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Gotta concur with DCmud's sarcasm in reporting this piece of news concerning an expected ribbon cutting next year for a new Whole Foods at the Shops at Wisconsin Place development, located at the Chevy Chase/Friendship Heights nexus.
While the Bethesda-Chevy Chase corridor may seem like a scripted stage setting for the Whole Foods phenomenon, Chevy Chasers have until now had to drive all the way down to Tenley for their organic Gruyere, or eke by (gasp) on Giant or TJ's foodstuffs.
Ruth Samuelson made a handy little map over at Housing Complex to illustrate the point: this actually makes the third Whole Foods location on Wisconsin Avenue, all clustered relatively close to one another. Surely some other neighborhood, like say, Capitol Hill, could use a spot to buy organic arugula sooner than this one. Then again, my feelings on the "Fetishism of Whole Foods" are well established, so it's probably wise not to get too worked up about it.
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OMFG! This F'in blows! They really need a Whole Foods or similar store near the downtown/capitol hill area.
Please don't ask for whole food on the hill, could we set our sights a little higher and dare ask for a large local organic market like Mom's or Roots? Both much better than Whole Foods, and local. Or dare dream that some people get together and open a large co-op like TPSS Co-op, or any of the large ones every other city seems to be littered with?
I would say a Wild Oats, or New Seasons, or something, but Whole Foods keeps gobbling them up into it's libertarian fueled empire.
Look, people on here usually mention WFs only to bemoan their prices, suggest boycotts, and declare that only a tool would shop there. Unsurprisingly, areas where people don't perceive grocery store selection as a proxy for class warfare will get service from these stores that feel they can't make money from people who feel Safeway produce is adequate.
News flash: Whole Foods are not place where they are needed. They are placed where they can yield the greatest profit. And the is a more than 3 times the concentration of overpaid snobby idiots who would not be caught dead paying a reasonable price for food in proximity to Wisconsin than all of Capitol Hill put together.
There is a Harris Teeter on Capitol Hill at 1350 Potomac Ave. SE (Potomac and PA Ave. Organic arugula is available.
Who likes arugula?
I thought everyone in DC liked arugula. Are we not all liberal, commie, elitist Democrats here? We sure as hell ain't hunting moose.
There are moderate elitists too, dammit. GUNS!
I should hope we're not hunting moose. :P
No one needs a Whole Foods
regardless of one's opinions regarding whole foods, i just can't believe that capitol hill doesn't have a decent concentration of the demographic that they're aiming for.
I hear those C Street House guys are really into free-range-chicken-fed, steroid-free wild salmon.
Or is it free-range hookers? I always get the two confused.
The thing with Wisconsin Avenue is that it functions as a spinal chord along its entire course for 80-90% of the wealthier population centers of the city, making all three of the stores convenient to +200,000 of their target demographic. Capitol Hill, on the other hand, is an island of relative wealth, and is surrounded by neighborhoods that are decidedly less so, so the location would only serve a demographic of 20 maybe 30,000.
And yes, it is my opinion that shopping at Whole Foods is largely a status symbol. They're the Prada of carrots. They're also apparently shitty and exploitative employers that are committed to fighting health insurance reform. I guess they only care about the wealth of their wealthy customers. But the relevant numbers to this post are in the above paragraph.
Oops. "wealth of their wealthy customers..." was meant to be "health of their wealthy customers..."
Hmmn. I've read both versions several time--I think you got it right the first time.
I don't like Mackey's position on health care reform either, but let's be specific here. WF DOES offer health care to all of its full time employees. However, the plan has very high deductibles and does not cover treatment of mental illness.
Mackey is strongly libertarian and decidedly anti-union. Mock Safeway and their insufficient supplies of arugula, but at least they allow employees to unionize and offer nonunion employees a health plan with incentives.
Safeway, Giant, SFW, Superfresh - all union.
Whole Foods - let's/encourages employees to have facial piercings and honky-locks, but aggressively denies unemployment to let go full-time employees.
=
Whole Foods is a shitty employer of a hip looking staff.
i don't know what whole foods you shop at, but the P street location doesn't have many people with facial piercings.
i would enjoy a whole foods in the foggy bottom area. anything other than the watergate safeway.
