New Whole Foods expected to thrive

When Whole Foods moves into Wexford Plaza in McCandless about a year from now, the nation's largest natural-goods grocer will face stiff competition from a bevy of nearby stores.

But, analysts say, their success won't hinge on what Giant Eagle and others have to offer.

"It's not marketed to everyone," said Audrey Guskey, a Duquesne University marketing professor. "It's for the more upscale, younger market, better educated (people). It's geared toward the more sophisticated consumer. The fact that they're moving to the North Hills is very smart of them. I predict they'll do very well."

Spokesmen for the Austin, Texas-based natural and organic foods company said the 33,000 square-foot store is set to open late this year. It will be roughly the same size of the chain's store in East Liberty, its first in the area.

The McCandless store is Whole Foods' second attempt to expand in the Pittsburgh region. It previously had explored a site at the proposed Collier Crossing development in Collier. The chain has more than 300 stores in the United States and United Kingdom.

Whole Foods doesn't typically worry about competition, said David J. Livingston, a Wisconsin-based supermarket research analyst.

"Whole Foods tends to pull customers from far distances who want specialty products. A lot of people are going to pass two or three Giant Eagles to get to Whole Foods," Livingston said. "And those same people will most likely shop at their neighborhood grocery store as well."

When the Whole Foods set up shop along Centre Avenue in 2002, it was among a half-dozen grocery stores in that area, including a Giant Eagle Market District, a more upscale version of the O'Hara-based supermarket chain's normal stores. Trader Joe's, a specialty grocer in East Liberty's Village of EastSide shopping plaza on nearby Penn Avenue, opened in 2006.

The McCandless location will be within a few miles of a half-dozen grocery stores, including an 88,000 square-foot Giant Eagle in The Village of Pine shopping center that opened last year. A spokesman for Giant Eagle could not be reached for comment.

"By opening up this store, they'll be able to pull in even more people, possibly from areas they couldn't reach before," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of American's Research Group, a market research company in Charleston, S.C. "Their typical strategy is to put in two stores where they can pull in as many people as possible."

McCandless residents hope the store will provide a boost to Wexford Plaza, which now includes about 25 retail spaces, including Levin Furniture, Starbucks and a dry cleaners. About a half-dozen stores are vacant.

"Anytime you have economic development, and especially a company like Whole Foods ... it's good," said Susan Balla, executive director of The Chamber of Commerce Inc., a business organization that serves Pittsburgh's northern suburbs and Cranberry.

Businesses already are inquiring about the vacant stores, said Pat McCune, director of construction for Kimco Realty, the owner of Wexford Plaza.

McCune declined to identify which companies have inquired about the plaza but said he's looking forward to Whole Foods' presence.

"Pretty soon we'll be able to have our pick of who we want to move here," he said.