LOS ANGELES (June 15, 2015) – Whole Foods Market opens its newest Los Angeles location at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 17, at Runway in Playa Vista, 12746 West Jefferson Blvd.
The 35,000-square-foot store, as innovative as the community it serves, is designed to be a lifestyle emporium for food discovery and connection with family and friends. Regular store hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.
“We are thrilled to bring Playa Vista a unique shopping experience that was designed to address the community’s needs and wishes,” said Patrick Bradley, president of Whole Foods Market's Southern Pacific Region. “From the store’s decor to its juice bar with a custom acai bowl station, to our family-friendly restaurant and convenient home delivery, we took the unique culture of this thriving and engaged community into consideration when developing this location.”
With a focus on inspiring the community to be refreshed, eat healthy and live fully, Whole Foods Market Playa Vista offers an array of options for shoppers, from the health conscious to serious food enthusiasts. For example, the produce section features Whole Foods Market’s take on a mobile fruit cart, offering daily cut fruit, with chili powder and lime, cracked coconuts, traditional gazpacho and wellness elixirs – customer can choose from Beauty, Energy, Glow, Golden, and Wellness made with fresh produce and herbs. In the meat department, butchers will cut steaks to order; pork, brisket, whole and heirloom chicken will be served every day, smoked 14 hours the night before. With Playa Vista farmers market sourced filled kouignettes and vegan doughnuts, the in-house bakery features indulgences for every diet.
Additional amenities include more than 200 spaces and a bike lock-up section in the parking structure, free Wi-Fi available to shoppers in seating areas throughout the store, an expanded kid-friendly section in the grocery department and a Kids Club that will host events and activities for area families with young children. Shoppers who buy a case of any product in the store receive 10 percent off.
Opening week highlights include an open air seafood market Wednesday through Sunday, offering fresh, local and sustainable catches, local beef and wine sampling by Hearst Ranch and whole smoked chickens on sale for $6.99.
Whole Foods Market Playa Vista offers expansive social spaces designed to serve as extensions of the home and to cultivate a uniquely connected community, including a full-service bar, Astro Pub, multiple dining areas and seating to accommodate more than 150 people. The art-deco-style, family-friendly restaurant features a full bar with daily happy hour specials, curated craft cocktails using local ingredients, 24 beers on tap and a full menu of sizzling meals like poutine bulgogi and pork belly mac & cheese cooked in a cast iron skillet in the pizza oven. Other menu offerings include shrimp scampi, calamari, flat bread pizzas, vegetarian items such as vegan tofu scallops, and an array of salads, snacks, pub fare and a children’s menu. This is Whole Foods Market’s first restaurant in Los Angeles to serve spirits; it will have daily happy hour deals like $2 off beer and wine from 4 to 7 p.m.
With wind and atmospheric charts that inform the décor and messages on the walls like “cultivate and elevate” and “watch the clouds,” the store was designed in the spirit of innovation and as a nod to Playa Vista’s history of aviation. The space feels uplifting and dramatically open. Colors are light, bright and airy and are meant to inspire the community. Large re-purposed glass panels filter and tint light from outside.
As the company does in every neighborhood in which it opens, Whole Foods Market Playa Vista partnered with like-minded organizations to foster and support the community: Friends of Ballona Wetlands and OurFoods, a social enterprise dedicated to urban agriculture education, will receive 5 percent of the store’s net sales on July 8.
Store Highlights
Home delivery: This is the first store in Los Angeles to open with a dedicated Instacart register and on-site storage for home delivery and personal shopping. To encourage trial, the first Instacart delivery is free.
Prepared Foods: Whole Foods Market chefs work in the open kitchen, creating handmade pizza, whole or by the slice (including stout-crust pizza!), made-to-order sushi, in-house chips, custom-made sandwiches and meals-on-the-go. Includes a large rotating hot bar and organic salad bar, daily breakfast and weekend brunch selections, nine soup wells and Karuba’s Korner, featuring unique global cuisine (jambalaya, paella, and more) made on site. Catering is available for office and home entertaining needs. Locally sourced ingredients include Larder Baking bread in sandwiches, Pacific Pickle Works pickles from Santa Barbara, California, Mary’s Chicken from Sanger, California, and salad greens from Kenter Canyon. Prepared foods items meet the same standards as all products sold in the store.
