Whole Foods Market will build store in Boise
Source: Idaho Statesman
Ken Dey

Natural foods store Whole Foods Market has chosen Boise for its first Idaho store.
The Austin, Texas, company said Thursday that it will build a 57,000-square-foot store in a new commercial development at the southwest corner of Front Street and Broadway Avenue.
Whole Foods just signed a lease for the property and hopes to have the store open by February 2009, said Scott Simons, spokesman for the company´s Rocky Mountain Region.
"Boise is certainly a city that we feel has a similar set of values to Whole Foods Market," Simons said.
But Ken Kavanagh, manager of the Boise Co-op, which sells natural foods at 888 W. Fort St. -- not far from the planned Whole Foods store -- said the competition could hurt his store.
"It´s not good news," Kavanagh said. "I don´t know how it´s ultimately going to affect us."
Whole Foods stores sell certified organic food and other fresh food. It does not sell products with artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.
Because Whole Foods designs stores for each market individually, the development and construction time is longer than for a typical grocery store.
"Every store we open is completely different. It will be like no other grocery store in the city," Simons said.
Simons said Whole Foods encourages each store to customize offerings to meet the needs of local shoppers, and he said a key focus will be on locally grown food.
"We´ll be developing relationships with local growers," he said.
Much of what Whole Foods plans to offer is already available at the locally owned co-op, which has been selling natural foods for more than 30 years. Kavanagh said he heard rumors that Whole Foods would open in Boise, but discounted them.
"I didn´t think Boise had the kinds of incomes they were requiring," he said.
Although the co-op has grown steadily over the years, Kavanagh said, co-op officials heard recently from a market expert who said there wasn´t enough business in the area to support another store the size of the co-op.
Simons said Boise´s strong economy and growing population were deciding factors in the company´s decision to expand.
"It´s a growing area, and it´s a natural step for us as we expand in the Rocky Mountain region," he said.
But Kavanagh said a locally owned co-op in Sacramento, Calif. , faced a similar challenge from a Whole Foods and survived.
"They did suffer some loss in volume, but six weeks later things were back to normal," he said.
The Boise store will be larger than many existing Whole Foods stores, which typically average 34,200 square feet.
The Boise store will be similar in size to Albertsons stores that average 50,000 to 55,000 square feet.
Simons expects the store to employ between 200 to 300 people. Seven in eight Whole Foods store employees work full time, he said.
Founded in 1980, Whole Foods has 185 stores in 31 states. It has more than 80 leases signed for new stores in development. The closest store to Boise is in Portland.
Whole Foods at a glance
Founded September 1980
Headquarters in Austin, Texas.
More than 185 stores in 31 states with more than 80 leases for new stores signed.
More than 40,000 employees, 87 percent full time.
No. 15 on the 2006 Fortune magazine "100 Best Companies to Work For" list.
Nation´s leading natural and organic supermarket, and the ninth largest food and drug store company in the U.S.
Company went public in 1992 and trades under the symbol WFMI.
2005 revenue: $5.61 billion.
Company motto: "Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet."

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