Last quarter, Whole Foods Market announced that it will be opening a new location at 1030 Lakeway Drive, where The Market closed in December. Shoppers can expect to visit the new store by summer 2016.
Among them will be Western junior Elisha Hansen, who says she will definitely shop there. “I like organic food and I’m vegan,” she said. Hansen believes that Whole Foods will do well in the Bellingham community.
Whole Foods specializes in organic food and has a reputation for offering higher prices than competitors. This may be why the high-end market chain is sometimes lightheartedly referred to as “Whole Paycheck”.
Some of the most price-sensitive shoppers in the city are Western students. A social media poll indicated that many students wouldn’t shop at the new market due to its high prices.
I’m personally very fickle when it comes to the price of my groceries, but I’ll be curious to see how Whole Foods succeeds in this community. The new Whole Foods will be entering an extremely competitive market. Bellingham shoppers have their pick: there’s Costco, Safeway, Winco, Fred Meyer, Haggen, Albertsons, and the Community Food Co-op, to mention a few.
It’s great for us as consumers to have access to a diverse and competitive market because we have greater power of choice. It’ll be interesting to see how that choice comes into play with competitors Whole Foods and Fred Meyer across the street from one another.
The Lakeway location will be the first Whole Foods Market in Whatcom County. Currently, the closest location is more than 50 miles away, in Vancouver, B.C.
Read more: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2015/02/11/4127805/whole-foods-market-plans-to-open.html
Chime in: Do you plan to shop at the new Whole Foods in 2016?
