The new store will include:
• exclusive opening products and flavors, including a new Jeni’s Ice Cream;
• pub, coffee bar and beer growler fill-up station;
• bike service station, along with an in-store health and fitness coach;
• bar highlighting ingredients from within 100 miles, including a collaboration beer with Cincinnati-based MadTree Brewing;
• a lunch soup, sandwich and salad bar;
• cheese department with antipasti, olive and pickle bars;
• bulk offerings, including spices, beans and nuts.
Melissa Arnett, team leader for the Whole Foods Market Dayton store, said in a release, “There is such an exciting energy within the Dayton community that’s vibrant and growing – we can’t wait to join in. From discovering new, local suppliers to learning more about our community and neighbors, we’ve loved tailoring this store to make it as unique as Dayton itself.”
The store has already proven to be a catalyst for economic development in the area around the Oak Creek Marketplace, the newly constructed retail center that houses Whole Foods and eight other retail businesses.
“I’m seeing a lot of activity, a lot of synergy, around that center,” said Ryan Lee, zoning and development manager for Washington Twp. “I’ve had a tremendous number of inquiries along 725, and we’re seeing interest in previously vacant tenant spaces.”
Rapid Fired Pizza, a new restaurant concept developed by local entrepreneur and Hot Head Burritos founder Ray Wiley, has leased a 2,800-square-foot space across from the Whole Foods development. The space has been vacant for several years.
Whole Foods will be joined in the new retail center by El Rancho Grande Mexican restaurant, Fusian sushi restaurant, Zoup! soup restaurant, PetPeople pet store, Great Clips, Elements Therapeutic Massage, and Be Pampered Nails & Spa, with one retail space still to be leased.
Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods – which operates 414 stores in 40 states, Canada and overseas, including six stores in Ohio – will become the latest entry into a robustly competitive grocery-store market in the region, and especially in Dayton’s southern suburbs.
Whole Foods joins Costco Warehouse and Fresh Thyme Farmers Market as relatively new entries into the grocery market. Costco opened late last year in the Cornerstone of Centerville, and Fresh Thyme opened a Sugarcreek Twp. store last month and is building a second location in Beavercreek.
Kroger has submitted plans to build a large new store in the Cornerstone of Centerville development and is extensively remodeling several other stores in the region. Meijer officials have announced they will invest $50 million in four Dayton-area stores in Kettering, Beavercreek, Miami Twp. and Englewood. And Dorothy Lane Market completed a makeover of its Oakwood store and is building a new baking facility near its Washington Twp. store. Late last year, the owners of Town & County Shopping Center announced its specialty grocery store, Trader Joe’s, would expand by 25 percent as part of a 2015 renovation project.
For more information about the region's newest specialty grocery store, check out the Whole Foods Market Dayton Facebook page.
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