Whole Foods Announces Plans for London Flagship

Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market announced today that it plans to open a 75,000-sq.-ft. flagship store in central London on Kensington High Street. The expected opening date is early 2007.

According to chairman and CEO John Mackey, the United Kingdom is an obvious choice “due to the advanced acceptance of organic foods and the lack of a language barrier.”

The world’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket had acquired U.K.-based Fresh & Wild, a small chain of natural and organic food stores, in January 2004 and subsequently announced its intention to find a site for a large-format Whole Foods Market store in the London area.