Whole Foods makes Wall Street premiere

Whole Foods Market on Thursday held a grand opening for a new supermarket in the historic One Wall Street building in Manhattan.

The 42,000-square-foot store, at 66 Broadway, sits in the city’s Financial District and reflects the Art Deco history of the building, including Wall Street-inspired influences. For the opening event, the first 200 shoppers received a Whole Foods tote bag and $10 gift card. Operating 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., the store also offered giveaways, free samples and live entertainment.

With the One Wall Street location, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods now has 18 stores in New York City, including 14 in Manhattan and four in Brooklyn. The most recent NYC opening came in June, when a 54,000-square-foot location launched at 63 Madison Ave. in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood, near such landmarks as the Flatiron Building and Madison Square Park.

The produce department at Whole Foods' One Wall Street store offers fresh fruit and vegetables from more than 20 local farms. / Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

For on-the-go New Yorkers, the One Wall Street store houses a prepared-foods section with a “food hall feel,” Whole Foods said. The area includes hot and cold food bars, made-in-house rotisserie chicken, sushi by Kikka and a self-serve pizza station. A full-service coffee bar offers drip coffee from Partners Coffee in addition to lattes, cold brew and teas, and seasonal winter drinks like strawberry mochas. Also on the beverage side, the store features more than 200 craft beers, including local brews such as Lifted IPA from Interboro Spirits & Ales, Wavetable IPA from Grimm Artisanal Ales, Vliet Pilsner from Threes Brewing and Sun Up Hazy IPA from TALEA Beer Co.

The product mix at the new Whole Foods store, unsurprisingly, has a strong New York theme. Its selection includes more than 1,000 local items from New York City and the surrounding area, curated by John Lawson, local forager for Whole Foods’ Northeast region. There’s also an assortment of organic, conventional and Sourced for Good produce as well as products from more than 20 local farms, such as salads from Gotham Greens’ New York City farms, herbs from Square Roots and Omakase Berries from Oishii.

Made-in-house bread and popular daily items such as Whole Foods’ Berry Chantilly Cake, brown butter cookies, and vegan croissants and scones are available in the fresh bakery. Local offerings include organic grain artisan breads from Bread Alone, pitas from Angel’s Bakery and Italian pastries from Palazzone Pastry Lab.

Located at 66 Broadway in the Financial District, Whole Foods' latest Big Apple store sports a strong New York theme. / Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market

The new location, too, features a specialty department highlighting cheesemakers and artisan producers. Local items include fresh pastas from Severino Pasta, mozzarella cheese from Lioni Latticini and vegan “cheeses” from RIND. Overseeing the cheese counter is a Certified Cheese Professional who can provide customers with recommendations for various occasions as well as create custom boards.

Likewise, the full-service meat counter has butchers on hand to cut steaks to order or debone poultry. The department serves up dry-aged beef, ground beef and made-in-house sausages, along with local options such as pork from Briar Woods Farms and sausages from Brooklyn Cured. Meanwhile, the seafood department offers a wide shellfish selection and ready-to-cook items, plus local fare such as smoked salmon from Catsmo Artisan Smokehouse and Acme Smoked Fish, seafood cakes from Lagniappe Foods and oysters from West Robins Oyster Company.

Whole Foods noted that the One Wall Street store also includes one of the retailer’s first-ever Local and Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP) cohort members, Brooklyn-based CHKP Foods, whose chickpea plant-based yogurt launched in Northeast stores this January. The LEAP program provides mentorship, education and potential financial support to spur business growth.