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DETROIT — Whole Foods Market Inc. has opened its first store in Detroit, the upscale grocer’s first step toward entering under-served urban markets.
Whole Foods Market Inc. has opened its first store in Detroit, the upscale grocer’s first step toward entering under-served urban markets.
The 21,506-square-foot store opened in a mixed-use project on Mack Drive in midtown Detroit, not far from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Institute of Arts. The store offers a community room, healthy eating workshops and regular community-giving days.
Whole Foods intends to open stores in Detroit, New Orleans and on Chicago’s South Side during the remainder of this year and next. The stores will have leaner staffing, lower prices and more frozen and pre-wrapped food items.
Some consultants have questioned whether the company, sometimes referred to as “Whole Paycheck,” is damaging its brand equity by going down market. Management, however, defends the strategy as enabling more consumers to shop with the chain.
