New Whole Foods Coming to Wynnewood

The Lower Merion Board of Commissioners approved a preliminary land development plan for a new Whole Foods in Wynnewood on Thursday night, formally clearing the way for the health-conscious grocery chain to begin work on a 45,000-square-foot superstore on East Wynnewood Road.

The store—which will replace the 339 E. Lancaster Avenue location—will sit on a 3.4 acre plot that, according to the Main Line Media News, stretches from Cumberland Farms to Citizen’s Bank.

According to Whole Foods communications representative Ruth Harp, the store should open in the summer of 2015.

The location, Harp said, will include a café and a pub that serves wine and beer, and will be similar in style and scope to the Devon, Plymouth Meeting, and Glen Mills locations—a handful of the chain’s newer, larger, stores.

“We’re going to be able to offer so much more. It’s a huge jump in space over our existing store here,” Harp said.

The rep added that the store, she predicts, will come to be seen more than just a place to buy groceries. She said she imagines it as a community center of sorts.

“We’ll have events there and classes. It will be a gathering, a watering hole. People will meet there, they’ll see their friends,” she said, adding that the store will employee between 250 and 350 people, “at least double the amount of the old store.”

The chain’s preliminary land development plan was the subject of seven hours of discussion and tinkering at recent committee meetings—read the Main Line Media News’ story here for more details—and was approved Thursday only after handful of waivers and clarifications were added to the proposal.