West Seattle’s second grocery-store opening in eight days brought about 600 people streaming into Whole Foods Market (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW; WSB sponsor) in the first 20 minutes. Once inside, those who had been lined up outside got a raucous welcome from a lineup of cheering, applauding employees:

Among those welcoming shoppers, the store’s team leader (aka manager) Gary Ruiz:

The store opened a bit earlier than announced – 8:46 am.

Within 10 minutes, the free tote bags were gone, but greeters continued handing out cards with “mystery savings” – anywhere from $5 to $100, to be scanned at the checkout counters, all of which were soon busy:

For a detailed look at store features (and a review of the 13+-year backstory), see our “sneak preview” published Tuesday. The store is open until 9 tonight (regular hours 8 am-9 pm).

SIDE NOTE: This is West Seattle’s fifth grocery-store grand opening in a decade. Coverage of the previous three:

*One week ago – Rebuilt PCC Community Markets (WSB sponsor) store
*April 2012 – Trader Joe’s
*August 2011 – Rebuilt Admiral Safeway
*September 2009 – Junction QFC

Story by Tracy Record
Photos by Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers

13 1/2 years after Whole Foods Market (WSB sponsor) first announced it was coming to West Seattle, it’s hours from opening.

We toured the new store today for a preview before the doors officially open at 9 am Wednesday.

The store comes with a huge backstory; a lot has changed in those 13 1/2 years. It originally was supposed to be in a development called Fauntleroy Place across SW Alaska; that project stalled post-excavation and Whole Foods eventually pulled out, saying the terms of its lease – to provide a store for it to open – weren’t being fulfilled. Eventually, after a legal fight and auction, a different developer opened the project as Spruce, with LA Fitness in the commercial space. But by the time that opened four years ago, Whole Foods was already signed up as anchor tenant for The Whittaker – a seven-year journey that had more stops and starts, including a mayoral attempt to stop it and a short-lived decision to shelve the project. Then Amazon bought Whole Foods, and two years ago, the store plan was back on.

Now on with the tour: Read More

Thanks to the texter who sent that photo (and also to Mel, who sent a photo from just before it went up). Signage is going up for West Seattle’s Whole Foods Market, which WFM has said will open next month (exact date TBA) at 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW. It’s been 13+ years since WFM first declared West Seattle intentions (originally for the site that now holds LA Fitness across the street), 7 years since the announcement it would be part of what became The Whittaker.

(WSB photos. Above, 40th Avenue SW side)

Thanks to Keri for the tip! For the first time since we broke the news in September 2017 that the West Seattle Whole Foods Market plan was back on, there are signs of activity – literally – at the future store’s space in The Whittaker (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW).

(Fauntleroy Way side)

The window signage apparently started going up yesterday – Keri’s tip came in late last night – and more was being added when we went by this morning.

As shown in the top photo, Whole Foods is still projecting it’ll open in fall of next year (when we last checked in April, the company told us “latter part of 2019”). The West Seattle Whole Foods saga is a long one – dating back almost 13 years, to the original February 2006 announcement that they would open in what was then Fauntleroy Place, a project later idled (post-excavation, so it was nicknamed “The Hole” for 4+ years), eventually becoming (under different owners/developers) Spruce, with LA Fitness in the commercial space instead. Then in November 2012, developers of The Whittaker announced WF as their anchor tenant, to open in 2015. That timeline kept sliding until the plan was officially shelved for half of last year, then revived.

As for when Whole Foods’ Whittaker build-out will start, city files verify that permits are in progress. We have inquiries out to WF, though the looming holiday could delay the response.

The WSB inbox has been full of update requests lately, regarding various projects (thank you!), and we’re working on a bunch. First the most-asked question of the week: When is the West Seattle Whole Foods Market opening?

First the backstory: You’ll recall that a year ago, Whole Foods was shelving its plans for The Whittaker (WSB sponsor), second time it had canceled a West Seattle plan – but then six months later, we discovered last September that it was back on, and got confirmation.

Since then, we’ve had one update on timeline, when Whittaker reps told the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce in January that “late spring 2019” was the newest projection.

So this week, we went directly to WFM. A regional spokesperson’s reply:

We are grateful for the community’s excitement for this Whole Foods Market, and look forward to opening during the latter part of 2019.

As for other questions, such as how the chain’s evolution and experiments since Amazon’s takeover will affect the West Seattle plan … no specifics are public yet.

Two biznotes at The Whittaker (4755 Fauntleroy; WSB sponsor):

MOD PIZZA: The “individual, artisan-style pizza and salads” restaurant is now planning to open its West Seattle location in early February. That’s according to Charlotte Wayte, who also sent word that they’re having two hiring events at the future restaurant, for 30 job openings: 10 am-4 pm Saturday, January 20th, and Sunday, January 21st. They’re also taking applications online. The announcement notes:

Named one of the “20 Best Workplaces in Retail” by Fortune, MOD offers health, dental and vision benefits, short-term disability, sick pay, flexible scheduling for work-life balance and opportunities for career growth. MOD is also proud to support its MOD Squad with special perks such as free meals, an employee assistance program, and access to an emergency crisis fund.

