CEDAR PARK, Texas--The day finally came! I'm so happy Whole Foods decided to have a soft opening because I'm traveling April 26 and couldn't attend the grand opening of the new 365 by Whole Food Market in my neighborhood.
CEO John Mackey has called this store a "2.0" version of the Austin-based company's discount banner, which now has four stores: Silver Lake, Calif.; Lake Oswego, Ore.; Bellevue, Wash.; and Cedar Park.
I saw everything I'd hoped to find in this new store, which, to be honest wasn't that different than the 365 in LA.
Austin-based Juiceland does the smoothies and juices, and Easy Tiger does the bakery, so we've got local collaboration.
But ... did you notice that the 365 is downplayed in the banner? Other versions of this banner have 365 more prominent.
Vedge Valley, the quasi-cooler was in place as well. This will help keep refrigerated vegetables happy.
LOTS of value-added options, but we're not reinventing the wheel here. I see a lot of regional and national players in this case. I suspect this huge variety will be pared down once buyers learn the local consumer preferences.
Some items had an organic and conventional option, like these tomatoes.
Pears didn't. They were organic only.
Fresh-cut fruit and dips. It was a big case. The center of the store was actually cases of grab and go, from sushi to premium juice and kombucha to SNAP Kitchen take home dishes.
There were a lot of Whole Foods' greatest hits on the salad bar...though I'm not 100% sure about a wedge salad as an option.
Really surprised at how small the selection is of fancy cheeses. Everything I read about millennial shoppers indicates they splurge on cheese.
Produce was a toss-up of unit price and by weight. You could print out a sticker to make checkout go faster.
Apples were sold for various unit prices, like these $.60 Pink Ladys. Bananas were 19 cents for conventional and 29 cents for organic.
Over all, I feel like this store was very similar to the previous 365 options. We'll see how this neighborhood does. It's a fast-growing shopping center anchored by one of the busiest Costco Wholesale Warehouses in the Country, with a Wal-Mart Supercenter and an older HEB less than a mile away, along with a SuperTarget and Natural Grocers right around the corner, as well.
What's missing? Sprouts? Trader Joe's?
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