LOS ANGELES, CA (July 31, 2012) –  Whole Foods Market – the world’s leading organic and natural foods supermarket – recently announced plans to open a new 30,000–square-foot store at 4419 Town Center Way in Palm Desert, California. The store is scheduled to open in early 2014 in One Eleven Town Center.

The Palm Desert store will create 150 new jobs for the local community. Whole Foods Market has been ranked for the past 15 consecutive years as Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

“We are so excited to be opening in Palm Desert,” said Patrick Bradley, president, Whole Foods Market Southern Pacific Region. “We've been looking in the area for quite some time and feel like we've found the perfect location. It's nice to be able to fulfill the many location requests we've had for the desert over the past 7 or 8 years. We are thrilled to bring natural and organic food to this community.”

Whole Foods Market announced signing a lease with Harsch Investment Properties, LLC, for Palm Desert during its third quarter earnings call on July 25, 2012.  With 329 stores, Whole Foods Market is on track to open a total of 25 stores during this fiscal year. In addition to the lease signed for the Palm Desert location, the company made agreements for an additional 11 locations across the U.S which are scheduled to open in fiscal year 2014 and beyond.

“We are very excited to announce a signed lease with Whole Foods Market for their first store in Coachella Valley at One Eleven Town Center,” said Jordan D. Schnitzer, president, Harsch Investment Properties. “We see this as the first of many steps we hope to make in improving the shopping experience for Palm Desert residents.”

Once complete, Whole Foods Market will provide local shoppers with a wide selection of high quality natural, organic and local products. The company’s quality standards are outlined online at www.wholefoodsmarket.com.

For a transcript of Whole Foods Market’s quarterly earnings announcement, please visit https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/pdfs/Q312financial.pdf.