It's right on the red line. That's really nice!
Any way we can do that "Social/Sexy/Soviet/Sodomy Safeway" thing with Whole Foods? Since Molly® will be forever linked with the P Street Whole Foods, I hereby dub it the "Whelp Whole Foods." With all the half-dead Georgetown geriatrics in the North Georgetown store, that should be the "Whited Sepulchre Whole Foods."
We of Glover Park view "North Georgetown" as a slur you insensitive cad.
We have, however, formed a panel discussion to reflect upon the nomenclature of "Whited Sepulchre Whole Foods" and have found that term to be acceptable. We would have also accepted "Whole Foods of the Upper Caucuses."
If and when 14th Street gets more hooker traffic, the P Street store can be the "Whoremongering Whole Foods."
I'll bet in Australia there is a Whole Foods on every corner.
Yeah, but watch out for the insanely poisonous critters crawling around in the organic arugula. If they getcha, you're a gawna.
Australia is such a jerk that the France won't even surrender to it.
Yeah, if Australia is so f**king great, why are all the koalas dying of stress-induced chlamydia? Maybe those Fosters-drinking, shrimp-barbie-ing, ABBA-listening penal colony inmates should spend a little less time worshipping Yahoo Serious and raping koalas. Just a suggestion.
The reason there's no Whole Foods on Capitol Hill is that there isn't a parcel of land upon which a large enough market could be built to handle the massive swarms of organic super-yuppies that would surely overtake it.
Heh. It's that damned height restriction again. Otherwise, there would be a Tower of Organic Babel for the yuppie idiocracy. The Capitol would quiver in its shadow.
the open parcel at 3rd and H NE would surely be able to hold a store the same size as the one on P street.
Look, if you want a Whole Foods so badly, just do what the Logan Circle community association did to get the store on P Street. Hire a PR firm to put a video together pitching the neighborhood and showing all the rich white honkeys who would be throwing their money in the WF cashiers' faces. That video pretty much convinced them to put their store on P Street instead of where the Harrison Square development on W Street is now.
THIS and the fact that we have this thing called "Eastern Market."
Amen. Thank you for beating me to this obvious comment. Want fresh organic food? Why not also buy it locally instead of being a WF hypocrite?
There you go. Eastern Market would make a beautiful Whole Foods.
clearly you haven't shopped produce at Eastern Market on weekdays if you think it's any substitute...
I've heard rumor that a Whole Foods is going in that new building under construction adjacent to Foggy Bottom Metro, directly south of Washington Circle. Allegedly it will be a Whole Foods with apartments above it. I can't confirm this, but I hope it's true.
You mean the Square 54 development? Right now it just says "contemplated" grocery store.
Whole Foods? Meh. I will take Mom's or Yes anyday.
Really? Most Yes!s (including the one in my neighbourhood) are a pale imitation of any grocery store, much less a WFs. I'd make that trade in an instant, so I didn't have to trek down to P street or up to Tenley...
Granted, nobody NEEDS a Whole Foods, but Friendship Heights is a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, where plenty of our aging friends don't drive anymore, and can only walk a few blocks. I'd say another supermarket in striking distance of 10,000 people who rely on canes and walkers is a good thing, yes?
Whole Foods inflated prices for fixed income retirees? Have you never looked in a grandparent's pantry or refrigerator? They're full of low grade crap that even the 1950's wouldn't eat.
Can we start calling arugula by the British name? How much cooler does it sound to say "I'm eating a Rocket salad" instead of "arugula salad". Like I'm a fucking astronaut who is eating salad with bits and pieces of space debris.
Because arugula sounds like some fancy-ass plant and rocket sounds like something produced by your junk.
I was thinking that a rocket salad sounded like the front end of a tossed salad.
And while we're at it, can we stop calling it "charcuterie" and go back to calling it "Hickory Farms Summer Sausage with a crock of Kraft Old English Cheese Food Product?"
+1.4
Do we really need another Whole Foods where the yupsters can tie up their dog?
