So you may have heard that Amazon-owned WHOLE FOODS IS LAUNCHING A NEW, SMALLER FORMAT FOR URBAN SETTINGS, to be called Whole Foods Daily Shop. Ranging from 7K to 14K sq ft, roughly similar to an urban CVS or Walgreens (versus the 40K sq ft average for a traditional Whole Foods), it will feature fresh produce/perishables, prepared foods, prepacked meals, weekly essentials, alcohol and a cafe - but no full-service meat counters or lunch buffets. Meant to cater to harried urbanites, it will be sited in locations convenient to early-morning or after-work commutes. Initially it will not offer pickup or delivery, though that may change. For those who dream of the “15-minute city”, this sounds like really exciting news, and for Whole Foods, it makes sense as a way of capturing incremental demand in submarkets between larger stores. Understand, however, that Daily Shop will first appear in New York City, with “plans to explore wider U.S. expansion”, presumably starting with other tightly-tightly-packed neighborhoods in larger metros like Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago and San Francisco - in other words, settings that already have these kinds of upmarket conveniences and amenities. There’s Westside Market, Garden of Eden and Union Market in New York City; Di Bruno Bros. and GIANT Heirloom Market in Philadelphia; Foxtrot Market in Chicago and Washington, D.C; Bi-Rite Market and Luke’s Local in San Francisco – frankly, in most of these cities, Whole Foods is a bit late to the game at this point. More importantly, Amazon’s efforts thus far with in-store grocery have been somewhat underwhelming. Their flat and uninspired Amazon Go concept, also designed for this purpose, leaves me cold – and evidently, I’m not the only one, with eight of its 28 units shuttered last year. Don’t get me wrong – Amazon is brilliant in so many ways, and I really want this new banner to succeed, as it would give us retail consultants another option in a critical category for our urban clients. But I’m not counting my chickens yet. #retailcontrarian #retail #retailleasing #retailrealestate #retailproperty #retailtrends #retaildevelopment #retailmarket #retailbroker #retailspace #retailindustry #retailers #downtown #mainstreet #mainstreets #citycenter #citycentre #highstreet #urbanretail #icsc #commercialrealestate #ida #iedc #uli #icma #planning #marketanalysis #siteselection #futureofretail #urbandevelopment #jll #citymanager #cnu #businessimprovementdistrict #bid #bia #retailbrew #storefront #downtownrevitalization #nyt #wsj #urbanregeneration #planetizen #economicdevelopment #storefronts #atcm #ecommerce #shopping #wholefoods #wholefoodsmarket #amazon #amazonfresh #wholefoodsdailyshop #grocery #grocerystore #grocerystores #supermarket #supermarkets #foodmarket #foodmarkets #urbanconveniencestore #15minutecity #walkableneighborhoods #walkable #progressivegrocer #supermarketnews #liveworkplay #mixeduse #mixedusedevelopment #mixeduseneighborhood #foxtrot #grocer
Conrad Kickert
10mo
Finally! The UK already has walkable formulas for all large grocers, like Tesco Metro and Sainsbury Local. What do you make of Amazon shutting down its camera-operated checkouts in many stores though?
Jim Cloar
10mo
Take a look at Duckweed Urban Grocery in Tampa.
Tracy Cornell
10mo
I agree 100% Michael that the jury is out and alot of Landlord’s feel doing a deal with Amazon’s grocery concept is too risky. They do not open-often for years-leaving space DARK. And they close these units leaving the developer with a big empty box. They have had mixed success up here. P.S. I love Luke’s local. Check out Tiny Grocer in Austin No one doing it here in Seattle.
Tiffini Connell
10mo
This is awesome news!
I sell redevelopment land.
10moI can think of many tier 2 markets where this would absolutely thrive. NoDa area of Charlotte as first example. But like you said, the cities they are planning to roll out already have some level of saturation of this product type (and exponentially higher rents). Curious to me why they would take that approach, however most Whole Foods in tier 2 cities have been located in uninspiring locations- very different from their locations I am familiar with in the heart of neighborhoods in DC and NYC.