This month, Whole Foods opened a new location in Victoria, B.C. Located at the Uptown Shopping Centre, this store is the first Whole Foods Market on Vancouver Island, and the 12th location in Canada.
The 40,000 square-foot location features a variety of innovative in-store experiences, including the Discovery Coffee bar, a Bliss Juice bar, and the Fin and Pearl restaurant and bar, a sustainable seafood restaurant with 12 Vancouver Island craft beers and B.C. wines.
“For more than a decade, we’ve been building relationships in the communities we serve throughout British Columbia, and we’re excited to continue this growth on Vancouver Island,” says Angela Lorenzen, president of Whole Foods Market’s Pacific Northwest Region. “We’ve long believed that Victoria would be a wonderful home for a new store because of our shared values. Like us, this community is a champion for strong, local food systems and believes in environmental stewardship. Our team members, many of whom come from Vancouver Island, have been working hard to create a store experience that reflects what island residents tell us they want and need. (diazepam) We look forward to continuing to build relationships here and serving Greater Victoria.”
Giving back to the community is one of Whole Foods Market’s core values. For the past several years, Vancouver Island residents and Whole Foods Market teams have discussed the community’s priorities and where Whole Foods Market resources might make the greatest impact outside the store. From those conversations, Whole Foods Market has identified several local nonprofit organizations and is building long-range partnerships with the groups to support their great work. One of these partners is The Mustard Seed, a nonprofit devoted to fighting hunger and supporting food access work in Greater Victoria. On opening day, the store’s team members presented a $2,000 contribution to the charity.
In 2016, the Whole Kids Foundation, a Whole Foods Market foundation, awarded garden grants to four Vancouver Island schools; 17 Vancouver Island K-12 schools have received garden grants from the foundation since 2012. Whole Kids Foundation also funded farm-to-school grants at nine Vancouver Island schools in 2016. These grants engage students in gardening, cooking, preserving, purchasing and serving healthy local foods at school.
The company has also announced that a new Toronto will open in 2017 at Bayview and Eglington.
