Well-known organic and natural foods grocer Whole Foods on Thursday announced it will open its first Utah location, in Trolley Square near downtown Salt Lake City.

Whole Foods signed an agreement to occupy a 53,260-square-foot building that is expected to be built on the northeast corner of Trolley where a surface parking lot now exists, said ScanlanKemperBard Cos., which purchased the mall earlier this year.

The action by Whole Foods, which as recently as two weeks ago declined to say whether a move into Salt Lake was imminent, confirms an Oct. 25 report in The Salt Lake Tribune.

The Whole Foods building at Trolley will have two levels of underground parking andWhole Foods cost an estimated $12 million to build, Mark Blancarte of Blake Hunt Ventures, which is partnering with ScanlanKemperBard to renovate and expand Trolley Square, said Thursday.

Construction is set to begin as soon as late 2007, with completion approximately 16 months later, Blancarte said. That could put an opening date for the Salt Lake City store in 2009.

The Whole Foods store is part of a more than $35 million planned expansion and renovation of Trolley Square at 600 S. 700 East. The mall, built on an old trolley complex in use until 1945, became a retail center in the early 1970s.

Whole Foods will be the largest tenant in the mall, which also is anchored by Pottery Barn. The latter occupies about 12,000 square feet next to Restoration Hardware, which occupies about 14,000 square feet.
"We view Whole Foods to be one of the most dynamic retailers in the country," Blancarte said, noting it will be a strong draw to the development.

A Whole Foods spokeswoman said Thursday that the grocer has been looking for an appropriate site in Salt Lake City for about five years.

"We feel the location is perfect because of the proximity to downtown, the University [of Utah] and restaurant areas," Kate Lowery said. "And Trolley Square has the right feel for us."

The location will be one of the company's larger stores, Lowery said.

For years, Whole Foods has built stores averaging about 32,000 square feet. Now it is interested in building 50,000-square-foot operations and even opened an 80,000-square-foot superstore in Austin, Texas, going head to head with the popular Central Market chain.

Only about 20 of the 188 Whole Foods stores in the United States, Canada and Britain have more than 50,000 square feet of space.

Whole Foods is known as an aggressive competitor to other specialty grocers such as Wild Oats, which has five Utah locations - 645 E. 400 South, 1131 E. Wilmington Ave., and 6930 S. Highland Drive in Salt Lake City, as well as stores in West Jordan's Jordan Landing development and in Park City.

When it opens in Trolley Square, Whole Foods' store will be within a couple of blocks of Wild Oats' 400 South location.
Steve Ochsenbein, owner of Down to Earth Natural Foods in Roy, said he's happy his store will be nowhere near Trolley Square.

That said, he has been in Whole Foods stores in other states and has been impressed with their ability to draw a wide range of shoppers. He thinks that will benefit the natural products industry in Utah.

"I'm sure there is a large population out there that has never been to a health food store and [Whole Foods is] going to get a lot of those people to come in to their new store here and see what they are like," he said.

Ochsenbein said he'll be there when Whole Foods opens.

Ultimately, the expansion of Whole Foods into Utah will benefit consumers along the Wasatch who are vegetarian or who like to eat minimally processed or organic goods, said Tom Rodgers of Bountiful, who runs an LDS vegetarian Web site.

"Wild Oats has pretty much dictated the price of a lot of these products in this market," said Rodgers, who has shopped at both Wild Oats in Utah and Whole Foods when he is in California. "If Whole Foods comes in, we'll see more variety and lower prices."