ grocery store.
Let them eat (Wal-Mart) cake!
I haven’t heard that the little Kroger is going anywhere, so there is still that option. Maybe the competition will spur them to expand and spruce up a bit.
Does anyone else always think of KMFDM every time they see YDFM written?
Never heard of KMFDM.
I do . And I hate for you that I’m the company you’re stuck with.
Me too! I had the privilege of seeing KMFDM live in the 90’s. Great fun.
Car magnet at Trinity and McDonough is hard to imagine.
Yes, please! The other two “nearby” locations are not really convenient with the traffic around here. I would pick Whole Foods over the Dekalb Farmer’s Market any day! I know many will disagree, but for many reasons ranging from the awful shopping experience to the ridiculous clear cutting they’ve done, I will never shop at YDFM again. Come on over, Whole Foods!
“I know many will disagree, but for many reasons ranging from the awful shopping experience to the ridiculous clear cutting they’ve done, I will never shop at YDFM again.’
+100
The point of the clear cutting is to improve the shopping experience. So, now what? 😉
Please show me a Whole Foods location that wasn’t clear cut. Maybe WF didn’t do the actual clear cutting, but I can assure that the sea of asphalt and/or concrete on which said Whole Foods sits is not indigenous to that location.
Whole Foods business model is actually predicated on purchasing stores that are already built out. They rarely go into brand new locations. That was one reason I bought stock years ago. Most stores they build out were already there as something else. It lowers the start up cost.
The owner of YDFM has said that he plans to plant at least as many trees as was cut down.
And I’m sure they’ll be as large and mature as the ones taken out and that the wildlife that were run out will immediately return.
Considering how badly Your DeKalb Walmart Farmers Market treats it employees, then I would expect the trees to be the cheapest seedlings they can get their hands on.
If he’s smart, he’ll plant a buttload of fruit trees then sell us fresh fruit on site. The wildlife will surely help itself to some, and we can have the rest.
Where is he going to plant an entire forest?
I would guess either the Calloway redevelopment or the Selig property on Church/Commerce. Or maybe Avondale MARTA TOD since the developer mentioned a grocery store the other day.
I am happy to have Whole Foods here.
I am happy to have Big/Little Krogers here and Medium Publix too.
Ditto for the Decatur Farmer’s Market.
I have never been to YDFM in one of its quieter times of day and it’s not on my way to anywhere but I’m happy to have it too for my occasional use.
I would be happy to have Trader Joe’s here.
Ditto for Sprouts, Earth Fare.
I have teens in my life and they eat a lot so all food sources are welcome. I develop an efficient plan of attack for each source based on price and family demand.
Best comment in this whole thread.
i completely resent the balance and reasonableness of your comment.
it’s, it’s . . .
unseemly
Heard back from the city this afternoon. Decatur Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne declined to comment on the story.
You can order from WF via instacart right now if going to Briarcliff/lavista is just too far.
Good point. How is Instacart doing? I love the concept but haven’t ended up using it like I thought I would. It would have been great when there were little ones that kept one either stuck at home or forced to have a major expedition to the grocery store complete with diaper bag, toys, snacks, and patience on the part of both parent and other store customers. Now with big gangly bodies to feed, I find that grocery shopping is most efficient if I just grab the biggest cart available and go up and down the aisles to remind myself of what we need despite the fact that I just bought 10 boxes of it 3 days ago.
I hope Rainbow is able to hang in there.