NEW YORK (August 23, 2012) – Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM), the world’s leading natural and organic supermarket, will open the doors to its 57th Street store on Manhattan’s East Side today at 9 a.m. To celebrate the opening of this location, the store will be donating 57 salad bars to schools throughout the five boroughs in partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the Whole Kids Foundation™, a Whole Foods Market foundation dedicated to improving childhood nutrition through increased access to healthy foods. With plans to implement this initiative throughout the 2012-2013 school year, the new salad bars will give thousands of children access to fresh produce and help them learn to make healthy choices for life.
Located at 226 East 57th Street between Second and Third Avenues, the new location will open with their traditional bread breaking ceremony, which is open to the public. Five percent of total sales from opening day will go towards the school salad bar donation. A variety of fundraising programs to support this initiative will continue through the fall, including a citywide Whole Foods Market five percent donation day on Sept. 6th. A host of vendor partners contributing to the salad bar endowment include: Olivia’s Organics, DiMartino Pasta, Happy Baby, Honest Kids, Laurel Hill, Kind Snacks, Nature’s Path, Organic Valley, Popcorn Indiana, Rao’s, Skinnypop, Zico, Brad’s Raw Chips, Happy Herbert’s and Freebird Chicken.
“Thanks to our pioneering initiatives, New York City has recently defied the national trend and seen an unprecedented decline in childhood obesity,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Giving every student access to healthy fruit and vegetables is the next step in countering the obesity epidemic and getting kids started on a healthy habit for life. Kids love salad bars in schools – I keep hearing that they are often the first choice for lunch – and this donation from Whole Foods will help bring this delicious and healthy option to more kids.”
57TH STREET STORE FEATURES
The 33,500 square-foot store will share a space with two public schools, PS 59 and the High School of Art & Design. To reflect this proximity, Whole Foods Market has incorporated playful and educational elements into the store and partnered with the High School of Art & Design to create one-of-a-kind cafe table tops, featuring students’ very own Whole Foods Market-inspired versions of some of the world’s most recognizable artistic masterpieces.
“We’re so pleased to finally be able to bring a location to service the east side of Manhattan,” said Christina Minardi, Northeast regional president for Whole Foods Market. “In addition to the quality and service that our shoppers have come to expect in our six current Manhattan locations, the 57th Street store is unique in not only the products that we offer, but the level of commitment we’ll have to our neighboring schools and residents of this area.”
Additionally, shoppers will delight at the new and exclusive offerings to the 57th Street store, such as:
• “French Press To Go” cups will allow customers to choose from any bulk coffee beans in store to make their own personal and unique French pressed cup of coffee to-go.
• Delicious new health-focused meat offerings include Whole Foods Market’s Health Starts Here sausages in delicious flavors like Latin Black Bean Chicken and Mediterranean Broccoli Rabe & White Bean Chicken.
• A variety of new prepared foods options for quick meals on the go including an array of housemade whole wheat focaccia bread sandwiches, with local bread baked exclusively for Whole Foods Market from the famous Balthazar Bakery.
• An all new “Take and Bake” program will give seafood lovers an opportunity pickup already assembled dishes like Honey Dijon Salmon and Health Starts Here Scallops with Pineapple Salsa. Just take these home and pop them in your oven for a satisfying, easy dinner.
• A fresh juice bar will offer a variety of energizing and nutritious options.
• A sprouted bulk section full of hearty grains for at-home baking, brewing and more!
The bakery department will offer customers baked goods for all hosting and dining needs, including fresh-baked breads and muffins, cakes, pies and pretzels. In line with Whole Foods Market’s commitment to strict animal welfare quality standards, the meat department will provide shoppers the highest quality meat free of antibiotics and added growth hormones, including locally sourced options from farms in the northeast. The seafood department will offer fresh-caught seafood, sourced by both local vendors throughout the area as well as from our day boats at Pigeon Cove, the company’s seafood processing facility in Gloucester, MA. With our Whole Foods Market 365 Everyday Value™ line of high-quality household staples, our grocery department is a one-stop shop for all your pantry needs.
Dedicated to pampering and caring for the body, the Whole Body department will be lined with luxurious personal care and beauty items made from the best natural and organic ingredients along with nutritional supplements, herbal remedies and top-of-the-line baby care items.
For more information about our 57th Street location, find us on Twitter @wholefoodsnyc or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wholefoodsnyc. To learn more about opening celebration events and dates, please contact Jessica Alter, 212.829.0002 x.104, ja@sharpthink.com.
Whole Foods Market – 57th Street
226 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022
646.497.1222
Regular Store Hours: [Mon –Sun] 8 AM – 10 PM
