With 10 stores already open in B.C. and Ontario, Whole Foods Market, America’s biggest natural and organic food chain, is set to make deeper inroads into Western Canada – with its first stores in Alberta.
Whole Foods just announced their plans to open a new location in Edmonton’s South Park Centre next year – which will be followed by a new store in Calgary. The chain also announced plans to open its sixth store in B.C. – in the Victoria community of Saanich.
The 42,000-square-foot Edmonton store, set to open in fall 2016, currently houses a Canadian Tire, but the building will be extensively remodeled – including the façade.
Susan Livingston, Whole Foods Market’s executive co-ordinator for marketing in the Pacific Northwest region told the Edmonton Journal that the location was chosen for its accessibility and high visibility.
She said that Whole Foods intends to build relationships with businesses and groups in the community over the next while – eventually holding a hiring fair to find new employees. They also plan to work with local growers and suppliers – and to source as many products locally as they can – at least partly by holding a “vendor fair” for local residents with products they’d like the store to carry.
