Englewood Whole Foods to close after just 6 years in neighborhood, leaving few healthy options

Whole Foods Market plans to close its Englewood store after opening the grocery with great fanfare just six years ago.

The Englewood store as well as another one in the DePaul University Welcome Center in Lincoln Park are among six stores the grocery chain plans to close nationwide. The company was not specific about closing dates, saying the stores will close in the coming months.

“As we continue to position Whole Foods Market for long-term success, we regularly evaluate the performance and growth potential of each of our stores, and we have made the difficult decision to close six stores. We are supporting impacted Team Members through this transition and expect that all interested, eligible Team Members will find positions at our other locations,” a Whole Foods spokesperson said Friday.

Shoppers at the Englewood market Friday were shocked to hear about the store’s closing.

Phillip Backstrol was thrilled when the store opened six years ago. The 65-year-old prefers to shop at Whole Foods for the variety of organic vegetables.

“I thought it was great,” said Backstrol.

Now, Backstrol will need to drive downtown to find those vegetables.

Lashay Shambley works nearby at the Chase Bank at 62nd Street and Western Avenue, and now she’s not sure where she’ll go to get lunch.

“There’s nothing but Popeyes, McDonald’s and Wendy’s,” said Shambley, 21. “I kind of looked toward Whole Foods for like a healthy escape.”

Shambley’s concerns aren’t unfounded. When Whole Foods came to the neighborhood six years ago, it helped close a food desert gap by providing access to healthier, fresh foods.

Now, residents have access to an Aldi and Go Green Community Fresh market along the same block.

One resident, who didn’t want their name used, wasn’t upset Whole Foods is leaving the neighborhood.

“They said they were going to have lower prices for Englewood but they didn’t make that promise real,” the resident said. “I only come here because it’s right across the street from my house, but one apple juice is cheaper in Hyde Park than here.”

He added he’d rather spend his money at a locally owned grocery store, like the Go Green, than a conglomerate like Whole Foods.

Local Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) could not be reached for comment.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) said she’s “sad,” but not at all surprised that the store derisively known as “Whole Paycheck” was closing its doors.

Taylor represents a South Side ward that includes Englewood with a border across the street from the Whole Foods store.

“The community needs a grocery store. Whole Foods was just expensive. And a lot of people did not shop there. So I understand it. But that should have been a community ask” to reduce store prices, Taylor said.

“It’s sad. But I hope that we do one of two things: That we convince another grocer to come. Or we have our own home-grown grocer. We’ve got to do something, though. We cannot waste that TIF money. And the community needs a grocery store.”

With the relentless push from then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Whole Foods agreed to open the Englewood store amid concerns about whether residents of the impoverished South Side ward could afford to shop there.

The project depended on an $11 million city subsidy for site preparation that also required an expiring tax increment finance district to be extended while money was “ported over” from a neighboring TIF.

Taylor said she knew from the outset that Emanuel’s grand experiment wouldn’t work.

“I got a raise, and I can’t afford Whole Foods. It’s not cheap. I shop at Jewel when it’s on sale because that’s the type of paycheck that I had,” Taylor said.

“There’s a senior building right across the street from there. People that live in the community are either elders or new families. It just was too expensive. They needed a grocery store. But I never agreed with it being Whole Foods.”

Taylor acknowledged that the closing will only enlarge a food desert that deprives area residents of healthy and affordable shopping choices that include fruits and vegetables.

But, she said, “Ald. Coleman is a smart woman. And she’s probably gonna go out and find somebody who can take the space.”

Emanuel did not respond to a text message seeking comment. He is currently serving as U.S. ambassador to Japan.

His former Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman refused to comment.

Cecile DeMello, executive director at Teamwork Englewood, said many community groups supported the opening of the Whole Foods store.

“It showed real promise, and I think it continues to show real promise of how retailers could meet community needs and work with the community to help design something that was unique and important to things like a food desert and stuff like that,” DeMello said.

“The Englewood community is a community that continues to need investment and there is momentum in this community to continue to rebuild and corporate partners are one part of that journey. Government is another part of that journey. And resident-led initiatives are still another part of that journey as well. And that doesn’t change because one corporate partner is no longer here.”

People waited in long lines to get into the 18,000-square-foot store when it opened in September 2016 with a celebration featuring healthy food, music and revelry.

Emanuel and Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb were joined on a stage by a host of politicians, including U.S. Rep, Bobby Rush, D-Ill., and leaders of community organizations that worked closely with the project, from Teamwork Englewood to R.A.G.E.

Whole Foods anchors the 5.5-acre Englewood Square shopping center at 63rd and Halsted streets. The city recruited DL3 Realty and Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives to develop the center.

Englewood Square relied on $15 million in New Markets Tax Credit Program subsidies, bringing home to Englewood the national economic stimulus program President Bill Clinton launched in 1999.

Then, $500,000 came via crowdfunding, the first time that’s been used to finance new commercial construction in Chicago. And both developer and general contractor Ujamaa Construction are African American-owned; as is Power Construction, a contractor that did the Whole Foods build-out.

The announcement of store closures comes just two days after Whole Foods opened a nearly 66,000-square-foot store at 3 W. Chicago Ave. in the One Chicago high-rise. It replaces a store at 30 W. Huron St.

The other Whole Foods stores slated for closure are in Montgomery and Mobile, Alabama; Tarzana, California; and Brookline, Massachusetts.