Whole Foods Expands to Low-income Neighborhoods

Whole Foods Market (Austin, Texas) is expanding its grocery store chain into more low-income neighborhoods after committing to open four stores in low-income and predominantly minority areas throughout the country six years ago.

Last month, it opened a store in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood of Englewood, where the median income, at $20,500, is about one quarter of the average income where most Whole Foods stores are located.

To make the store a success here, the 18,000-square-foot store has been designed on a smaller scale with lower prices on staples such as eggs and cheese. After surveying residents, the store also features a beer and wine department, a larger beauty department with products geared toward African American shoppers and is willing to hire some employees with criminal records, reports The Wall Street Journal.

This location has joined a growing list of stores the retailer has established in more impoverished areas like Detroit and New Orleans. The grocer plans to open a store in Newark, N.J., next year.