Whole Foods Market® to Open at Greenway Town Center on May 21

TIGARD, Ore., May 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Whole Foods Market is thrilled to announce the opening of its newest location in Washington County at Greenway Town Center. The store will open at 9 am on Wednesday, May 21 with festivities and a bread-breaking ceremony starting at 8:30 am. Tigard Mayor John Cook and Beaverton City Councilor Betty Bode will join Whole Foods Market regional leadership, local suppliers and community partners to break a 4-foot long loaf of challah bread, and welcome shoppers into the neighborhood's new shopping destination.

Located at 12220 SW Scholls Ferry Road in the Greenway Town Center, the new store will feature a wide range of local products from Oregon producers, including Olympic Provisions, Unbound Pickling, Three Sisters Nixtamal, French Prairie Pork, Aurora Valley Poultry Farms chicken, Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels, Red Ridge Farms Oregon Olive Oil, Blue Fox Farms produce, and Gonzalez Farm berries.

"We designed our Greenway store to cater specifically to the families and residents of this community," said Whole Foods Market Regional President, Joe Rogoff. "We hope this store will become a community gathering place, and a destination for high-quality, affordable food with a focus on local, healthy, organic and fresh."

The first 100 visitors to the store on Wednesday, May 21 will receive a Whole Foods Market gift card. Gift cards will range in amount from $10 to $100, and will be handed out in random order. Grand opening festivities will also include a two-day, 25% off sale for all 365 Everyday Value® items, a Copper River Salmon cut-and-wrap truckload sale from 11 am to 5 pm, and live music from the Southridge High School Jazz ensemble paired with local wine tasting.

Whole Foods Market partnered with neighboring school, Mary Woodward Elementary, to create a community art installation for the Tigard community's new store. The piece features a large, metal tree, trimmed with colorful birds hand-painted by the school's second-grade students. In addition, Mary Woodward Elementary School will receive a $2,000 Whole Foods Market/Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant. The Whole Kids Foundation created the School Garden Grant Program in partnership with FoodCorps to provide monetary grants to fund school gardens and related activities throughout the year.

The new Greenway store emphasizes a commitment to sustainable practices and environmentally friendly construction. LED lighting highlights the locally sourced, reclaimed wood from the Port of Portland. The tables in the store's cafe area are made from building materials recycled from the site. Other store features include a fire pit and a three-season outdoor seating area for approximately 60 guests. With the completion of the Greenway store, Whole Foods Market's Pacific Northwest Region now has a total of three Green Globe awards.

Each Whole Foods Market store is designed to address the unique needs and desires of the community it serves. This includes all aspects of the store from its design and product mix, to the team member base and specific venues in the store. Stores also have an opportunity to shape community giving in ways that are meaningful and high impact. As a part of the grand opening, the Greenway store will present the Good Neighbor Center in Tigard with a gift of nonperishable food items valued at more than $1,000.

Additionally, Portland's own Unbound Pickling will receive the Pacific Northwest Region's most recent Local Producer Loan. Whole Foods Market has a deep commitment to sourcing the finest products grown, raised and produced by local farmers, ranchers and food artisans. Whole Foods Market is proud to support small producers who need a hand up, not a handout, to help make their dreams a reality by providing them with low-interest loans to help invest in their businesses. Since the Local Producer Loan Program launched in 2006, Whole Foods Market has loaned more than $12 million to 176 local producers. Thirteen of those loan recipients are from the Pacific Northwest Region, with more loan announcements expected in 2014.

