Whole Foods Announces 6 Chicago Stores

Whole Foods Market (Austin, Texas) plans to launch six new stores in Chicago, four of which will open in May.

The new stores, all to be located in former Dominick’s locations, will include restaurants, raw food bars, and beverage bars serving coffee, wine and beer. The new features are aimed at attracting neighborhood residents and workers, in addition to the typical grocery shopper, as Chicago’s upscale grocery scene gets more crowded and more consumers turn to grocery delivery services, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

“We took the time to design and build a brand new store for each community that would offer not just a full-service grocery, but also a place to meet friends and share each other’s company,” said Michael Bashaw, president of Whole Foods Market’s Midwest Region, in a statement.

The first of the six stores will open in Streeterville on Jan. 28, followed closely by stores in Lincoln Park near DePaul University (Feb. 25), the West Loop (March 25) and Edgewater (April 29). Later in 2015, Whole Foods will open suburban locations in Evanston, Willowbrook and Elmhurst, Illinois. In addition, Whole Foods Market expects to open two more Chicago stores — in the Englewood and Hyde Park neighborhoods — by the end of 2016.