Whole Foods Market expands north of the border
US based natural and organic food retailer Whole Foods Market is to open its first UK store outside of London in Glasgow.
The 23,600 sq ft store in upmarket Giffnock to the south of the city, will open in November 2011. The opening is expected to create up to 150 jobs for the local economy.
The store will be refitted by its owners Paradigm Real Estate Managers, thanks to a refinancing deal worth £5.3 million secured with The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Whole Foods Market was founded in 1978 by John Mackey and Rene Lawson with a loan of $45,000 from family and friends. It now has 300 stores wordwide and revenues of over $9 billion.
There are currently five Whole Foods stores in the UK, including four former Fresh & Wild sites. The company opened a flagship store in High Street Kensington in 2007.
Stuart Heslop, head of real estate Scotland, RBS Corporate & Institutional Banking, said: “We are pleased to be able to provide new funding to Paradigm to support the development of the Whole Foods Market store which will bring a new retailer to the Scottish market.”
Accounts filed at Companies House in the last fortnight show that Whole Foods Market’s British business lost £4.3 million for the year to 30 September 2010. Sales declined by almost 12% to £43 million and same store sales fell 4.5% compared with a year earlier.
The company has struggled against a falling demand for organic foods throughout the recession.
