Whole Foods Market undergoes store design revamp

If the story of Whole Foods Market in the UK was a book it would probably be something like Middlemarch, as it starts and then nothing much happens for a long time.The retailer made its UK debut in 2008 with a large store in Kensington, London and then it seemed to call a halt.

After a while it acquired London organic supermarket chain Fresh and Wild and then all went quiet once more. In this country, Whole Foods Market has been, with the exception of an outpost in the south of Greater Glasgow. In late 2012 and 2013 things changed.

The first sign of this was the opening of a smaller format Whole Foods Market in Soho at the end of 2012, followed in the first half of 2013 by a new store on a retail park in Cheltenham. The latter was certainly non-standard for the retailer.

The Whole Foods Market phenomenon in the UK has been almost entirely about stores in central and near-central locations, so appearing on a retail park is something of a departure. Now, with the end of 2013 in sight, Whole Foods has opened another store in Richmond. Despite being in London, it is different from what has been done in the centre of the capital and there is a distinct sense that this is a store that has been carefully tailored for its location.

After Kensington and Chelsea, by most measures, Richmond is the wealthiest borough in the country. Its position on the edge of London and on the bank of the Thames makes it highly desirable and regular shoppers are well-equipped to afford the higher-than-normal prices that tend to be associated with shopping in Whole Foods Market.

On walking into the Richmond store, the first thing the shopper is likely to see is not food on the shelves, but people eating. The ground floor of this two-floor, 20,000 sq ft shop is in fact a huge cafeteria with multiple dining options, ranging from Mexican food to the many choices afforded by a visit to the ‘grab and go chef’s table’.
A quick look around this part of downtown Richmond shows that while there are a number of cafes and small eateries, there is not much on this scale or with such a diverse offer.

Compare this with either the Kensington or Soho stores, where the in-store eating elements are on the first floor, and this is a switch from the normal run of things. A second glance will tell the shopper that there is food that can be bought on this floor, but the bulk of the food shopping action is downstairs.

Everywhere the eye rests on this floor there are signs relating to how this store aims to be part of the community - even down to oars (Richmond is rowing central) used as banner holders for some of the graphics. As in Cheltenham, there is an emphasis on the local origins of some of the products - a loaf of bread for £3.50 is flagged as ‘local sourdough’.

The visual merchandising is as pleasing to the eye as in all Whole Foods Markets and the middle of this large floor is characterised by a series of stalls, each of which has chairs, tables and walls, aimed at making this a comfortable and intimate setting in which to eat.

Downstairs, things are more familiar. The fresh fruit and vegetable offer is at the foot of the stairs and the floor features a series of counters around the perimeter with a butcher, fishmonger and cheesemonger all being part of the mix. With the exception of the fruit and veg space, equipment rises high off the ground and is densely merchandised, a response in part to the ground floor having little of what would normally be associated with a
traditional food retailer.

The mid-shop fresh food displays consist of vintage timber-clad tables with the produce piled high. Unlike some retailers, none of Whole Foods Market’s fruit is pre-packaged as shoppers at this level of the market seem to prefer to be able to select individual items.

The ‘team picks’ notice board, on which store employees describe their favourite products, is reminiscent of the similar signage used in Waterstones. Again, this is about encouraging shoppers and employees to participate in the life of the store and making sure that there is some measure of engagement with the interior rather than the straightforward provision of merchandise.

Whole Foods Market is a very North American proposition, but it seems entirely appropriate for a wealthy area on the edge of southwest London. The retailer has looked at the demographic and worked to create an environment that will appeal to those who have a certain amount of leisure time when shopping. It is also easy to see how this could be a model for future Whole Foods Market branches in well-heeled cathedral and university towns.

Perhaps the retailer has finally gone beyond the first 10 or so chapters of its existence in the UK and things are finally beginning to move along. But then again, one of the appeals both of Whole Foods Market and Middlemarch is the relatively unhurried sense that pervades both - some things are best when not done at breakneck speed.