Welcome to the neighborhood, Whole Foods.
The newest grocery store in the area has officially opened its doors in Foggy Bottom. GW President Steven Knapp, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and Whole Foods President and CEO A.C. Gallo helped break bread this morning with Mid-Atlantic Region President Ken Meyer and Store Team Leader Donovan Morris to commemorate the grand opening of the 36,000-square-foot store at 2201 Eye St., NW.
“We’re very glad to be a part of the project here at The Avenue that made it possible to bring Whole Foods to Foggy Bottom, the largest and greatest grocery store I think this community has ever known in its history,” said Dr. Knapp. “This is going to make our community stronger than it’s ever been and, I think, really solidify the incredibly important relationship between the George Washington University, the Foggy Bottom community and the District of Columbia.”
Mr. Evans called the grand opening “a great day in Foggy Bottom.”
“This whole complex here is going to be a great addition to our neighborhood, with all the residential, commercial, retail—everything that it’s going to bring to the Foggy Bottom community and District of Columbia,” he said.
Mr. Meyer said the company was very excited to officially “become part of the George Washington University community.” The store added 120 jobs to the area, and Mr. Meyer said it is one of 61 stores in the United States and the only one in the District, Maryland and Virginia to have the GreenChill Gold-Level Certification, an Environmental Protection Agency rating for businesses that use environmentally-friendly commercial refrigeration systems.
Whole Foods will continue celebrating throughout the week with sales and live music, including GW’s Sons of Pitch and local rock band The Riverbreaks.
Whole Food’s fourth District location, the Foggy Bottom store is steps from the Foggy Bottom metro station and features familiar Whole Foods offerings, including a juice, tea coffee/espresso bar, made to order meals, an organic salad bar, bakery, fresh flowers and café seating for 27 with free Wi-Fi. Committed to locally sourced foods, the two-level store will also have rolled-to-order sushi prepared by Kaz Sushi Bistro and locally sourced meat and seafood, beer and wine and produce.
All 18 registers, customer service and the juice and coffee bars will accept GWorld cards. Students can purchase any Whole Foods products—excluding beer and wine— using their GWorld card.
The store will also have promotions and events tailored to the GW community.
Unique to Foggy Bottom’s location is its convenient prepared-foods kiosk ordering system, where the lunch time crowd and on-the-go commuters can expedite the process of ordering and paying for items made in the Whole Foods Market kitchen—including hand-crafted Neopolitan pizza, sushi, sandwiches and burgers— with their credit card using touch-screen technology at six kiosks.
Whole Foods is located in The Avenue (previously known as Square 54) and is a key component of the integrated development strategy in GW’s 2007 Foggy Bottom Campus Plan, which aims to accommodate the university’s forecasted space needs on campus via a “Grow Up, Not Out” strategy while allowing for the mixed-use commercial redevelopment of Square 54.
A Foggy Bottom resident for 25 years, Steve Timlin said having a Whole Foods in the neighborhood will provide the community with more choices.
“This Whole Foods is very big and very impressive and I think they’ve done a fine job getting ready for us,” he said.
Store hours will be Monday to Sunday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the coffee and juice bars will be open Monday to Sunday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.