Whole Foods Market (WFM), a unit of Amazon, earlier this month announced that it will open a new, quick-shop store format designed to provide customers in urban neighborhoods a quick, convenient shopping experience with easier access to the fresh offerings that can be found at its Whole Foods units.
The new format, called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, will initially launch on the Upper East Side in Manhattan with additional locations in New York City to follow. The first store, located at 1175 Third Avenue, is expected to open later this year. Following the New York City launch, the company said Whole Foods Market plans to bring the format to other cities across the country.
Ranging from 7,000 to 14,000 square feet, the quick-shop stores are about a quarter to half the footprint of an average 40,000 square foot Whole Foods Market, paving the way for expansion in dense, metropolitan areas. In busy areas like Manhattan, the retailer is hoping to bring Whole Foods Market closer to existing customers, while extending the company’s reach to others in surrounding neighborhoods, the retailer noted.
The new Whole Foods Market Daily Shop will provide a convenient option for grab-and-go meals and snacks, weekly essentials, and a quick, easy destination to pick up ingredients to complete a meal – with all items meeting the company’s quality standards. Though smaller, the stores will still offer Whole Foods Market best-selling items, including a selection of fresh, seasonal produce, meat and seafood, prepared foods such as sandwiches and pre-packed meals, breads, alcohol, and supplements, as well as a handpicked range of local specialties and its own 365 by Whole Foods Market brand.
In addition, the location will be the first Whole Foods Market store in Manhattan to offer Juice & Java, a venue for coffee, tea, fresh pressed juices, smoothies, sandwiches, soups and various desserts.
“At our new store formats, we’re tailoring every square foot to the unique, fast-paced needs of urban lifestyles. We’re excited to introduce a new way for our customers to quickly pick up their Whole Foods Market favorites – from grab-and-go meals to that last-minute dinner ingredient – making the early morning or after work grocery trips more efficient and enjoyable,” said Christina Minardi, executive VP-growth and development, Whole Foods Market & Amazon. “Expanding our footprint with Whole Foods Market Daily Shop is key to our growth, fostering deeper customer connections, and advancing our purpose to nourish people and the planet.”
Minardi is a New Jersey native who also served as Northeast Region president for 12 years.
The new format stores will not replace the traditional Whole Foods Market store format. In 2023, Whole Foods Market added its 17th store in New York City at One Wall Street.
The new Daily Shop format also will not replace the company’s seven Manhattan Amazon Go stores, which are smaller (about 1,800 square feet) c-stores of which there are seven in Manhattan and 22 in the U.S.
Despite criticism of its multi-faceted grocery platforms, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, speaking to financial analysts after last month’s strong Q4 earnings call, said he is “pleased with the progress we’re making” in the grocery segment of the business. That includes its Amazon Fresh locations, online sales of groceries through its website, and about 530 Whole Foods Market locations.
“It’s a big business, and it’s continuing to grow at a very healthy clip, and we’re really pleased with that business. And it’s really the way that most mass merchandisers got into the grocery business a few decades ago,” he said.
He added that the company began work last year remodeling select Amazon Fresh locations.
“If you want to serve as many grocery needs as we do, you have to have a mass physical presence, and that’s what we’ve been trying to do with (Amazon) Fresh over several years,” Jassy said. “We’ve been testing (version 2) of our Fresh format in a few locations near Chicago, and a few locations in Southern California. It’s very early, it’s just a few months in, but the results are very promising and on almost every dimension, and so we need to see it for a little bit longer time, but the results appear like we have something that’s resonating and if we continue to see that, then the issue becomes how fast and what’s the best way to expand.”