Whole Foods officially opens in downtown St. Charles: ‘Just huge for the community'
The new Whole Foods grocery store in downtown St. Charles is officially open, with dozens of customers gathering Wednesday morning for the festivities.
Shoppers waited in line to enter the brand-new store, sipping on Big Shoulders coffee, snacking on Evergreen mini-waffles and carrying their new Whole Foods tote bags and coupons in tow.
Located at 300 S. Second St., the long-awaited St. Charles outpost of the Austin, Texas-based grocery store fills a space in the downtown that has been empty since 2022: the site of the old Blue Goose Market.
Blue Goose had been a fixture in the community for nearly 100 years until its closing, according to past reporting.
In 2023, city officials announced that a Whole Foods Market would be moving into the space, according to past reporting, after working out a deal with former Blue Goose Market President and CEO Paul Lencioni, who previously served on St. Charles' City Council.
'Having the grocery store in that location reopen is just huge for the community,' St. Charles Mayor Clint Hull told The Beacon-News, crediting the previous mayoral administration and former alderman Paul Lencioni for orchestrating Whole Foods' move into the downtown area. 'So many people love St. Charles because it's walkable and it's bikable. And the store and the location of where it's at is going to be great for people to be able to walk there, to be able to bike there, to pick something up and then be able to head over to Mt. St. Mary (Park) or many other places around there and enjoy the food that they picked up.'
Improving walking and biking accessibility and safety is something the community has asked for and has been a priority for St. Charles, Hull said.
'This is just another step in the right direction on how that's going,' he said.
Area residents at the store's opening seemed to agree about the new store's convenience.
'I'm always in this area, so it's easy (to get to),' said Carol Raymond, 64, of Geneva.
Raymond said she used to live in Lombard, and would shop at the Whole Foods in nearby Wheaton. But since moving to Geneva, the closest location's a lot further away.
She said she appreciates the quality of produce and other food items at Whole Foods, including when she cooks for her children and grandchildren.
'I always want to feed them, you know, salads and fresh fruits and veggies,' Raymond said.
She's also a fan of the product selection — like a salad dressing she says she'd previously go out of her way to get at Whole Foods because she can't find it anywhere else.
'We knew it was good because my granddaughter asked for three helpings of the salad with that dressing,' she said.
Linda Gruber, 76, of St. Charles, who also came to see the store's opening day, said she'd never been to a Whole Foods before.
'I'm just excited to see all the fresh fruits, vegetables,' Gruber said. 'That's what I like to buy.'
The new Whole Foods will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, according to a news release from Whole Foods about the St. Charles location's opening.
Per the release, the St. Charles store offers, for example, organic local produce and curated grocery products; a specialty department dedicated to celebrating cheesemakers and artisan producers; full-service seafood and meat counters; a selection of beer, wine and spirits, including local options; a prepared foods department; a bakery department and a section with wellness, beauty and lifestyle items.
All food sold at Whole Foods must meet the company's quality standards, which don't allow food to contain hydrogenated fats, high-fructose corn syrup and over 300 flavors, colors, sweeteners and other ingredients, according to the news release. Their body care products must also meet company standards.
On opening day, Whole Foods provided a food donation to Hinsdale-based HCS Family Services, which picks up surplus food from local Whole Foods stores to prevent food waste and gives it to community members in need, per the release. Whole Foods is also donating an electric refrigerated van to the nonprofit.
As part of the opening festivities, Whole Foods is also making donations to the St. Charles-based Lazarus House and Fox Valley Food for Health. Finally, the company is providing Chicago-based supplier Evergreen with a low-interest loan to help it grow and expand to more Whole Foods stores.
Hull said the city is enthusiastic about the company's move and its investments in the community. And he believes sufficient planning will make operations smooth, but that excitement around the new store means residents should expect the area to get busier going forward.
'You go from an area that just hasn't had that type of car traffic for a couple years, right?' Hull said. 'There's going to be a lot of people heading out to Whole Foods.'
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