The ongoing saga between Hudson County and Whole Foods has been filled with intrigue but has not resulted in any of the company’s planned markets opening for business. That is set to finally change next month, as Weehawken looks to officially welcome the grocer to their Lincoln Harbor neighborhood.
The project has been years in the making since Hartz Mountain broke ground on a 33,000-square-foot building set to house the market back in 2017. The property, at 1450 Harbor Boulevard, originally targeted a fall 2018 opening before Whole Foods threw a few curveballs that created some questions.
The Weehawken store was to be branded under the company’s “365” moniker that strove to be a more budget-conscious option compared to their main markets. However, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey announced earlier this year that the company would be shelving the brand and would not be opening any future stores of that variety going forward.
Left unanswered was whether the axing of the brand applied to “365” stores that were already announced. Despite the development, construction at the Weehawken store continued to move forward, albeit with no clarification from Whole Foods as to what exactly was going on. A new permit posted at the site earlier this year confirmed the store was still coming in some form, but whether or not it would be under the “365” umbrella was unclear.
Whole Foods still has not clarified that particular issue, but they have finally set a timeframe to launch their Weehawken outpost. The company has posted several jobs on its website stating that the store will be opening in July 2019. Positions the company is looking to fill include everything from supervisors to buyers to chefs and those interested can apply through the company’s website.
Lincoln Harbor’s Whole Foods is set to include an area housing Hoboken’s Korean BBQ spot Gogi Grill and could include an outpost of Brooklyn-based coffee shop Café Grumpy. An application for signage bearing the roastery’s name was approved by Weehawken’s planning board earlier this year.
The opening of Whole Foods in Weehawken comes just a month after rumors of a Jersey City presence for the company were made official, as Whole Foods will be opening a market at 286 Washington Street and setting up their North American Headquarters in Mack-Cali’s Harborside building.
