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Whole Foods Market set to open March 6 in Kildeer
Floyd Staine, the team leader of the new Whole Foods Market in Kildeer, has been preparing his staff for the store's March 6 grand opening. | Ryan Pagelow~Sun-Time Media
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Updated: April 1, 2013 7:12AM
KILDEER — Whole Foods Market will officially break bread in Kildeer next week.
At 8:45 a.m. March 6, the upscale grocer will open its doors in the Kildeer Marketplace.
Because the Whole Foods is relocating its store from Palatine to Kildeer, officials said much of what customers loved about the soon-to-be former store will simply transfer over to the new location, on the northwest corner of Rand and Plum Grove roads.
“The Palatine store was known for its family-like atmosphere, and was kind of like the ‘Cheers’ of Whole Foods Market,” said Floyd Staine, a long-time Whole Foods Market team leader. “We want this to be the gathering place for our community out here,”
Staine began working for Whole Foods Market before it was Whole Foods Market. He started with Palatine’s Fresh Market in 1993, before it was bought by Whole Foods in 1998.
Now 15 years later, Staine said the company’s community focus is stronger than ever.
“I love what I do,” he said. “I believe in our core values, and I have the same energy and zeal for Whole Foods Market as I did when I first started. I’m really proud of it.”
One of the many reasons Whole Foods has proved to be unique in the market is each of its locations actively seeks to pack its shelves with products from as many local vendors as possible — as long as the products meet a certain number of health criteria.
Artificial colors, aspartame, bleached flour or sorbic acid are a few of the many food ingredients Whole Foods views as deal breakers. Whole Foods Market’s foragers also play match-maker, often encouraging the store or local food supplies to work together.
The hyper-local focus, Staine said, is another way in which the store separates itself from the “big box” market.
For Whole Foods’ final contribution to the Palatine community, for example, the market will donate a surplus of food to Community Keepers, which is an organization that delivers to area food pantries.
To celebrate the Kildeer community, Whole Foods Market is encouraging residents to visit its store’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/WholeFoodsMarketKildeer, to nominate organizations in need of the new store’s first Community Support Day. Community members can vote for the beneficiary at the Kildeer store during its opening week.
On Community Giving Day, the organization of choice will receive 5 percent of the store’s net sales from that day, the date of which has not yet been determined.
After breaking bread with the new store’s team March 6, area residents and businesses are invited to participate in additional opening day festivities, including a tree planting, a burial of a time capsule from its former location in Palatine and a pancake breakfast — all before the store officially opens its doors at 9 a.m.
