From its base in the old Barkers department store in Kensington High Street, Whole Foods Market opens it doors, and three floors, to the public on the 6th June.
This is going to be the American company’s biggest store with those three floors offering 80,000 square feet of selling space. The ground floor is the Provision Hall with 28 tills plus an espresso bar, bakery, cheese, olives, charcuturie, wine, flowers and a take-away.
The ‘Upstairs at the Market’ on the first floor will have seating for 350 with outlets selling juice and smoothies, crepes and waffles, ice cream, coffee, puddings and cakes, mezze, pizza, sushi and tapas. There is also a champagne and oyster bar. While on lower Market Hall, there will be groceries, fruit and veg, a butcher, fishmonger, dairy section, eco clothing and homeware.
“Our new Whole Foods Market store on Kensington High Street is truly remarkable. We chose one of London’s most iconic buildings and renovated it from the ground up. We believe that eating proper food is not simply a lifestyle choice – its what people need to do, and that its purchase should be a pleasure.”
“Why can’t a supermarket be as inviting as any other shop? We can’t think of one reason why not.”
I used Whole Foods every day last summer while I was working in Baltimore. It’s a fabulous store with extremely friendly and helpful staff. The range of everything from fruit juices through salads to fresh meat and fish was awesome and the quality very high. I’ll be interested to see how the London store measures up given what sets it apart for me from others is the range and quality of items and the staff.
I for one am looking forward to it opening; I plan to visit ‘sometime’ this month hopefully
I would trek all the way from Norwich for one pack of their Black Organic Tea – I returned from Chicago last summer with a supply… but now the Whole shop is just a railway ride away. Yum yum.
I have returned recently from my 4-week home exchange to Cary, NC. I used Wholefoods EXCLUSIVELY. The take-away food was restaurant quality and offered a fantastically varied menu. As a food shopping experience it put Waitrose (my shop of choice in the UK) in the shade. On one occasion I apologised to a member of staff. The response was (I quote) ‘Ma’am, this is Wholefoods. We are here to serve you : we do the apologies round here’. Will this ethos transfer to the UK?
re comment 5 Gillian Wolfenden,
You are joking ar`nt you?