AUSTIN, Texas (June 23, 2004) Whole Foods Market® (NASDAQ: WFMI), the world's largest natural and organic supermarket, today opens its newest store, creating nearly 200 new jobs in Fort Collins, Colorado. Centrally located at South College & Rutgers Avenues, Whole Foods Market provides Fort Collins and Northern Colorado Front Range residents with an extensive selection and variety of the highest quality foods combined with extraordinary customer service.
“At Whole Foods Market, our goal is to provide genuine customer service and great tasting food,” said Tim Gates, store team leader, “We believe food in its natural state — free of artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, preservatives and hydrogenated oils — is the best tasting. Our team members are excited to help shoppers explore amazing food.”
Fort Collins' newest store features one of the largest selections of fresh seafood in the city. In addition, shoppers will discover: a selection of cheeses from around the world; more than 20 varieties of olives, an in-house meat and seafood smoker, an in-store coffee roaster; nearly 300 varieties of bulk items, house-made tortillas and an in-house pastry team. The prepared foods section will feature a rotisserie, a hearth pizza oven, handmade sushi and two salad bars — in addition to entrées and side dishes prepared fresh every day. Eight varieties of fresh soups will be offered daily. Additionally, Whole Foods Market's Salud!® Cooking & Lifestyle School will be adjacent to the store, offering daily classes in cooking, nutrition and fitness.
The new Whole Foods Market also contains a Whole Body department, featuring vitamins, supplements, herbs, homeopathic remedies; cosmetics and natural body care products. Customers can trust that all of these products have been proven safe using non-animal testing methods.
As part of the grand opening festivities, Store Team Leader Tim Gates and his team untied a large bow gracing the store's front entrance at 10:00 a.m.
Honoring the company's corporate philosophy of Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet, all Whole Foods Market stores host Community Giving Days periodically within the year, whereby a nonprofit organization receives a percentage of the day's sales. The new Fort Collins store will hold a Community Giving Day on Saturday, June 26, to benefit the Larimer County Search and Rescue, a local nonprofit organization of more than seventy volunteers that provides human rescue in the wilderness areas of Northern Colorado.
“At Whole Foods Market, we are passionate about supporting the needs of the Fort Collins area community,” said Kim Mueller, store marketing director, “We will be partnering with many nonprofit groups and schools in Fort Collins, helping to maintain the unique sense of shared fate, environmental awareness and enthusiasm that exists in this city.”
This is the first Whole Foods Market to open in Fort Collins. The company also has locations in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Highlands Ranch.
