Newark’s very first Whole Foods had their grand opening on March 1st at the Hahne & Co. building in downtown Newark. The Hahne & Co. Building on Broad and Halsey Streets in Newark was left abandoned and empty for a long time. It once was a sterling symbol of a bygone era where a department store once was. The organic supermarket, Whole Foods, has taken up a large portion of the first floor of the Hahne & Co. building, restoring it to its original beauty as well as adding a healthy local food store to downtown Newark.
On Wednesday, March 1st, Whole Foods officially opened its doors to the city of Newark. The store is fully stocked with all kinds of diverse food choices at somewhat reasonable prices. All throughout the store are organic and health savvy foods and products, many of which cannot be found at a traditional supermarket such as Shoprite. Products ranging from shampoo to allergy sensitive snacks were available for consumers to get their hands on.
The store also has a meat market within it as well as many other typical services such as an in-store bakery which offered all kinds of pastries and cakes. The store also offers an organic buffet and restaurant to eat from as well. The buffet offers all kinds of healthy foods such as salads and various types of vegetables. They offered kale salad, grape leaves and orzo. The in-store restaurant offered all kinds of food including slices of pizza. The supermarket also has a Peruvian restaurant offering many types of Peruvian foods and snacks.
There was a very good turnout for the first day of business with many of Newark’s residents coming out to see and experience the new store. The friendly Whole Foods employees offered free samples of their organic, health friendly foods. One of these samples was a few different flavors of organic split peas that were tasteful and filled with flavor.
A local Newark resident who was very proud to have the Hahne & Co. building occupied by Whole Foods. Where she once fantasized gift that her family might afford for Christmas, she now stood as a self-made woman buying her family’s weekly supply of groceries.
“For me, coming here to buy groceries after knowing what this place used to be is so much more than just buying groceries at any old supermarket. I can feel the transformation,” she said.
Today, the Hahne & Co. building now serves a new purpose for the city of Newark. It has allowed all of its residents to have a healthy alternative to what is typically offered at supermarkets in the city. The Whole Foods grand opening is only the beginning of the resurgence of the Hahne & Co. building, with a new restaurant, run by a celebrity chef, expected to open on one of the levels of the building.
