56,000 square-foot store is largest in the mid-Atlantic region
By Susan Reimer and Rob Kasper
Baltimore Sun reporters

With the ceremonial cutting of a six-foot-long loaf of challah, Whole Foods opened its largest store in the mid-Atlantic region today at Annapolis Towne Centre.

At 10 a.m., about 400 shoppers were ready, carts in hand, to enter the 56,000 square-foot store, which is more than twice as large as the one it replaced on Solomons Island Road. By noon, lines were 10 people deep at the pizza bar, burger bar and sushi bar.

As part of the festivities, the Annapolis High School jazz band played and many employees wore sombreros to mark Cinco de Mayo. Throughout the store, employees passed out free samples.

Whole Foods added about 60 employees to the previous payroll of 225 at the original, 16-year-old Annapolis store. Plans called for the new store to be even bigger, some 70,000 square feet, but those plans were scaled back, the company said.

The layout of the new store reflects changes in customers' buying, according to the company. The prepared-food section of the new store, for instance, grew to about three times the size of the space in the old store.

In a nod to cost-conscious shoppers, Whole Foods has increased the presence of its store brand, called 365. That brand is also placed at eye level on shelves, not demoted to the bottom shelf, the traditional spot for lower-priced goods.

The store also includes a kitchen classroom that can accommodate cooking classes for 24 to 30 students. Topics will range from cooking classes for single people to cooking with kids.

And there's another twist: Parking is in an underground garage, so customers can either drive to pick up their groceries in front of the store or transport shopping carts to the garage via a specially designed escalator.