Coffee Bar: A beautifully designed coffee bar with an Italian-crafted espresso machine, locally sourced Conscious Kombucha and cold brew coffee on tap, offering custom espresso drinks and hand-brewed coffee made with organic, fair trade and Whole Trade coffee beans – shoppers can choose from three rotating single-origin coffees and can choose their own brewing method (Hario V60 Pour Over, Chemex Pour Over, French Press).
Juice & Smoothie Bar: A smoothie and juice bar with a permanent acai bowl station offers made-to-order Sambazon acai bowls and smoothies with choice of toppings, juices and “boost-ups” like pressed ginger, turmeric and wheatgrass. For a sweet treat, mochi ice cream and ice cream sandwiches made with French macaron are available daily.
Produce: Includes an extensive selection of organic fruits and vegetables from local Southern California growers such as Kenter Canyon, Be Wise, Stehly, and R&D Farms’ tree ripe stone fruit program. Seasonal culinary selections include varietal and exotic items from around the globe. Plus, cut fruit, vegetables, veggie pasta noodles, pasta sauces, salsas and guacamole are made in store daily.
In-store Bakery: Offers an in-house cake decorator, bulk cookies and artisan, hand-kneaded, hand-shaped scratch bread that begins with a living 20-year-old starter made with unbleached flour and with no artificial preservatives or hydrogenated fats. Made-in-house pastries include meringues, babka and tarts.
Seafood: Includes made-to-order poke and hand-sliced smoked salmon daily, sustainably sourced fresh fillets, steaks, local and seasonal seafood. Seafood is delivered six days a week. Local items include black cod from Morro Bay, California, sea urchin, Luna oysters and mussels from Carlsbad Aquafarm in San Diego, and Pacific Gold oysters from Morro Bay.
Meat: Butchers can provide any cut and size of the highest quality meats from animals raised without the use of antibiotics and added hormones. All beef, chicken and pork are step-rated, using Global Animal Partnership’s 5-Step Animal Welfare rating system, and adhere to Whole Foods Market’s stringent quality standards. The store features a full line of 100 percent grass-fed organic beef and a full line of organic chicken. Smokehouse offerings include rotating daily specials, marinated and ready-to-cook meat and poultry.
Whole Body: The store features a large “active living” selection of clothing, protein powders and supplements, including a Los Angeles based line of organic cotton and flax clothing made by Relax LA, exclusively at Whole Foods Market, and the first bulk protein powder section in Southern California. Beginning June 24, the store will host a full week of “Ready for Action” events and promotions. All supplements sold at Whole Foods Market are free of artificial colors, flavors and hydrogenated oils; and products with the “Premium Body Care” seal meet the strictest standards for quality sourcing, environmental impact, results and safety.
Specialty (beer, wine, cheese): The store’s handpicked wine collection includes eco-friendly and biodynamic wines starting at $2.49 per bottle, more than 100 bottles less than $10, and a varied selection of hard-to-find, special-occasion wines. The department includes 36 feet of chilled beer with an assortment of local craft beers, domestic favorites and unique imports. A comprehensive selection of raw, grass-fed, farmstead and artisanal cheeses can be cut to order and sampled at any time. Charcuterie, deli meats, many made and roasted in house, using organic, local and grass-fed options, are free of added synthetic nitrates and nitrites. The selection includes an exclusive Cotto Ham from Creminelli, a step-rated and Non-GMO Project-verified ham (from non–GMO-fed pigs).
Grocery: Customers can choose from hundreds of 365 Everyday Value™ products, locally made packaged goods, frozen meals, a new line of Whole Paws pet food products, and home and cleaning products bearing the Eco-Scale label, indicating environmental impact. The bulk section offers dozens of grains, flours, nuts, spices and candies available by the pound, along with an expansive bulk tea section with many organic options.
For details on all upcoming events and activities, click here, follow the store on Facebook or @WFMPlayaVista on Instagram.
Store Contact Information
Johnny Saadeh, Store Team Leader, Johnny.Saadeh@wholefoods.com
Katina Stallworth, Marketing Team Leader, Katina.Stallworth@wholefoods.com
Twitter: @wfmlosangeles
Instagram: @wfmplayavista
Facebook: facebook.com/wfmplayavista
