Sneak Peek! Whole Foods Little Rock

While everyone is at fashion week, I’ve been touring our new Whole Foods in Little Rock (hey, I’m also planning a first birthday party!) Fashion will have to wait a few more days, but I did wear heels while touring the store. Bonus points. 

I was going to blog about this Wednesday, but the store actually opens Wednesday (of which they will have free pastries and coffee at 7:30 a.m.!) and my little blogging, organic-popping fingers just couldn’t wait another day to show and tell. It’s going to be amazing! 

For one, the store is HUGE. At more than 34,000 square feet, it’s way bigger than the former location, not to mention it also offers an outdoor patio…for eating and drinking beer or wine. Yep, there is a little bar area where you can choose from 12 beers on tap while you eat your pub food. And you can even take a growler to go. 

The entire store is emphasizing local, so you can choose a local beer on tap…or just down the aisle pop over and grab something from the sandwich bar where sandwiches like The Pinnacle are named after the local scene. You can even choose your own bread if you’re gluten free! Which leads me to…

Yes, they still have an awesome section dedicated to special diets, including gluten free. Since my kids don’t eat gluten, I’m especially happy to see this! And speaking of kids, the store will offer fun kid’s activities, so check in more on that as more details arise. 

There’s a huge pizza bar, where you can serve yourself or even call in an entire pie ahead of time. I’m especially excited about the juice/smoothie/coffee bar. I’ll be ordering lots of peanut butter, banana and almond milk smoothies in my future. There’s also a sushi making station at the back of the store that I just might have to make a date night. Blush. 

There’s a good-sized bakery (and they do cake decorating!) and even a candy station with no high-fructose corn syrup. I’ve already eyed the organic lollipops I adore. Hands off. 

And who can forget cosmetics? The beauty section at this new location rocks my lip-gloss-mineral-foundation-wearing world. I can’t wait to get my hands on these goodies. 

Basically, there’s just so much more room to shop and I love it. (Especially if I’m ever brave enough to balance bringing both kids…I’ll need the space and trust me you will, too.) We drive by this store every, single day and little C can’t wait, nor can I. 

A few other features:

– hot BBQ bar with meats smoked onsite

– four times the amount of seafood!

– so many cool green features, including 21 skylights and reclaimed barn wood thoughout 

– electric car charging stations and bike racks 

The coolest feature I heard from my special store tour all day? If you’re a busy bee for the day (raising my hand in advance!), you can call in your grocery order and they’ll have it ready for you to pick up at Guest Services. There’s just a small service fee of $7. Life-changing. Worth it. Don’t tell anyone else this trick, ok?

Until next week…see you in the sushi aisle soon! 

The store is located at 501 Bowman Road and open daily 8 am to 10 pm.