After years of anticipation, St. Pete’s first-ever Whole Foods Market is officially open at 203 38th Avenue North. The Grand Opening took place this morning, with a line already wrapped around the building as soon as the doors opened to the public.
The popular organic marketplace, now owned by Amazon, is located next to two Publixes on a busy stretch of 4th Street North. Founded in Austin, Texas in 1980, Whole Foods describes itself as “the world’s leader in natural and organic foods,” with more than 500 stores open worldwide. Store hours are 8 am – 10 pm daily.
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This is the first Whole Foods to ever open in St. Petersburg, with the closest current locations operating out of Tampa, Clearwater and Sarasota. Features of the new store include a full-service seafood counter, a specialty department dedicated to celebrating cheesemakers and artisan producers, a full-service meat counter with butchers available to cut steaks to order, a prepared food department, a bakery, and an extensive selection of more than 180 craft beers, with more than 50 beers from local breweries.
A big part of the Whole Foods is approach on regional and local goods, and they have already sourced from some of our St. Pete and Tampa Bay favorites, including Norman Love, Mother Kombucha and Green Bench Brewing.
The store’s design, the company says, “draws inspiration from St. Petersburg, nicknamed the ‘Sunshine City’ for its association with sundials.” A prominent glowing sun greets customers while decor elements throughout the store incorporate sun rays and a palette of warm colors. The new store’s product assortment features more than 800 locally sourced products from the Southeast, curated with the help of Dustin Kennedy, Local Forager for Whole Foods Market.
All food at Whole Foods Market, the company says, must meet “rigorous Quality Standards,” which prohibit hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup and more than 300 flavors, colors, sweeteners and other ingredients commonly found in food. In addition, all beauty and body care products must meet the company’s body care standards, which ban more than 240 commonly used ingredients, including phthalates, parabens and microbeads.
Amazon Prime members who shop at Whole Foods Market have access to several benefits year-round, including deep discounts on select popular products each week and an additional 10% off hundreds of in-store sale items.
Whole Foods describes itself as a mission-driven company on its website:
“Who are we? Well, we seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, and have an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture. Add to that the excitement and fun we bring to shopping for groceries, and you start to get a sense of what we’re all about. Oh yeah, we’re a mission-driven company too.”
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