Organic Process

While the arrival of Whole Foods Market in Fayetteville is being lauded as a boon for Northwest Arkansas, it’s also true the region’s four biggest cities all vied for the store.

But by hauling in its highest-profile company in recent memory, Fayetteville reversed a recent trend — real or perceived — that it was losing cultural ground to its northern neighbors in Benton County.

Steve Clark, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, scoffed at the suggestion that Whole Foods was a must-have for his city, despite the fact that the Walmart AMP, the region’s largest outdoor music venue, recently moved from Fayetteville to Rogers and that the Bentonville square, not downtown Fayetteville, is now considered the region’s culinary hub.

Still, Clark admitted that landing the organic-food giant felt pretty good.

“It’s a big win for us,” he said. “Yes, we’re thrilled. But it’s also a big win for the region.”

Whole Foods will be located in the College Marketplace development. The $25-million food and retail center just south of the Fulbright Expressway flyover is not only expected to generate tax revenue and as many as 175 jobs, but to also cement the Northwest Arkansas region’s reputation as a metro on-the-rise.

But the address is hard to ignore: 3535 N. College Ave., Fayetteville, AR 72703.

“What we told Whole Foods is that, for the profile of customer you’re looking for, it’ll be strongest in Fayetteville,” Clark said, referencing the demographic centered around the University of Arkansas, the growth of Washington Regional Medical Center, and the presence of rising companies like Acumen Brands Inc., DataRank and BlueInGreen.

Other factors that cinched the deal for Fayetteville, Clark said, were the Fulbright flyover, approval by the Fayetteville City Council to install a traffic signal at Masonic Drive, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate that the region’s population is at the tipping point — 500,000 and counting.

 

Development Pipeline

At various times in the last few years, it’s been confirmed that officials from Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale at least contacted Whole Foods or its representatives and said their city was open for business. The sales pitch wasn’t difficult to make, either, as Whole Foods had a site selection agent on the ground in Northwest Arkansas, off-and-on, for several years.

Jeff Garrison, a partner with S.J. Collins Enterprises, the Georgia-based company that will develop the site and lease it to Whole Foods, said this region had been on the radar for a long time.

“Northwest Arkansas has always represented the perfect demographic mix and population density for Whole Foods Market,” Garrison said. “The search for a location has been an ongoing process that has lasted many years.” 

While the 35,000-SF grocery store is the centerpiece of College Marketplace, the project also includes an additional 26,670 SF, spread out over three buildings that will cater to a “high-energy lifestyle” with boutique fashion, service retail and a healthy-living restaurant that is currently not located within the Northwest Arkansas market. Alan Cole with Colliers International in Bentonville is the site’s leasing agent.

Based in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods currently has 379 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and is in the midst of an expansion that by 2018 could see the food retailer in control of 575 stores, according to a quarterly report the company issued May 6.

Long term, Whole Foods sees a demand for as many as 1,200 stores. The Fayetteville outlet is part of what Whole Foods calls a “development pipeline” that includes upcoming locations in Hawaii, Texas, Indiana, New York, New Jersey and Virginia. SJ Collins currently has three Whole Foods projects under construction.

“We are blessed to work with such a fair, open and honest company,” Garrison said. “They strive to treat everyone as they would like to be treated.”

 

Whole Foods Sweepstakes

Fayetteville’s main competitors in the Whole Foods sweepstakes were Springdale and Rogers.

“We tried to recruit them,” said Ray Burns, president and CEO of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce. “Whole Foods knows where Rogers is.”

Burns said Rogers sent a group of representatives to Whole Foods a few years back. They pitched the southwest part of town as the ideal location for an upscale organic grocery store. While talks did not pan out, Rogers still got what it wanted: The Fresh Market, a North Carolina chain with stores across the country, opened in June 2012 in the Pinnacle Hills Promenade.

The courtship of Whole Foods, through a site selection consultant working under contract with the food chain, lasted longer in Springdale, where officials had an ongoing dialogue with the consultant.

“We did have communications over the last three years,” said Perry Webb, president and CEO of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce. “We knew Whole Foods was out there kicking tires.”

Webb said the site consultant was looking at areas on the west side of town from Arvest Ballpark to Tontitown and as far north as Elm Springs Road. But those conversations eventually dried up. Webb said he knew why.

“We heard a few months ago that they were interested in Fayetteville,” Webb said. “We knew something was going on.”

Ironically, Bentonville, the city many say is stealing Fayetteville’s thunder — an arts and market district is now under construction there — appears to have been a bit player in the competition for Whole Foods.

“We contacted them along with other food and general merchandise chains, but I don’t remember a response,” said Ed Clifford, the former CEO and president of the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. The current head of the Bentonville chamber, Dana Davis, said his organization hasn’t had any contact with Whole Foods.

Though Garrison would not mention any specifics, he spoke to the overall climate of options and competition in Northwest Arkansas when he said, “The search has been extensive.”