USA: Whole Foods opens in Santa Cruz

A new Whole Foods store in Santa Cruz plans to open on March 18, according to the store team leader Dan Wolfe. The new store will be on 31,500 square feet (3,000 m²). The location gives the Austin, Texas-based food giant a foothold on the Eastside, an area served by some locally owned markets: Staff of Life, specializes in organics, and Shopper's Corner, known for its meat and wine selection, and one of the smaller stores in the Safeway chain.
 

The organic food retailer, which was named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work for” in America by the Fortune magazine for eleven years in a row, saw 650 applications from job-hunters via their online link. About 160 applicants were invited to an interview and half of them were offered a job. The company employs 52,000 people at more than 275 stores in the United States, Canada and in the United Kingdom, reports Mercury News.
 

Whole Foods had sales of 8 billion $ in fiscal year 2008, an increase of 20 % on 2007. Much of the growth has resulted from buying regional competitors. The company's acquisition of the Wild Oats chain in 2007 met with opposition from the Federal Trade Commission, which stated the merger would result in a monopoly. An administrative hearing to decide on the takeover is scheduled for April 6, 2009.
 
http://www.mercurynews.com