The second Whole Foods Market in Arkansas opened March 3, 2016 to the eager community of Fayetteville. A turnout of about 1,400 visitors from northwest Arkansas and other parts of the state fought for parking spaces to check out the “highly customized” store on North College Avenue. “Our Sneak peek, grand opening and first week has been everything we hoped for!” said store team leader Stuart Lane, adding, “Northwest Arkansas has been so welcoming.”


Upon setting foot in the store the first thing you might notice is the impressively large Tap Room, which is one of the largest in the Southwest region. “The tap room in our Fayetteville store is a unique feature that we’re really excited about. Our team believed it would be a great addition to the NWA community as a place to bring people together, whether it’s board game nights, tap takeovers, dinner events, etc“ said Lane. The “blue books” lining the wall and ceiling, as well as “03-02” stamped tables made of repurposed wood, are more features unique to this store. In addition to beer and wine, there’s also a coffee bar and Wi-Fi available for loitering.

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But there’s a whole lot more! From the already well-utilized Tap Room (it’s already a notably popular gathering space), you find the famously varied salad and hot food bar, the tantalizing bakery which leads you through the rest of the over 29,000 square feet of space, offering many locally-made products like Puritan Brew Co. and Core Brewing, Great Fermentations, Pink House Alchemy, Onyx Coffee Lab, Loblolly Creamery, My Brother’s Salsa and Ozark Natural Breads.


If you enter by the South, you’ll see the rustic “Welcome to Fayetteville” signage before hitting the vast and gorgeous produce section featuring as much local produce as can be acquired this time of year. “Local is extremely important to us, “ said Chilcote while handing out samples to produce shoppers.

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For the next few weeks, the grand opening sales continue at the Fayetteville store – thus far customers have scored deals such as a free 2 pounds pastured ground beef or a free package of responsibly farm-raised salmon with a $25 purchase, organic strawberries for $3.33, and .98 avocados–all deals which have been well taken-advantage of.

For more info on current sales get the Whole Foods app in your app store! It’s well worth it.

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