Whole Foods “365” Store – Competitor to Trader Joe’s – Confirmed For Just North of Decatur
Decatur Metro | May 4, 2016 | 9:19 pm
It’s the Whole Foods/Trader Joe’s news you’ve been waiting for! Here’s the release from the folks at Whole Foods…
365 by Whole Foods Market™, a concept grocery store that provides simple, affordable and convenient everyday shopping without sacrificing the quality standards and dedication to food transparency that Whole Foods Market pioneered, has chosen Decatur, Georgia as one of a select group of cities to roll out its new store and branding.
The new evolution of grocery stores by Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) will be unveiled at North Decatur Square, a new shopping plaza to be constructed at North Decatur Road and Church Street by Fairburn-based developer S.J. Collins Enterprises.“The 365 by Whole Foods concept will be a great fit for this new, growing retail corridor in the north end of Decatur,” said Jeff Garrison, partner at S.J. Collins Enterprises. “Close to downtown Atlanta, this location is ideal for shoppers looking for good, healthy and convenient food options that the grocery store will provide, along with several other chef-driven and fast-casual restaurants that we expect will fill North Decatur Square.”
The first 365 by Whole Foods will open in Silver Lake, Calif. on May 25, 2016, followed by about 10 more over the next year, including cities like Lake Oswego, Ore., and Bellevue, Wash., Santa Monica, Calif., Evergreen Park, Ill., Sycamore Township, Ohio and Gainesville, Fla., among others.
North Decatur Square will include approximately 90,000 square feet of commercial space, including the grocery store and additional retail and restaurant tenants. It is expected to open in Spring 2018.
What exactly is a Whole Foods “365”? Buzzfeed describes it in a way that only Buzzfeed can…
- The new 365 stores simply don’t carry the really expensive stuff you find at a regular Whole Foods.
- More of the foods in the hot food and salad bar will be coming in pre-prepared.
- The displays will be less elaborate.
- There won’t be a butcher or a fishmonger.
- 365 stores are smaller and cheaper to build.
And in case that’s not enough info for you, check out this Washington Post article titled “What to Expect From Whole Foods New Low Price Grocery Chain“.
Rendering of Silver Lake 365 store courtesy of Whole Foods Market 365 website
Well I guess I should be happy we are getting something but I don’t like the 365 brand items at whole foods so I am really disappointed. I thought it was going to be a whole foods. Sad!
I don’t think that they sell only 365 items, or it would be a small store indeed. But if you have heard/read otherwise, let me know so that I can go ahead and get disappointed early and get it over with.
To satisfy the masses, can we just refer to this as concept as a “fancy Trader Joes” instead of a “downmarket Whole Foods”?
I, for one, welcome our new “Half Paycheck” neighbors…
How about we call it Half Foods….
@Jeff is right we will only refer to the store as Half Foods or Half Paycheck. I will never refer to it as 365.
I guess having more options in/near Decatur is a good thing. The produce at the Earth Fare at Emory Point is horrible and actually has mold on some items in store. So I’m not optimistic about the EF they’re building.
I won’t pay $5 for an avocado if Half Foods prices are like Whole Paycheck. I will likely continue to buy my organic produce at YDFM, but my other half is excited about the prepared meals Half Foods will have. She thinks it will be like Trader Joe’s in that respect. I love TJ’s so we’ll see if it can measure up.
Trying to think of where exactly this fits on the intersection of N Decatur & Church…. It obviously isn’t going in where the LA Fitness just went up. Is this taking over the area that is currently occupied by the Nalley Nissan dealership that said it is moving?
I believe it’s going in the spot Nalley is vacating.
That’s pretty close to the new Sprouts.
Yes. We are being overwhelmed by grocery options…Walmart, YDFM, Kroger, Publix, Sprouts, 365
While I welcome more close to Decatur grocery store options, all of these, except arguably the little Kroger, are or will be designed to be reached by car only. Decatur would really benefit from a grocery store that is easily and safely accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. And yes, even if some people would never shop for groceries by walking or biking, there are a lot of people who would, if the option existed.
i find riding to ydfm isn’t so bad.
Agreed. Plenty of people do it. I don’t see how is “designed to be reached by car only” when a bike trail will take you within a quarter mile or so of its entrance.
I also ride to YDFM and it is definitely not very difficult to ride there. But that is not the point that I was trying to make. I was commenting on the car-centric design of these locations. That last quarter mile is not at all bike friendly and probably deters most people from biking there. Downtown Decatur is far more pedestrian and bike friendly. More smaller grocery store options in downtown Decatur would allow more people, who would never bike to those car-centric places, to not have to use their cars as much. That’s the main point that I was trying to make.
Because the land downtown is more expensive, a walking oriented store will draw from a smaller radius and the Kroger is already serving the existing demand for groceries convenient to downtown. As density grows downtown, there will probably be enough demand to support a smaller “bodega” scale place like candler park market. But a larger grocery store will always prefer to be on a major thoroughfare to make it more convenient to a broader population.
This is likely true. If you’ve been around a long time you’ll remember the state of the convenience stores on the square ten or twenty years ago. Granted they’re still convenience stores, but they’ve definitely become a little more bodega-like since we got housing downtown.
Oakhurst market is walkable/bike-rideable.
Yes, and having more of these types of markets throughout Decatur would be great.
Initial thoughts :
* Commissioner Rader yet again has failed to put a developer in touch with the DHNA and Church Street area neighborhoods ahead of a project being announced. Four projects in a row, folks. (Thank goodness for Davis Fox who has let the developer know to contact us.)
* What’s their plan for minimizing impact on the N. Decatur Rd/Church St intersection? Pedestrian safety upgrades are needed ahead of adding a shopping center to this corner. Traffic-wise, current traffic coming from Decatur on the Church St side has increased to where it’s already difficult to exit/enter Sycamore Drive. It negatively impacts DeKalb Medical (ambulance route, main deck, and professional buildings), and burdens the neighborhoods by pushing more and more traffic over onto Forkner Dr to enter Church St at the traffic light. Offsetting what will come with this more intensive commercial use must be dealt with upfront.
* Can 3 higher end grocery stores succeed at this one intersection? Along with Sprouts, Fuqua’s Phase III includes an upscale Aldi-type store. (And when counting grocery stores, don’t forget Patel’s– boy, do they stay busy!)
* (Personal peeve) Don’t need a North Decatur Square on every corner. That’s the name of the Big Kroger shopping center.
It does seem odd they would have the same name as another nearby shopping center–I assume they will eventually change the name.
no butcher or fish monger is disappointing
I am hoping they have produce and are not like that store on Druid Hills–fresh foods or fresh farms? Or something like that which seems to be mostly prepared foods and organic candy.
Not the great news I was hoping for when I read the headline. We need a Trader Joe’s south of the tracks.