Whole Foods will make a splash this week when its new market opens at Santa Rosa's Coddingtown center, and many will be watching the effect of the ripples.
Coddingtown merchants have long awaited Wednesday's opening of the upscale grocer, hoping it can help propel an aging shopping mall toward a new, invigorated era.
Nearby grocery stores anticipate greater competition from a company that has become a major force in natural and organic foods.
And consumers can expect to hear more from all the players about about shopping local, supporting the community and getting good value.
Locally based, independent stores are likely to stress those qualities in upcoming campaigns. But Whole Foods, a company sometimes dubbed "Whole Paycheck," also will be advertising such things as "Community Giving Days," 125 local food producers and "health foods on a budget" store tours.
"We're a company that's driven on community," said Wes Walston, the new store's "team leader" who will oversee its 152 employees. In addition to selling healthy foods that don't have nitrites or high-fructose corn syrup, he said, "we also want to make (the county) a better place globally."
With such features as a health lecture room and a "Tap Room" that will keep 16 upscale beers on tap for sampling, the 50,000-square-foot market will offer customers more than a chance to shop. They also will be able to dine in the prepared foods section, which will include pizza and burrito bars, a gelato machine and a self-serve ice cream area.
The Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods posted $8 billion in revenue last year from its nearly 300 stores. That's considerably smaller than conventional supermarket chains like Safeway, which has 1,700 stores and almost $41 billion in sales. But Whole Foods still commands attention, especially from competitors who sell natural and organic products.
"We're expecting to take a hit," said Tom Scott, general manager of Oliver's Market, one of Sonoma County's upscale supermarket chains. The company has a store a few miles away at Stony Point and Occidental roads.
In sizing up the competition, Scott said, "Whole Foods is really becoming the Walmart of the natural foods business."
Just as Walmart has enough muscle to affect pricing and product distribution for conventional goods, he said, Whole Foods officials "have enormous power" over pricing and products available for distribution within the natural food market.
Whole Foods entered Sonoma County in 2000 when it purchased locally based Food For Thought stores in Sebastopol, Petaluma and east Santa Rosa. Three years ago, the company added a Sonoma store and announced that a Coddingtown store would follow by fall 2008.
Spokesmen have attributed its two-year delay to the poor economy and the need to complete other stores that were planned before Coddingtown.
In recent years, the shopping center owned jointly by Codding Enterprises and Simon Property Group of Indianapolis has lost anchor tenant Gottschalks and a number of smaller retailers.
Brighter news came this year when transit officials suggested building a commuter rail station less than a half-mile to the west, a move that could lead to more intense, mixed-use development around the center.
And last week Codding Enterprises acquired the adjacent Los Robles Lodge property, part of its long-term development vision. Codding said it has no immediate plans for the site.
With Whole Foods poised to debut, more prospective tenants are looking to lease space at the mall, said Codding development manager Kirstie Moore. "Now that they're actually getting ready to open, we definitely seen an increase in interest," she said.
Including a grocery store in a shopping mall is uncommon, but Whole Foods is a good fit, said Kim Hall, Simon's area marketing director for Coddingtown and Santa Rosa Plaza.
"Ultimately they are a brand that creates an experience, and we think that experience will appeal to our shoppers," Hall said.
Economists and retail experts say the upscale grocer could indeed draw new shoppers to Coddingtown.
"They should bring a lot more regular foot traffic," said Dale Alchabal, executive director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University. "They're going to have a following that is, if you will, brand loyal."
But for local grocers, "it's certainly the case that competition is going to get more fierce," said Sonoma State University Economics Department Chairman Robert Eyler. The risks will be greater for independent grocers than for national chains like Safeway and Trader Joe's.
Jodie Lau, a spokeswoman for G&G Markets, said "there could be some impact" from Whole Foods' arrival on the west side of town. In response, staff at the West College Avenue market will be "working harder at our game," she said, making sure "our customers are happy, satisfied and get good quality groceries."
Don Shone, an owner at Sonoma Market, said the Whole Foods had only short-term effects on his company's bottom line. He predicted similar results for independent grocers in Santa Rosa.
"I just don't seem them impacting G&G and Oliver's too much because they're good operators," Shone said.
You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com.
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