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…

1. The new 365 stores simply don’t carry the really expensive stuff you find at a regular Whole Foods.
2. More of the foods in the hot food and salad bar will be coming in pre-prepared.
3. The displays will be less elaborate.
4. There won’t be a butcher or a fishmonger.
5. 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

I don’t mean to start another Trader Joe’s style beg-fest thread, but according to a DM reader, Sprouts Farmer’s Market out of California may soon “take Atlanta by storm”.  An article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle last October documented Sprouts move east and recent scouting around Atlanta…

Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Markets LLC is scouting sites in the area, according to people familiar with the company’s expansion efforts.

The grocer recently was named No. 1 on a list of 100 “hot” retailers (ranked by sales growth) from Stores Media, the publishing arm of the National Retail Federation.

It seems like every larger scale mixed use development in Decatur starts out by talking about adding a “grocery store”, but the next question is always “Which one?”  Publix and Kroger are already rather prevalent in the area and Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have made it clear that the area doesn’t work for them.  Perhaps Sprouts could be the answer.  Or perhaps not…

The chain is focused on entering upper income areas. Cities along Georgia 400, such as Sandy Springs, Alpharetta or Roswell, and along the Peachtree Industrial Boulevard corridor, including Chamblee, Johns Creek or Duluth, could be targeted, insiders say. The target demographic is people ages 25 and older, especially the Gen Y consumer.

I guess we’ll see!

Since no one seems to believe me when I say that the city has approached Trader Joe’s about a store in the past and that TJ’s said the numbers just don’t work, here’s a report from a resident who talked with TJ’s CFO last week.  Billy Planer writes in FFAF…

I was in Los Angeles last weekend and my friend introduced me to the CFO of Trader Joe’s. I told him I was from Decatur and he looked up and smiled and said “oh we have heard of Decatur. Your town is very persistent in contacting us about a location there”. He then went on to tell me it won’t be happening…the numbers just don’t work for them and he said that the midtown location is a really nice one but he wishes the roads near it were paved better and he was excited that we may go with Sunday alcohol sales.

“S” recently wrote in with this question…

I heard that Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield has some sort of campaign going to bring Trader Joe’s to Decatur. Do you have any info on this?

On Monday, Rep. Benfield replied to the question…

Yes, for a long time I ran a notice in my weekly community updates encouraging folks to contact Trader Joe’s about opening a location in Decatur. I recently quit running the piece because I ran it for about 6 months. But I’m a big fan of Trader Joes and would love to see them in our community. I learned about the “movement” from Facebook and helped spread the word. By separate email, I’ll forward you one of my old Benfield Beats that publicizes the Trader Joe’s effort.

Link-wise the Facebook page is here, currently sporting 1,111 fans. And to check out the most recent Benfield Beat weekly newsletter, click here!

There’s something to be said for being the home of local newspaper writers.

Both Creative Loafing’s Thomas Wheatley and Andisheh Nouraee live in the Decatur area and generally show a special interest/affinity for our little city.  Both have commented on this site in the past, especially Wheatley, and often topics started in Decatur forums (be it on blogs or message boards) go citywide on a newspaper site.

Thus is the case with my recent posting entitled “When Publix Just Ain’t Enough“.  The letter to the community that inspired the post showed up a couple days later on the Oakhurst Message Board and started a dialog, which Wheatley recently highlighted on CL’s Fresh Loaf blog in a posted called “Oakhurst Residents Push for Trader Joe’s“.

Earlier I said that I loved spreading TJ’s rumors because they generally catch fire faster than a thatched-roof. And while that might be true, at this point I wanted to highlight a couple points regarding this very issue already addressed by the city in a February post entitled “The Value and Importance of a Downtown Grocery“.

Click the continuation to read 2 different comments from Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne that directly respond to bringing a TJ’s into Decatur… Read the rest of this entry »

I love fueling Trader Joe’s rumors.  It’s kinda become an unofficial past-time of mine.

Keeping all of that in mind, here’s an email thread (after the jump) that was passed along to me by Stuart, which claims that Trader Joe’s is looking around Decatur for its next Atlanta opening and expresses Avondale residents’ desire to get a Trader Joe’s somewhere in the “Avondale Estates/Decatur” area.

The Avondale email proposes use of the current Salvation Army store on E. College (who’s lease is up next year) for the next Trader Joe’s site.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that the area 1. hasn’t turned around enough and 2. is too close to the unknown-entity that is the unbuilt Publix store a few blocks down for Trader Joe’s to consider.  Just look at its other locations!

But regardless of the validity of these emails, its interesting to see so many residents in the area passionate for a Trader Joe’s.  Maybe at some point the great amount of interest by local residents will eventually win out over their continuing hesitancy.  In the meantime, I’ll just have to schedule afternoons off from work to get my Mandarin Chicken from the Midtown store. Read the rest of this entry »