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Will Whole Foods at Tarzana Village Walk Invigorate the Neighborhood? High Hopes for Store that Opened Yesterday
The new Whole Foods Market in Tarzana made its debut yesterday with a ribbon-cutting (bread-breaking) ceremony and event attended by Mayor Villaraigosa and many more. There are high hopes the anchor tenant of the Village Walk mixed-used development will invigorate the community, reports the Daily News.
The 50,000-square-foot flagship store is the fifth Whole Foods in the Valley, and aims to take grocery shopping to the next level. Store Team Leader, George Khoury, touts his market's offerings:
Fresh locally grown produce, a wine and tapas bar, premium body care and events will satisfy and delight you. You’ll find grocery aisles filled with natural products, an unmatched selection of all natural meat and seafood, and expansive selection of specialty cheeses, charcuterie, beer and wine, and our prepared foods department filled with cuisines from around the world!
But it's not just shoppers who will benefit from the market and the multi-phase development in which it is located.
Kathy Delle Donne, president of the Tarzana Improvement Association, believes the market will play a role in raising the profile of the community: "This is totally going to invigorate our downtown business area [...] It will bring new life to Tarzana, and we have been working many years in order to do that."
The Village Walk has been in the works since 2003. The 250,000-square-foot site is hoped to "stimulate pedestrian traffic - and the economy" in the area. In addition to the retail, there are long-range plans to build townhouses and condos on the property.
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