While competitors close stores, Whole Foods to open new ones

Amazon is reported as intending to expand Whole Foods stores throughout the U.S. into suburbs and other areas. It also desires to bring its two-hour Prime Now delivery system to all Whole Foods stores anonymous sources tell the Wall Street Journal.

	1 of 2

Whole Foods searching for retail space

Whole Foods employees already are searching out retail space in some parts of Idaho, Wyoming, and southern Utah that they could use. One anonymous source told the Wall Street Journal that the spaces were sometimes up to around 45,000 square feet which would make them a bit larger than the average Whole Foods store by a margin of 2,000 square feet.

The expansion is not likely limited to the Rocky Mountain area but includes other regions that Amazon has not yet announced.

Whole Foods expanded earlier this year

Earlier in 2018, Whole Food launched 365 branded stores. These stores tend to be smaller than the typical Whole Food stores. They have a focus on locally produced goods and are often less expensive than their other stores. The expansion is happening at the same time as other supermarket chains are shutting stores down. This leaves lots of retail space for Amazon to choose from often at reasonable prices.

A recent article notes: "While other supermarket chains shutter stores, scale back on expansion plans or choose not to renew leases, Whole Foods is planting more stores across the U.S. The grocer has long been a favored tenant in the retail real estate world — being a traffic driver to shopping centers and always paying rent on time — and an acquisition by Amazon only made the Whole Foods name more popular. Now, Whole Foods is looking to go after a lower-income household in creating stores that primarily carry less-expensive goods.The Austin, Texas-based chain on Wednesday brought its first 365-branded store to the East Coast, in New York. The Brooklyn location, on the ground floor of a residential building, marks the seventh in the country. Sixteen stores are in the pipeline, according to its website."

Overall Amazon sales doing well

Over late summer and fall Amazon enjoyed sales of $34.3 billion. However, Amazon does not reveal how much of this is due to Whole Foods. Amazon did say it had more customers than ever. It also said that Whole Foods had set a record for selling turkeys. Further information can be found in this article.

Previously published in Digital Journal