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The desire to offer high-end organic food to the community of Malibu will clash with some residents that just don't want to see the grocery behemoth in their "rural way of life." A public scoping meeting about the project will be held at Malibu's City Hall on May 22, to discuss what should be considered in the environmental impact report, and the natives seem restless.
Debate over the 24,000 square-foot store—plus four smaller buildings—where Papa Jack's Skate Park used to be has been raging in the comments section of Malibu Patch. Some bemoan that it will drive out local businesses and goes against Malibu's principles of low density development, while other free market-ers say, "What matters is demand, which is not fixed. Take some time to learn about demand elasticities. Simplistic, zero-sum thinking about these market dynamics is not the right way." To which another said:
I love whole foods, but hardly anybody i know is a label reading health freak like me. What does Whole Foods have that people "need" that is not already available elsewhere in Malibu for less? Whole Foods is just an overpriced trendy market, and the foot traffic from cross creek is the majority of business that they are going to get. if healthy food was in demand, PC Greens and Johns Garden would have expanded exponentially by now.
Even developer Steve Soboroff commented, "We are proud of the Whole Foods in the Park project. It is a .15 density (less than allowed in Malibu, but we feel perfect for the community). Only a few small shops plus the Whole Foods (which is also much smaller than their norm)."The project would connect to the Civic Center Area sewer. Malibu Times has a good look at what goes into a scoping meeting.
Related:
Whole Foods Wants to Shake Their "Whole Paycheck" Reputation
Will Whole Foods at Tarzana Village Walk Invigorate the Neighborhood? High Hopes for Store that Opened Yesterday
