National Retailer Whole Foods Acts Like a Local at West Des Moines Store

The gently worded, hand-lettered signs anchoring the meat aisle of new West Des Moines store, which opens Wednesday, are a dead giveaway of the company’s values.

“Beef cattle are made for meandering; we require” reminds one. “We don’t cramp a pig’s style; no crates, stalls and cages,” reads another.

And there are reminders in the seafood section that Whole Foods doesn’t sell seafood species red-listed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute because they’re either overfished or fished using unsustainable practices.

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In fact, it was the first major North American retailer to do so as Whole Foods Market continues to make hay – organically certified, of course – with an increasingly finicky grocery-buying public who scrutinize their food more carefully and are creating a demand for naturally grown or organically produced products. Capitalizing on that has made Whole Foods the world’s leader in that niche.

A ceremonial “bread-breaking” – a giant loaf of bread will actually be broken at 8:45 a.m. by Whole Foods executives and local dignitaries – signals the long-awaited arrival of Whole Foods to Iowa and West Des Moines, one of the most talked-about openings since Jordan Creek Town Center sprang up on land where tall Iowa corn once grew.

Commitment to Local Includes Charities

The 30,000-square foot store at 4100 University Ave. is chock-full of visual cues to remind consumers of Whole Foods’ commitment to . The bounty of Iowa’s harvest means up to 60 percent of the produce in the store's inaugural weeks could be grown in Iowa.

Daphne Christensen, Whole Foods Market’s local marketing and community relations specialist, said the store’s commitment to local goes as deep as supporting local causes, like the project to help fill the backpacks of kids from needy local families with the to get off to a healthy start when school resumes next month.

Whole Foods’ first “5 percent day” gives 5 percent of sales to the program. Another program, which Christensen describes as “one dime at a time,” allows customers to donate the 10-cent credit for bringing a recyclable bag to the store back to a charity. The first beneficiary is Urban Ambassadors, a group promoting sustainable living in Greater Des Moines.

The focus on local is such a recurring theme that even the decor is specific to the area, featuring wood salvaged from Iowa barns.

“You won’t see this type of decor in any of our other stores,” said Kate Klotz, a national spokeswoman for Whole Foods.

Know Your Food

Though it’s a national retailer with the same luxurious brand appeal as, say, Neiman Marcus, Whole Foods will act like a local grocery store, according to Klotz.

The workers behind the seafood counter will be able to tell consumers not only when fish arrived in the store, but also where it came from. They’ll explain, if asked, why there’s no artificial color or water added to the seafood to enhance its appearance or make it weigh more.

The butcher adds a sense of “theater,” she said, cutting the meat in front of customers. That saves on energy costs, because the area where the butcher will work is refrigerated and there are large meat locker rooms that consume and lose a lot of energy.

The store also focuses on education, offering tours around special dietary requirements and even providing shopping lists for people with gluten-free diets or who are trying to manage diabetes without medication.

“And we’ll help people shop on a budget,” she said.

Chefs in the prepared foods section have 3,000 recipes to chose from, but they will cater to neighborhood tastes.

“Customers vote with their money,” Klotz said. “If something isn’t selling well, we can switch it out with something that will.”