The chain was founded in Seattle and is growing fast. The West Seattle store is 2,500 square feet and, according to the update, “will include original artwork and MOD’s signature ‘Wall of Fame,’ a photo collage that pays homage to the local community and people from the MOD journey.” The opening date isn’t finalized yet but MOD says it will partner that day with a TBA local nonprofit who will get 100 percent of the pizza-sales proceeds from that day.

KINETIC SPORTS REHAB: According to the building’s updated site map, and a permit application, another of the remaining Whittaker spaces has been taken – Kinetic Sports Rehab is coming to the south building, in the space north of CityMD. It currently has two locations, both in north Seattle. (The space also is next to the future Orangetheory Fitness – we have a message out to check on when they’re planning to open.)

For the second consecutive day, we’ve received an announcement that another business has opened in The Whittaker (WSB sponsor). This time, it’s West Seattle’s first freestanding BECU branch. The credit union’s newest branch is 2,500 square feet, with five employees and one manager, per the announcement, which also says:

At the new location, BECU members can open accounts, apply for loans, and take care of financial transactions. Consistent with BECU’s operating model, the West Seattle location will offer an innovative “tellerless” layout, which empowers members to access their accounts in ways most convenient for them, including ATM, online banking, and mobile banking. Member consultants will be available to assist with these transactions, as well as provide one-on-one support for opening accounts and more complex services like mortgages, personal loans, auto loans and business services.

The branch at 4755 Fauntleroy Way SW will be staffed 9 am-6 pm weekdays and 9 am-1 pm Saturdays, and has two 24-hour ATMs.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

WSB has just confirmed that the West Seattle Whole Foods Market is back on.

WFM spokesperson Susan Livingston confirms that to WSB this afternoon via e-mail: “We are moving forward with our West Seattle location at The Whittaker and will share more information on timelines for the opening once details are finalized.”

We inquired today after seeing WFM featured in the graphic shown atop this story – it’s the latest online map of which businesses are going where at The Whittaker (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW; WSB sponsor).

It’s been six months since the revelation that Whole Foods was backing out of West Seattle again, though its official statement at the time was that “Whole Foods Market has decided to delay indefinitely the opening of our West Seattle store.” The company overseeing the businesses in The Whittaker, Weingarten Realty, subsequently said that WF was working with it to find a replacement tenant.

Less than three months later came the news about Amazon buying Whole Foods. We tried multiple times after that – before and after the deal closed – to get a comment about whether the new ownership might lead WFM to reconsider the West Seattle store location; no reply.

Until now, the space has continued to be shown on the online Whittaker site map as available – you can see that in our August story about the signing of another tenant, Orangetheory Fitness. And then our routine check last night showed Whole Foods was back on the map – Weingarten pointed us to WFM for comment, and we just got the confirmation quoted above.

It’s been almost five years since Whole Foods was originally announced as the anchor tenant for The Whittaker (even before the mixed-use project got that name). That in turn was two years after WF announced it was no longer going into the project across the street that at the time was an inactive excavation site dubbed “The Hole,” since sold and finished as Spruce, with LA Fitness in the space where the grocery store was to be.

At The Whittaker, Whole Foods will join already-signed businesses T-Mobile (which is now open), BECU, MOD Pizza, CityMD, and Orangetheory Fitness. As spokesperson Livingston told us, there’s no timeline just yet – but we’ll continue to follow up. Before the March announcement, the company had told us two months earlier that it was expecting to open the store in summer 2018.

After a few recent reader questions about the status of West Seattle’s future Whole Foods Market, planned for the north side of The Whittaker (WSB sponsor), we checked around – and just found out the new timeframe for its opening.

When last we checked, in June of last year, a Whole Foods spokesperson told WSB that the store was expected to open in the “second half of 2017.”

This afternoon, responding to our inquiry about the current timeline, Susan Livingston from Whole Foods told WSB: “We look forward to opening our doors in Summer, 2018.”

She added:

I’m delighted to share that we’ve updated our plans since we last shared them with your readers. Some of the new features include the addition of a tap room with lots of seating, an expanded Prepared Foods department with additional venues, and improved pedestrian connections. As with any project, weather and other factors can impact our schedule, but we’ll share details about our grand opening as we get closer to the actual date.

Livingston says that the “new features” are part of what has pushed back the timeline, and that it’s not unusual for “big-box anchor tenants” in projects like this to take longer than first expected.

When construction of The Whittaker (4755 Fauntleroy Way SW) began two years ago, WF was the only signed commercial tenant. Then last August, four more tenants were announced – MOD Pizza, BECU, CityMD, and T-Mobile, as shown in the latest site map above (the yellow spaces are still available, and one of them – AOL – is set aside for a restaurant). The aforementioned already-announced businesses are expected to open later this year, as are the apartments in the north building – the south building at The Whittaker is already leasing.