One of the biggest grocers in the country is slated to officially call Hoboken home as a Whole Foods location will be moving forward along the city’s main drag.
Jersey Digs first reported on the possibility of Whole Foods coming to the Mile Square City late last year. The company submitted a plan to take over a historic bank property at 101-105 Washington Street that was most recently utilized as a Walgreens location.
Hoboken’s Zoning Board unanimously greenlit the plan on March 18 and is slated to fully approve the Whole Foods application via a resolution during their upcoming April 15 meeting. The property can then be turned into one of the brand’s “Daily Shop” outposts, a new offshoot that opened their first location in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill neighborhood last fall.
According to the company, the Daily Shop variety of the store offers “more convenience to our customers in locations between our larger format stores. ” Whole Foods has full-fledged marketplaces in Downtown Jersey City and Weehawken but no presence yet in Hoboken.
Plans for the Hoboken Whole Foods were drawn up by Nastasi Architects. The exterior of the bank building will remain mostly the same, except for new signage that will be placed in the large center window along the Washington Street side of the property. The entirety of the market will span about 14,000 square feet.
Besides groceries, blueprints for the Whole Foods show sections for frozen foods, meat and dairy departments, a bakery, produce, and a prepared foods area. The property will also include second-floor restrooms.
The remnants of the former Walgreens were cleared out of the property early this year, and while construction of the Whole Foods has not yet begun, proper work could begin shortly after the Zoning Board approves their resolution next week.
Whole Foods has had a notoriously long buildout process for their Hudson County locations, so an opening date for the market is anybody’s guess. The company has yet to make any official announcement regarding the soon-to-be-approved Hoboken location.
