It has been a long time coming, but we can finally say it: Whole Foods opens in the South Hills tomorrow! Located at 111 Siena Drive in Upper St. Clair (across from South Hills Village where the Consolidated Coal building used to be), the doors will open at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, January 25, but the community is invited to join Whole Foods team leaders for a bread-breaking ceremony at 8:45 a.m. From then on, the store will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

If you aren’t already a member of the Whole Foods fanbase, you may be asking yourself, “So what’s the big deal?” We already have more than our fair share of excellent grocery stores here in the South Hills, offering a wide array of food choices at varying price points.

The “big deal,” as stated by Whole Foods Senior PR Specialist Annie Cull, is all about clean eating. “Everything you will find in this store is free of artificial preservatives, flavors, sweeteners, colors and hydrogenated fats, including all of our prepared foods and local supplier products, because we do stock locally sourced items wherever we can … But sometimes people don’t realize that the preservative-free standard is sort of the whole point in Whole Foods,” says Cull.  “So, for example, when we open, we will be offering local apple cider from Trax Farms. From what I understand, lots of places sell that in the Pittsburgh area … But ours will be different because we will have the preservative-free version. Because it’s against our policies to have preservatives in our products.”

ww1

ww11

;awoekna'ekcn;aewoifnawel;kfn;alkcende;aojfnra;lewknf;awkna'welckmawe'kfaw'epfomac'wepoma'wpeojf'apwoefj

WW2

ww5

ww3

ww6

ww7

ww4

ww14

ww8

ww12

ww13

ww17

ww10

ww9

ww15

ww16

Good neighbor

Right now, Whole Foods has a list of more than 120 ingredients that it deems “unacceptable for food.” The company also abides by animal welfare and meat quality standards that are displayed behind the counters in the butcher and seafood departments, in addition to a tall order of general standards for any product that makes it onto a Whole Foods shelf.

The South Hills Whole Foods also boasts a handful of features that you will not find in the East Liberty or Wexford locations. The most noticeable difference is size: the East Liberty location is 32,516 square feet, Wexford is slightly larger at 33,233 square feet and South Hills comes in at 39,510 square feet. South Hills also has a full-service coffee bar with nitro cold brew technology, a from-scratch bakery, the in-store 1788 Pub featuring 24 beers on tap, and it also stocks exclusive items such as Drew Mathieson Center herb kits and the new Live Clean baby body care line.

Residents can expect to see other businesses opening in the Whole Foods complex. The Porch, a restaurant near the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland, is expected to open a second location in the building, and additional space is available for other restaurants and retail shops. Customers can park in a large lot behind the building or in a garage in the lower level of the complex.

Whole Foods offered preview tours to the community on Sunday, January 22, and more than 600 South Hills residents came throughout the day to get their first look. To get your own sneak peek, check out our tour of the new South Hills Whole Foods below: