St. Charles Whole Foods store set to open June 25
Whole Foods Market is set to open its doors to customers in St. Charles for the first time Wednesday, June 25.
An opening day celebration will begin at 9 a.m. with complimentary coffee, mini waffles and savory snack bars. The first 300 customers in line will receive a custom tote bag and “Secret Saver” coupons featuring up to $100 in discounts.
After the grand opening, Whole Foods will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Whole Foods developers purchased the former Blue Goose Market building at 300 S. Second St. in June 2023. Since then, the city-shared parking lot has been improved and the 36,234-square-foot remodel inside the store is nearing completion.
The market will feature an array of organic, conventional and local offerings, with more than 650 items from Midwest suppliers.
It will have a specialty cheese counter featuring artisan products and overseen by cheesemongers offering expert recommendations, as well as full-service seafood and meat counters.
The seafood section will offer only sustainable, wild-caught or responsibly farmed seafood. The meat section will offer meats that are dry-aged in house and made-in-house sausage, with butchers available to cut steaks and poultry to order.
The alcohol department will offer a selection of more than 240 craft beers, 180 spirits and 555 wines, and the bakery will offer breads, pastries and other fresh baked sweets.
A prepared foods department will feature fresh pizza, rotisserie chicken, made-to-order sandwiches and sushi made fresh daily.
The store will also have a “Whole Body” department with an assortment of wellness, beauty and lifestyle items.
During the opening day celebration, Whole Foods Market will make a food donation to HCS Family Services, a nonprofit organization that provides emergency food for people in need through regular surplus food pickups from local Whole Foods stores. Whole Foods will also donate an electric refrigerated van to HCS.
In addition, the store will make monetary donations to area organizations Lazarus House and Fox Valley Food for Health, and present Chicago-based supplier Evergreen with a low-interest loan through the Whole Foods Market Lending Program.
Through the lending program, Whole Foods lends money to small-scale, local or emerging producers to help them grow their businesses. To date, the grocer has provided 419 loans totaling over $35 million.