In these troubling times of record unemployment and STD transmission rates, now more than ever, America needs more Molly!®
Call in the Marine Corps Band:
......O beautiful for pilgrim feet
......Whose stern impassioned stress
......A thoroughfare of freedom beat
......Across the wilderness!
......America! America!
......God mend thine every flaw,
......Confirm thy soul in self-control,
......Thy liberty in law!
I live across the street from this monstrosity, and outside of the fact that it saves me from the god-awful Whole Foods on River Road, it's pretty much a waste. I barely need anything from Whole Paycheck, and when I do, I generally walk, drive, or bus the mile to Tenleytown.
Hell, it's on the Maryland side, so they won't even be able to sell alcohol. Totally pointless. I'd have preferred a Trader Joe's something else I can afford here, especially on the District side, so I can get sweet, sweet booze. And by booze, I mean beer and wine, because weird East Coast laws won't let me buy liquor, beer, and wine all in the same damn place, namely my regular grocery store.
Then again, I barely shop in Friendship Heights, and only live there because it's conveniently in the middle of my and my SO's commutes. I'm probably not the target demographic here.
~EEE~
I don't think it is East Coast laws persay, maybe just your grocery store, the Cap Hill Safeway sells beer, wine, a fairly good liquor selection, oh and food too. Maryland is littered with places to get liquor/beer/wine all together in a happy family size box.
There's another Whole Foods less than two miles from there -- the one on River Road in Bethesda. Admittedly, it's parking lot is the seventh level of hell, but damn, how many Whole Foods does a neighborhood need? Friendship Heights also has one of the few non-crappy Giants as well.
I hate Whole Foods so I don't shop there. Grosvenor Market FTW - small, local, nice people, great stuff.
Bethesdaist: I'm not clear on why you'd mind another whole foods in upper NW/lower MoCo; as you said, you hate WFs and would never shop there. Wherever they choose to locate, it's no skin off your back, no?
There are two reasons I hate it, and they are as follows: 1.) it's totally going to eff up traffic (even more than it's currently effed up) at the corner of Military Road & Wisconsin. 2.) I'm a hater. It's what I do.
Oh, and it is skin off my back as that is on the edge of my neighborhood, and we've already got enough organice mache and frisee bullshit going on as it is.
Hey let's all take turns cracking on WF. Hating a supermarket chain opening a store which will create jobs in a horrible recession and provide relatively environmentally sustainable food is so much fun. Whomever hates WF the most wins the discussion board.
Yes it is silly having so many WF in the area but it's a business decision made by smart business people (check out their growth in the last 10 yrs). No one is forcing you to buy anything here so stop hating.
finally, some logic.
I think the general tone of the comments on this post can be summed up as "wah, I don't get paid much, I perceive organic and gourmet products as expensive, thus I think this is unneeded thus should be put out of existence!"
Why isn't there an article on "Another CVS Opens Where Least Needed"? This city is lousy with CVS branches and they're all shite. You don't seriously think CVS is some eco-friendly, union-supporting employer, do you? Whole Foods is just another grocery store, and the more competition the better. Remember what the local produce selection was like in this city BEFORE Whole Foods came along?
DCist only cares about CVS when they lock the condoms up.
Ummm... Whole Foods is a business and they'll build where the market shows people will pay. The Tennley WF is constantly overrun, probably meaning the area can easily sustain another. That, and I am all for making Chevy Chase more walkable.
Want a Whole Foods in your neighborhood? Convince their marketing people that your neighborhood will make that profitable. It can be done. C.f. Logan Circle.
Or, you can piss them off by not allowing them to pay the parking cost of their customers. C.f. Columbia Heights.
If Capitol Hill wants one, they need to petition Whole Foods and be compelling. Making fun of their other stores and customers doesn't actually seem like a winning strategy for that... good luck!
Case closed.
There is a Harris Teeter on Capitol Hill at 1350 Potomac Ave. SE (Potomac and PA Ave. Organic arugula is available.
Too bad the seafood and meat sucks. And you can't get decent olives. Oh, well...
so true... and while they do have organic arugula, in general, their produce offerings are pretty sad. as a vegetarian, that's kind of important to me...