A&E

Paper bags, organic products and wholehearted customer service can only match the description of one grocery store: Whole Foods. This entirely green company, devoted to the preservation of the environment, opened its newest chain store, which is located at 270 Greenwich Street in Tribeca, on Wednesday, July 9. From its seven different departments—Meat, Grocery, Bakery, Prepared Foods, Specialty, Produce and Whole Body—to its new venues, Shish! for Middle Eastern food lovers and Sweet for candy fanatics, the new addition to this neighborhood is one-of-a-kind, according to Marketing Team Leader Mary Thurber.

“The Whole Foods Markets in this region always try to do something unique and special in each of their stores,” Thurber said.

Indeed, the layout of Tribeca’s Whole Foods is impressive. Half-supermarket, half-buffet, the organic emporium seems to have something for everyone. Five buffet tables occupy the fresh foods section, one devoted entirely to dessert. Nearby, a pizzeria, sushi bar, a bakery and a display of grilled meats and fresh sandwiches entice connoisseurs. Tribeca’s Whole Foods also offers more spacious aisles, conveyor belt checkouts and full size grocery carts—a first for all New York City Whole Foods Markets.

Unfortunately for Stuyvesant students, the prices are somewhat less enticing. While the buffet tables offer wide varieties of salads and ethnic cooking, the $7.99 per pound price is sure to turn off many budget-wary students. The $2.99 per 8 oz. bowl of soup may make the impressive selection somewhat less heartwarming, while the $6.99 mozzarella-caprese sandwich makes Whole Foods seem like little more than another pretentious, yuppy-friendly sandwich shop.

Yet Whole Foods makes itself stand out from the mold by being environmentally friendly. It has even strayed away from using plastic grocery bags to prove its commitment to conserving resources. There is also a newly established bag policy in which the store will pay the customers 10 cents if they bring their groceries home in their own shopping bags and not in the store’s paper ones.

Naturally, the store continues its idealism in treating customers fairly. Even though Whole Foods is expected to be in high demand by Stuyvesant students and faculty alike, Whole Foods will not be offering any discounts to the school members.

“Whole Foods Market does not offer discount cards to specific customer groups predominantly because we are a company that strives to treat each and every one of our customers fairly,” Thurber said. “So for schools, we support them in many different types of ways, but a discount card is not one of the ways that we do so.”

“They won’t do advantage cards,” junior and Student Union Vice President Casey Griffin said. “But they told me that if we have any specific event that we would like them to help out with, they’d be happy to do that.”

So far, the Tribeca Whole Foods has partnered with elementary school P.S. 234 to contribute to its neighborhood event, Taste of Tribeca, as well as the Manhattan Youth Organization to help with different events and fundraisings. In the future, Whole Foods would like to help out the students and faculty at Stuyvesant through “product support for fundraisers,” Thurber said.