Pleased with the success of its University Heights store, Whole Foods Market is expanding its presence in the Ocean State with its first location in the suburbs, in the space formerly occupied by Shaw’s Supermarket in the Garden City Center in Cranston.
Shaw’s closed that store Sept. 30 because it has a new location in the Chapel View complex, on the other side of Sockanosset Cross Road.
David Lannon, Whole Foods’ regional president for the North Atlantic area, said the Cranston store will be the chain’s biggest in the state so far. At 44,000 square feet, it will dwarf Whole Foods’ 13,000-square-foot original store, on Waterman Street in Providence, and even the 32,000-square-foot store at University Marketplace.
With all that space, Lannon said, the store will be able to offer even more to its customers, including such amenities as a pizzeria, more seating, organic clothing, more prepared foods and gelato and coffee bars.
Whole Foods signed the lease for the space more than a year ago, Lannon said, and is hoping to start construction in January.
“The University [Heights] store was much more successful than we thought it would be,” he said. “Customers in Rhode Island really like what we’re doing. So Cranston seemed like the next logical choice for us. We’re just excited and we appreciate everybody’s patience. It’s been a long time coming.”
Janice Pascone, marketing director for Garden City Center, said Whole Foods is “a nice match to our other upscale tenants.”
Lannon said Whole Foods decided to open a store in Garden City because of customer requests, demographics and the plaza’s convenient location.
“There have been requests to get one that isn’t in Providence proper, and the road pattern around Garden City is great,” he said. “The Garden City shopping center is a huge attraction.”
Moreover, Lannon said, area residents are “highly educated, knowledgeable about organic foods and issues like recycling and greenhouse gases.”
But he said the new location doesn’t mean the Waterman Street store will close, because that is “more of a community store, and most of the people who go there come from a short distance.
“We can build a few stores because in Rhode Island, people don’t like to travel far.”
Lannon added that the chain may even be looking to open more stores in Rhode Island. “I get a tremendous amount of requests from East Greenwich, and from Newport as well.”