Some of the highlights that Washington County Whole Foods Market shoppers can look forward to include:

• Cooking Department – "Cooking" is Greenway's one-stop cooking resource highlighting fresh, locally sourced foods, information and recipes for families of all sizes, and a wide range of dietary needs. The Cooking Department offers the building blocks for making a great meal, including a wide array of spices, culinary herbs, gourmet salts, cookbooks and kitchen tools. Single-ingredient items take center stage with a carefully curated selection of heirloom beans, hard-to-find grains, fresh nuts and seeds, flavorful dried fruits and much more.
• Prepared Foods – Discover a delicious range of healthy and tasty lunch options that will be available on a daily basis, including hearth-baked pizza, a taqueria, signature and made-to-order sandwiches, a rotating hot bar featuring ethnic and seasonal fare, a fresh salad bar with an abundant selection of organic vegetables and freshly prepared deli items. The majority of the aforementioned items are part of the Health Starts Here program. More at http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/healthstartshere/.
• Beer and Wine – Greenway features eight beers from local breweries and four wines from producers throughout Oregon on tap.
• Coffee and Juice Bar – Customers can enjoy fresh-brewed coffee daily from Allegro®, and freshly made-to-order smoothies and juice.
• Meat – Greenway's Meat Department features the best-tasting, freshest and highest-quality meat available.  Enjoy handmade sausages, and let our professional butchers prepare any cut to order. All products sold in our stores come from animals that are carefully raised without antibiotics or added growth hormones. Whole Foods Market's Animal Welfare standards are industry leading and include the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) 5-Step Animal Welfare rating standards; a system that ranks animal welfare practices. This program makes it easy for shoppers to make informed choices at the Meat counter that reflect their priorities and preferences.
• Seafood – Choose from a vast array of fresh and frozen fish, as well as a wide selection of marinades, sauces, seasonings and herbs. Shoppers can create a complete meal with Seafood as the centerpiece. Whole Foods Market's Seafood standards lead the industry, and the Greenway Seafood Department features products certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This program is part of Whole Foods Market's continuous commitment to fully-sustainable seafood. Whole Foods Market started this effort in 1999 by partnering with the MSC, and also partners with Blue Ocean Institute (BOI) and Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) to verify quality standards for wild-caught product lines.
• Artisan Bakery –  "Whole Foods Market Artisan Hearth Breads" (made with organic flour) are baked fresh daily and complement a mouth-watering assortment of delectable items from local bakeries such as Bowery Bagels and Grand Central Bakery. The store is proud to offer a wide selection of wheat-free and gluten-free products for customers with special dietary needs.
• Nut Butters – Customers can grind their own almond and peanut butters at our Nut Butter Station.
• Store Tours – The store offers shopping tours tailored to address special diets including plant-based diets and food allergies. Customers can take advantage of hosted tours highlighting healthy eating for back-to-school or healthy eating on a budget. Private tours can be arranged by request for organizations such as schools and senior centers. These tours will kick off on Thursday, May 22, at 10 am with a free "Whole Deal Value Tour" focusing on the 365 Everyday Value® line.
• Whole Foods Market 5% Days — four times a year, Whole Foods Market commits one day on which 5 percent of the day's net sales is contributed to a local 501(c) 3 non-profit organization. The first 5% Day at Greenway will be Wednesday, July 9, for Zenger Farm's Lent's International Farmers Market.

Store Information

Contact: Kristin Kolasinski

Hours: Open daily from 7 am to 10 pm; coffee and juice bar opens at 7 am daily.

Location: 12220 SW Scholls Ferry Road, Tigard, OR 97223

Telephone: 971-371-7000

Web site: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/greenway

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WFMwacounty

Twitter: http://twitter.com/WFMwacounty

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About Whole Foods Market^®

Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (wholefoodsmarket.com, NASDAQ: WFM), is the leading natural and organic food retailer. As America's first national certified organic grocer, Whole Foods Market was named "America's Healthiest Grocery Store" by Health magazine. The company's motto, "Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet"™ captures its mission to ensure customer satisfaction and health, Team Member excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement. Thanks to the company's more than 78,000 Team Members, Whole Foods Market has been ranked as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America by FORTUNE magazine for 15 consecutive years. In fiscal year 2013, the company had sales of $12.9 billion and currently has more than 360 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

SOURCE Whole Foods Market