(Photo by Paul Heaberlin)
Organic über-market Whole Foods is continuing its march toward world domination by doubling its number of GTA stores. The Post reports that the two new locations, which will be the same size as the downtown outlet, will open at the Hullmark Centre near Yonge and Sheppard (right where the rumours dictated) in 2013 and at Square One next year. The suburbanization of Whole Foods comes after the company discovered that many of its Yorkville customers presently drive in from the city’s fringes. The openings are in contrast with the strategies of such supermarkets as Metro, Loblaws, Longo’s and Sobey’s, which are focusing on downtown expansions. Of course, Whole Foods has never been afraid to do things a little differently: the CEO recently announced that the store would base its employee discounts on workers’ BMI indexes.
• Whole Foods to double its GTA footprint [National Post]
• Whole Foods to give greater employee discounts to workers with lower BMI, cholesterol [New York Post]
what happened to talks of sherway???
February 23, 2010 at 10:05 am | by tdceo is a d–che, corporate scam, everything they touch turns to cr-p
February 23, 2010 at 12:05 pm | by whole barfWhile I like most of the organic products at Whole Foods (as well as the freebie samples! :0), I’m not a big fan of the pretension. You can cut the Oakville Whole Food’s smug-factor with a knife, it’s so thick in there sometimes. In simple terms, organic just means food grown the way it has been for thousands of years, without the crap (pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.)and without genetic modification. What’s there to be so smug about? Walmart also does a mean organic, or so I hear, and there’s precious little smug-factor to be found in that place (I personally never enter without a paper bag over my head…). Nonetheless, I do support Whole Foods for spearheading the organics revolution on an international scale, and, as I mentioned above, for their (pretentious word alert!) ubiquitous freebies.
March 13, 2010 at 11:51 am | by Charlotte CreamerIt too little, too late. I used to make the unpleasant drive to Yorkville Whole Foods but I recently found the equivalent at my local Wal Mart and grocery stores for a Whole lot less.
March 25, 2010 at 11:01 pm | by PedroOh if price was the only factor. Compare business practices of the two companies including the treatment of workers. That cheap food from Walmart comes at a price too hight for any of us to pay. I will continue to shop at Whole Foods. I want my money to go to a company with integrity. If only all businesses where like whole foods the world would be a better place:).
September 20, 2010 at 8:55 pm | by Jennifer DePierroWhole foods can’t be trusted. They actually state the soy is healthy for you!
September 8, 2011 at 6:22 pm | by Crazycanuck