Whole Foods Market to open Virginia Beach store

VIRGINIA BEACH

Whole Foods Market, a national purveyor of organic and natural products known for its foodie vibe, is set to open its first Hampton Roads location.

Whole Foods executives announced with the release of third-quarter earnings Wednesday that they had signed a lease for a Virginia Beach store in Hilltop. The retailer, based in Austin, Texas, has no Virginia stores east of the Richmond area.

"We are excited to have announced our newest location in Virginia Beach, VA," said Ken Meyer, a Whole Foods regional president, in an email statement. "The residents of Virginia Beach will have the opportunity to shop in a store that is custom designed for them."

The specialty grocer plans to open by early 2013 off Laskin Road, said Jeff DeHart, a partner with Georgia-based S.J. Collins Enterprises.

S.J. Collins is buying the land and will build the store for Whole Foods, DeHart said. The developer will close on the property, a former Saturn dealership owned by Cavalier Automotive Group, in September, DeHart said.

The city's real-estate assessor's office values the 3.2-acre property at $3.1 million. The company has asked Virginia Beach to provide less than one-third of an acre of city-owned land for additional parking, DeHart said.

Warren Harris, the Beach's economic development director, said that is unlikely to be a problem, because the city isn't using the land.

"I think it's fantastic that we're now beginning to get the attention of national retailers like Whole Foods," Harris said. "It speaks well for our economy, our demographics."

In its earnings release, Whole Foods announced seven new store leases nationwide and a renewed strategy to accelerate store openings. The chain fell into a financial slump a few years ago after an aggressive expansion but has since recovered, said Jeff Metzger, publisher of Food World, a supermarket industry newspaper based in Columbia, Md.

"It's long overdue," Metzger said of Whole Foods' entry into Hampton Roads.

Shoppers and Beach officials have tried to land a Whole Foods for years. A Facebook page called "Bring Whole Foods to Virginia Beach" boasts more than 7,000 fans.

The company has been scouting locations in the area, DeHart said.

It considered Town Center for its central location and regional draw. But Whole Foods settled on Hilltop in large part because of the number of people who lived in the surrounding neighborhoods, their income and education levels, DeHart said.

"That's their customer," said Margie Johnson, a national retail consultant in Virginia Beach. "It's the educated, high-end customer."

This is likely to squash any hopes that Norfolk consumers might have to attract Whole Foods to the city, particularly the downtown space vacated by The Market at Harbor Heights in January. Whole Foods fans launched an online petition to get the retailer to consider that site.

Whole Foods draws customers from a wider radius than most supermarkets, so it typically doesn't have multiple stores in one region, except in densely populated areas.

With Whole Foods, the Laskin Road corridor will have a triangle of coveted speciality grocers. Trader Joe's and Fresh Market are less than a mile away. Kroger and Farm Fresh also have supermarkets nearby.

With about 40,000 square feet, the Whole Foods will be twice the size of Fresh Market and three times as large as Trader Joe's. The newcomer will compete most directly with Fresh Market, which has a similar higher-income customer, as well as with the region's Harris Teeter stores, Metzger said.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com