Whole Foods did not say when the Akron store would open or how many jobs it would bring, but confirmed it would be part of West Point Marketplace, 1711 West Market Street, Akron.
AKRON, Ohio -- Whole Foods Market Inc. late Wednesday confirmed that it is the long-rumored natural and organic grocery store headed to West Point Marketplace -- where it will become Akron's first Whole Foods store.
The Akron store was one of eight new leases -- and the only one in Ohio -- announced during Whole Foods' third-quarter earnings released Wednesday. The Austin, Texas-based grocer reported record sales of $3.6 billion for the quarter that ended July 5, up 8 percent over the same period last year.
Whole Foods did not provide an opening date or say how many jobs the approximately 40,000-square-foot Akron store would bring.
It will rise where the nearly 80-year-old gourmet grocery West Point Market now stands. West Point Market will shut its doors at the end of the year, and will remake itself as a series of smaller specialty food stores in Northeast Ohio.
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Scott Allshouse, Whole Foods' regional president "Thank you, Akron, for welcoming Whole Foods Market - we're thrilled to be coming to the area," Whole Foods Market Regional President Scott Allshouse said in a written announcement. "We recognize and respect the unique history of this location. As with every store, we aim not just to open in a community, but to really become a part of it."
Ohio now has seven Whole Foods stores, including locations in Woodmere, University Heights, Columbus, Upper Arlington, Mason, Cincinnati and Dayton. Three more stores are being developed, including a Rocky River store in River Square Shopping Center this September, a Toledo store, and a second Columbus location.
The other leases announced Wednesday are: Whole Foods stores in Exton, Pennsylvania; Charleston, South Carolina; and Kirkland, Washington; and smaller-format 365 by Whole Foods Markets in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California; Portland, Oregon; Houston, Texas; and Bellevue, Washington.
All the stores are scheduled to open by 2017, when Whole Foods expects to have more than 500 stores. It sees the potential for more than 1,200 stores in the U.S.
Whole Foods, founded in 1980, has 424 stores nationwide, including 405 in the U.S., 10 in Canada, and nine stores in the United Kingdom. It employs 90,000 companywide and reported sales of more than $14 billion in 2014.
So far this year, its stores have generated average weekly sales of $728,000, or about $990 per square foot. Its third-quarter profits were $154 million, or 43 cents per share.
As a leading natural and organic foods grocer, Whole Foods says it doesn't allow "artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, preservatives or hydrogenated fats in any of the foods it sells."
