Whole Foods Breaks Bread With Much Fanfare in Morristown

After years of proposing, applying, developing and building, Whole Foods of Morristown is finally here.

The company’s 13th natural food market location in New Jersey opened its Washington Street doors Wednesday morning – not so coincidentally on Earth Day – to a consumer base looking to find some of the Whole Foods staples. It’s the second location in Morris County, with its sister location in Madison.

“Morristown is an ideal spot,” said Whole Foods’ regional spokesperson Michael Sinatra. “We were being told customers were driving great distances to get to our Madison location, so this area was perfect. We know there’s a local interest in natural and organic selections and we think this location is perfect for customers to pop in and grab what they need.”

Wednesday’s grand opening was so big, the traditional bread-breaking ceremony - Whole Foods version of a ribbon-cutting - began 30 minutes earlier than originally scheduled so customers wouldn’t have to wait any longer.

The store, led by manager Denise Hall, a nine-year employee of the company, went through a major hiring process to find the best associates to serve the community.

From more than 800 applications, the store made 141 hires, about 70-percent of which are full-time staff.

“Opening the store was a large undertaking,” Hall said. “But thank to the collective efforts of everyone involved, we got it done in about eight weeks.”

Hall said the store is looking forward to further entrenching itself into the community and partnering with non profits as well as giving back, like helping with community gardens and trail maintenance, and “aligning with organizations that share our environmental values,” Hall said.

Customers could be heard chatting with one another, as well as store employees, about the much-anticipated opening of the store while lines weaved their way through the produce sections and sushi bar.

The store is 19,000 square-feet with adequate parking to the side of the building, but passersby trying to get to their Morristown locations Wednesday morning probably didn’t care.

By 9:30 a.m. the line of cars stretched beyond Burnham Park and all the way over to the intersection of Scherzer Way, nearly two-thirds of a mile.

What did you think of the Whole Foods Market grand opening in Morristown? Tell us in the comments.

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