No Whole Foods Immediately Slated for Babylon Area

With Waldbaum's recent store closures, including a , there has been a lot of reader speculation on Patch about new grocery stores coming into the Babylon area. Lindenhurst Patch stated they had no immediate plans to open new stores in our area, although they are expanding on Long Island.

Many have expressed a desire for a Whole Foods nearby, so Patch decided to find out if the national natural foods company had any plans for the South Shore. Whole Foods opened their first Suffolk County market two years ago in Lake Grove, and will open an experimental summer-only Hamptons location this year. The closest current location to Babylon is in Westbury, and all Long Island Whole Foods are located on the North Shore.

Company spokesperson Michael Sinatra said that their reps know the area well and have considered that densely populated western Long Island offers additional opportunities for the chain.

"We've really only started expanding in the region very recently," Sinatra noted. "A lot of times people get hung up on wondering about the demographics we look for, but really the biggest thing we consider is percentage of college graduates in potential locations."

Sinatra also said that the company will tailor individual Whole Foods to the area they are serving, adding more or less prepared foods, certain ethnic foods, or otherwise targeting the look and feel to the specific community. Some stores are as small at 17,000 square feet, while others are 75,000 square feet.

"We really respond to shoppers' requests for new locations. If someone sees a great retail space that's available and they send that in on our website (You can submit a store location request here) we look at that. There have been locations that have eventually opened because of that demand."

Do you think our area has enough grocery store options? Do we need a natural foods supermarket? How far do you or would you drive to shop at your favorite store?