UWS Whole Foods Offers Neighborhood Preview

I'll probably just wait for the Trader Joe's to open on 72nd- anyone know if this is actually happening?

I live directly next to the new 97th street store. Here's what's been going on in the neighborhood over the last few years with Whole Foods opening here:

Whole Foods signed on as the anchor store in a totally new construction 500,000 square foot mall. Is brand new construction, rather than green use of existing space, one of the "virtuous endeavors" (#1 above) the company is committed to?

As the anchor, Whole Foods had clout to move the location from 97th Street, directly across the street from a health center and down the block from two elementary schools, to the 100th Street corner of the mall but chose not to. Almost 1,000 children will walk twice daily directly in front of their loading docks on 97th street. It is estimated that tractor trailer dropoffs will be 50 to 100 daily, plus a similar amount of smaller truck drops. This will all occur on the one-lane, crosstown 97th Street.

Whole Foods did a presentation to several hundred neighbors here last year, stating how affordable their 365 line is and that they accept food stamps. Approx, 50% of the buildings in surrounding blocks to this new mall are low-income housing. There is also a large senior population, on a fixed income, in the neighborhood. The Associated Market where these residents used to shop for truly affordable food was knocked down to make room for the new mall.

The entire development, not only Whole Foods, has been irresponsibly out of scale for the neighborhood, with Chetrit Group at the lead. Please consider these factors when you shop at this "affordable" "healthy" "local" store.

It is estimated that tractor trailer dropoffs will be 50 to 100 daily

500,000sq. ft. is large enough for two Walmart Supercenters which not only accept food stamps but sell groceries at rock bottom prices. Would you have preferred them?

The Associated store you mention is still open...I just shopped there today. It's a block away at 97th and Amsterdam. There was a diner previously at the current Whole Foods location.

Also, the Associated is MOVING north a couple blocks to another part of the new construction, the building that's almost completed at 100th and Amsterdam. The older and poorer people can still find plenty to eat...don't worry.

Since I happen to own in the neighborhood, I of course have a biased opinion and I'm very happy that Whole Foods is opening. This can only have a positive effect on property values in the area.

Big Blow for Fairways. Anyhow, Whole foods has large lines but their stock price doesn't move up

How so? This Whole Foods is 35 blocks from one Fairway and 25 from the other. I don't know about you, but I prefer my grocery stores 10 blocks or less from where I live.

/Harlem Fairway for the win

i'd like to know what you mean by "move up" considering the stock has tripled in value so far this year. go back further before the market tanked last year, and over the past year the stock is up 50%. movin on up if you ask me

Gothamist crashes when I access Bloomberg terminal. Look at the 2 year graph and WFMI hit bottom in January 09 and now reach a 52 week high in Aug. The Fund Manager dump all its holding of Whole food and the price was stale last year for months before it crash. Whole Food sells organic and Non-organic foods at high prices.

everything hit bottom in january 2009. not many have tripled since then, and furthermore, not many are actually up over the past 12 months.

not sure what you mean by "move up" but the stock price has tripled so far this year. over the last year, if you go back to before the market tanked, the share price is still up 50%.

The lines are long but their stock price too move up

From that upperwestside blog:

The store will be one of only a handful of Whole Foods Markets in the city that will offer beers on tap, served in sealed reusable glass containers that keep the beer fresh for up to a week.

Major score baby!

But can someone tell us if the UWS liberals were up in arms about Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's "anti-health care reform" op-ed (here's his unedited version)?

Whole Foods is really recession proof, the lines are getting longer and longer everyday and for people its more of an experience then just shopping at a grocery store.

Does Trader Joe's do this well too?

Because New Yorkers generally have to deal with small kitchens and very limited storage, we find ourselves going to grocery stores far more frequently than our suburban friends. We also tend to shop more "european' style, going out of our way to specialty markets at least a few times a week. (Which is also why eating out looks so affordable, and easy, by comparison.)

When it comes down to it, produce and meat at most supermarkets suck, so when a Whole Foods comes along it's a real treat to shop somewhere that is clean and has uber-fresh food. As for the "whole paycheck" legend, in NYC, Whole Foods and the greenmarkets can actually be a bargain compared to other local supermarkets.

It is Whole foods marketing for guilty conscious shoppers to believe that shopping at Whole Foods is healthier and conscionable. However buying meat/poultry is just as unhealthy and cruel in Whole Foods as it is in your local grocery store.

I don't even like to eat meat all that much but I buy it specifically for the cruelty and to piss off nutjobs like you. Reminder to self; pick up some veal and foie gras today.

"However buying meat/poultry is just as unhealthy and cruel in Whole Foods as it is in your local grocery store."

And this is based on what?

Didn't the Whole Foods at Colombus Circle have a wine shop for a while?

It did, but apparently zoning rules said it needed its own separate (and street-level, I think) entrance.

"the wine shop (Whole Foods' first in the city" I'm pretty sure that'll be the ONLY one then, right?? At least I thought that's what the people at Trader Joe's were saying to me as to why they couldn't, by law, have the wine shop at the location Union Square AND one at their store in Queens.

My wife hit the wine store there a few days ago (it opened before the rest of the store) and she said it was great. I'm sure the liquor store one block south on Columbus and 96th is sweating it out right now. I personally couldn't care less about Whole Foods except for their gluten free stuff. Whole Foods brand gluten free bread, brownies, pizza crust, etc. are all very good.

The personal beliefs of the CEO should not warrant histrionic reactions by customers given the amount of other virtuous endeavors that the company is committed to.

He's always been a libertarian and if he was a healthcare genious, he'd be running hospitals, not a supermarket chain.

"does indeed sell three kinds of Ed Hardy wines"

Reason enough never to step foot inside.