Whole Foods Facing an Uphill Battle in Gowanus
It’s been a tough slog for Whole Foods in Brooklyn already and the organic grocery giant hasn’t even started construction on the 68,000-square-foot market it wants to build at the corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue in Gowanus. The store, which will include 37,000-square-feet of underground retail space, can built as-of-right (once the environmental…
It’s been a tough slog for Whole Foods in Brooklyn already and the organic grocery giant hasn’t even started construction on the 68,000-square-foot market it wants to build at the corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue in Gowanus. The store, which will include 37,000-square-feet of underground retail space, can built as-of-right (once the environmental clean-up is complete), so no approval from community groups is required; that doesn’t mean there’s been a lack opinions voiced. “They’ve wrapped themselves in the cloak of being green and organic, but they’re certainly not acting that way,” said Eric McClure, campaign coordinator of Park Slope Neighbors. “Their talk is not matching their walk.” Another local group, Green Roof Brooklyn, says it supports the arrival of Whole Foods in general but wants to company to cut about 140 parking spaces and add a green roof to help ease pollution in the area. A third group, Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus, is critical of how the environmental stage of the project has been going, claiming that the process is pushing benzene and other contaminants into the underground water supply. Whole Foods paints the naysayers as a small minority of the thousands of residents who will be served by the store. We’re curious to know how the Brownstoner community feels about this one. Take this quick poll to let us know. Update: As of about 2:15 today, 120 people have taken the poll. The results so far? Over half of respondents say that they are “psyched for the Whole Foods plan as is and think the critics should shut up and get out of the way” while about one third say they “welcome the idea of an upscale market in the area but have concerns about the environmental impact of the project.”
Whole Foods Meets Opposition in Brooklyn [Austin Statesman] GMAP
Whole Foods Poll [Survey Monkey]
Photo by leahlb
Sorry to hear u have to shop and ride subway for the fois gras. I just have my driver take my cook on such errands.
I am a supporter of Whole Foods. There isn’t a decent supermarket anywhere near the vicinity that one can find quality food. I have to ride the subway to manhattan just to get fois gras and caviar. You’re not going to find that at the Pathmark or Key Food.
Whole Foods may be coming to Park Slope (although I always thought that location was actually Gowanus…), but that doesn’t mean they exist only to serve Park Slope. I live across the park and would be delighted to drive over to Whole Foods when it opens. Yes, I’d be mighty impressed if they built green, but I also would like ample parking… I’m shopping for a large family and have to transport a lot of groceries.
Better yet – any update on the possibility of Trader Joe’s coming to Church Avenue?
What exactly is the “undergound water supply”? To whom is the water supplied and whats it used for?
Whole Foods will never open here – it is a toxic waste dump and the $ to fix it is just too high. Toll Brothers and Boylemgreen should have seen the writing on the wall – Gowanus is good for industry and that’s about it.(which btw isnt bad)
i really welcome the addition of whole foods, but i also agree that protests can be a positive way of ensuring that companies work with the concerns of the neighborhood. as far as i understand it, the protesters aren’t trying to keep whole foods out, they’re trying to get the company to build a greener store with enough parking. good for them.
does anyone know the fate and the weird & beautiful lonely old building on the property? will whole foods save it or tear it down?
I wanted to add to my comments at 11:43am, that this is what capitalism is all about. If the health food stores in Park Slope are so afraid of the competition, then maybe they should have done more to expand and improve these last few years. There is this bizarre attitude in this kind of store, that you find in no other, that the consumers are required to be supportive no matter what. Which is a holdover from the 70’s when these stores first started appearing, but it’s 30 years later and they need to accept they will have to compete with one another. Example – I’ve asked many times for them to stock the supplement I need that I’ve taken for years and they’ve never done it. The guy has never even written it down. They have attitude. And not because I’m being rude. So why should customers be loyal to that? They’re very entitled, and it’s annoying.
Pietro, no store is going to stock what their customers don’t want. The way Whole Foods got bigger and more upscale was by demand of their customers. I love the upscale products. I don’t fill my entire basket with them, but getting one as a treat is fun. What’s wrong with having fun? One doesn’t need to live an ascetic life to be a concerned, responsible citizen. Suggesting that a store stock products in order to dictate moral values to people? Kinda creepy.
Comparing stores in Park Slope and what they offer – PS stores don’t offer NEARLY enough supplements and vitamins and body/beauty care products. That’s what Whole Foods offers that we need so much more of. There are a couple particular supplements I’ve taken for years and years, that I could so easily find in CA, that I now have to order online, or travel 40 minutes into Manhattan to buy at the Whole Foods now. Which stinks. These are not rare, hard to find supplement brands either. It’s one of the biggest brands. But Back to the Land in PS only stocks like one of their products not all of them. There’s no reason we shouldn’t have access a large inventory of vitamins and supplements in Brooklyn. It’s ridiculous.
If FROGG claims that an environmental hazard has been created, it needs to address that to the State DEC. My experience is that DEC takes their job very seriously.