SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 27, 2003) Whole Foods Market, the world's largest retailer of natural and organic foods, opens its first Sacramento area store Wednesday, June 11. This is the 15th Whole Foods Market in Northern California and like its counterparts, provides natural and organic products that are free of artificial additives, hydrogenated oils, sweeteners, colorings and preservatives, as well as approximately 120 new jobs locally.

The 37,000 square foot store is located at 4315 Arden Way (corner of Arden Way and Eastern Ave. in Arden Plaza). The space is lively and vibrant, utilizing a fireball orange, hawthorne yellow, wyeth blue and hollingworth green color palate. It features the Salud! cooking and lifestyle school that provides demonstrations, cooking and nutrition classes, crafts and more.

“I'm pleased to lead the opening of Sacramento's first Whole Foods Market because the area now has a trusted source for the highest quality natural and organic foods,” said Sacramento Store Team Leader Jeremy Knapman. “Whole Foods Market is highly selective about what it sells, dedicated to its Quality Standards and committed to sustainable agriculture.”

Whole Foods Market is a unique blend of old-fashioned green grocer, organic farmer's market, European pastry shop, custom butcher and seafood shop, rotisserie grill, healthful deli, first class wine merchant, nutrition and body care center, full-service market and neighborhood café.

During the grand opening, the first 1,000 customers who spend $25 or more will receive a canvas tote bag for their groceries. Additionally, there will be raffles for gifts baskets, activities for kids on the first weekend of the opening (June 14 and 15) and numerous grand opening specials including: $1.99/pint organic raspberries, regularly $2.99/pint; Pirovano's sangiovese, montepulciano and pinot grigio wines, three for $15; $7.99/lb. naturally raised beef New York steaks, regularly $13.99/lb; $4.99/lb. fresh wild Pacific salmon, regularly $9.99/lb.

Giving Back To The Sacramento Community

Whole Foods Market is committed to giving back to the community where its team members live and work by supporting food banks, sponsoring neighborhood events, compensating team members for community service work and contributing at least five percent of total net profits to nonprofit organizations.

 

The store will host a pre-opening event to benefit Senior Gleaners, a 25-year-old local organization of seniors that sources and distributes surplus food donations for more than 300 charitable organizations that feed the poor and elderly. Events similar to this will take place quarterly at Whole Foods Market and are known as Community Support Days. Wednesday, June 25 marks the first Community Support Day for the Sacramento store. Five percent of sales that day will go toward the Marin Agriculture Land Trust (MALT), an organization dedicated to preserving agricultural lands from development and saving family farms in order to ensure quality food for future generations.

“Whole Foods Market is not your typical natural foods store. We bring a whole new approach to supermarkets by remaining uniquely mission driven,” said Whole Foods Market Northern Pacific Regional President Ron Megahan. “We hope that customers will quickly discover that Whole Foods Market offers high quality, fresh and great-tasting products and that we are committed to giving back to this community.”