The Big Organic Apple

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (Austin, Texas), the self-proclaimed “world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods,” will today open a 30,000-square-foot flagship store on Seventh Avenue and 24th Street, in Manhattan's burgeoning Chelsea district. The store, the retailer's first in Manhattan, will occupy the storefront of the historic MercantileBuilding.

Whole Body at Whole Foods Market, also opening today (next door to the supermarket), is a separate3000-square-foot extension of the store, featuring natural beauty and nutrition items (vitamins, supplements, herbs, homeopathic remedies, cosmetics and body care products).

In just 21 years, Whole Foods has grown its natural foods chain to about 110 stores in more than 20 states and Washington, D.C., operating under the Whole Foods Market banner, Bread & Circus, Fresh Fields, Merchant of Vino and Wellspring Grocery. It is also expanding its private labels and moving into related businesses, such as the nutritional supplements it will sell in its adjoining Manhattan location. The retailer said it plans to sell its online Amrion unit.