The Cupertino Courier

News

New Whole Foods store set to open in mid-July

By Cody Kraatz

The new Cupertino Whole Foods, which will be the chain's largest store in California, is set to open in mid-July. The building is up but still under construction.

"Our main focus is get it open on time. The whole store will hopefully impress everybody," said Scott Sherman, store manager.

The store, at Stevens Creek Boulevard and Stelling Road, will be more than 64,000 square feet. The current store, located nearby, is 24,000 square feet. There will be nearly 400 parking spaces, solving a parking crunch at the old store.

The new store will feature several firsts and expand on some favorites.

A gelato shop is in the plans, which would churn out gelato on site in the gourmet section. The prepared-food section will be a lot bigger, with more seating and more counters and hot bars to choose from, said Sherman.

There will be a "Salud!" room, a space with a fully functioning kitchen and rows of seating so the store can hold live cooking classes and lectures. It could be rented out for community meetings as well.

The Whole Body section will sell clothing and include dressing rooms to try on clothes. There will be more organic baby food and more organic cosmetics.

The meat department will be smoking meats at the new store, "something new to us," said Sherman.

The management is discussing the possibility of tours, which the current store offers, once the new store opens. The hours will be the same as they are now, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Whole Foods is now at 20830 Stevens Creek Blvd. For more information, call 408.257.7000. The store regularly offers free classes in the evenings. For more information go to www.wholefoods.com/stores/cupertino.