Whole Foods has a new convenience store that sells fresh organic fruit, pantry staples, and acai bowls - here's what it's like to shop there

Irene Jiang

May 17, 2019, 20:04 IST

Whole Foods has a new convenience store that sells fresh organic fruit, pantry staples, and acai bowls - here's what it's like to shop there

Irene Jiang / Business Insider
Whole Foods is testing a convenience store concept in New York.

Whole Foods is testing a convenience store concept at one of its New York City locations.
It's called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, and it focuses on providing local and organic products at convenience-store speed.
We went to the Daily Shop to see whether it had an edge over a traditional Whole Foods grocery store. It turns out it has many advantages for the grab-and-go shopper.
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The Whole Foods Market Daily Shop is a new kind of store from the grocery chain.

Located in Chelsea, in New York City, it features local baked goods, two kinds of seasonal kombucha on tap, and make-your-own açai bowls. It also offers a condensed selection of organic products from its grocery store counterpart, with a layout that emphasizes grab-and-go speed.

Customers can also take advantage of the same Amazon Prime member deals that are available at a traditional Whole Foods store.

Whole Foods said the decision to test the Daily Shop concept was made independently of its parent company Amazon, which continues to roll out new Amazon Go convenience stores across the country. The Daily Shop's offerings also emphasize local vendors including Balthazar bread, Bulletproof coffee, and New Yorker bagels.

I went to the Whole Foods Daily Shop in Chelsea to see exactly how it differs from a traditional Whole Foods store - and which one you should shop at:

The Whole Foods Market Daily Shop is located in the same building as the Whole Foods Market on 7th Avenue in Chelsea, Manhattan. However, it has a separate sign and entrance.

Upon walking in, I was greeted by two massive cases full of cookies, doughnuts, and pastries, which are sold by the pound.

There's also bar seating by the pastry case where customers can eat their just-purchased goods.

Next to the seating area is a refrigerator case full of cut fruit and fruit juice.

But there’s also a fresh fruit section.

You can also buy ready-to-consume sandwiches, wraps, quiches, soups, and salads.

In the back is a cafe-like counter that sells coffee, local pastries, custom açai bowls, and two seasonal kombuchas on tap. Customers order from one end of the counter and pick up their orders from the other.

The Daily Shop also sells organic dry goods and sauces. Yes, that's chickpea penne.

You can also get organic and health food versions of bodega refrigerated goods. There's yogurt, hummus upon hummus, and even sauerkraut.

Amazon Prime members can take advantage of the same discounts that they receive at Whole Foods' grocery stores. Yellow signs indicate an additional 10% discount for Prime members ...

... and blue signs indicate Prime-exclusive deals.

The check-out process is designed to maximize convenience with two options: cashier and self-checkout.

Like at Whole Foods grocery stores, shoppers can pay with cash, card, or phone. They can also scan their Amazon-powered Whole Foods Market app to receive the Prime-only discounts.

There’s no reason not to shop at the Daily Shop over the grocery store if speed and convenience are your priority. It's designed to get the customer what they want as quickly as possible with minimal time spent on navigation and checkout. The store has a smaller selection of products, but the Daily Shop isn't a grocery store — and it’s not trying to be.

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