New Whole Foods Franklin Opening

On Sunday some of my fellow Nashville food bloggers and I got to go on a special tour of the soon-to-be opening Whole Foods in Franklin, so I thought I’d share a little sneak peek with you today.
While this Whole Foods has the same departments the other stores do, the bright, open space definitely feels unique. Filled with special touches like the one above, a 1905 seed counter from a Gallatin feed store, they’ve done a great job giving it some local flavor. In fact, many of the fixtures throughout the store were taken from old buildings right here in Tennessee.
The chalkboard signs and produce bins were made from deconstructed barns in Leiper’s Fork. The metal detailing above the meat department? It came from the roof of one of those barns. When you visit, be sure to pay close attention and you’ll notice other beautiful vintage pieces scattered throughout the store.
Another very cool feature can be found by bulk foods, a station with iPads for shoppers to use. Forgot your recipe? Hop on and look it up. Need to find an ingredient substitute? Google away. I love it! This is so much easier than struggling with my droid or calling my husband at home to look up something for me.
And then there is the wall of bulk spices, container after container of spices that I can purchase in any amount that I want. Just need a teaspoon of ground smoked chipotle pepper? Then that’s all you’ve got to purchase.

Even though I live in Green Hills where our Nashville Whole Foods is located, I work in Cool Springs, so I actually shop there more often, therefore I’m really excited to see that this store is vastly larger than the old location by the mall. Now every section has expanded, including the prepared foods section where I tend to grab lunch from the bar a few days a week. Yay!
Since I can never seem to have enough cheese in my diet, the larger cheese selection makes me pretty happy too.
Beer goes well with cheese, so appropriately, they’re neighbors in the store.
And speaking of beer and cheese, that’s how our evening ended, with a sampling of some wonderful cheeses from the specialty shop and a couple of growlers.
Wondering when you can start shopping at this beautiful new store? Well, you don’t have to wait long, because it opens tomorrow!
Grand Opening Celebration
Whole Foods Market – Franklin
1566 W. McEwen Dr.
Franklin, TN 37067
Wednesday, May 18th
7:30 a.m. Free Breakfast in the parking lot
9 a.m. Store opens
Be sure to “Like” Whole Foods Franklin on Facebook to keep up with all of their store specials and events!
Thanks for sharing this Beth, I CANNOT WAIT to go down there!!!
Pretty pictures! Whole Foods looks so different without people in the store lol. Their cheese selection is impressive that’s for sure.
I always feel guilty going there though, like i’m betraying The Fresh Market & Trader Joe’s. I’m also skeerd, one of these days i’m gonna walk out of there wearing a hemp bracelet & voting liberal democrat. *kidding*
haha, you’re funny Ally! Don’t worry, I shop there more than the average person and I have never in my life been tempted to leave wearing a hemp bracelet ;-)
Whole Foods is such a fun store. We’re getting one in our neck of the woods soon too. I agree with Ally though; I hate betraying my Earth Fare store and Trader Joe’s!
I love Trader Joe’s in its own unique way, so I would never carry on a completely monogamous relationship with WFM. The farmers’ markets around town have to get plenty of my affection too ;-)
Beth, your photos are fantastic! Loved reading your take on the tour. Also appreciate the love for Trader Joe’s. But, Ally, don’t be skeerd of libs… we’re not that bad. :D
Thanks Danielle!
Hey Beth, great photos! You really have a good eye!
Thanks Lannae!
I’m in the same boat, live downtown and work in cool springs, so very excited about this. Thanks for the info! I can almost throw a rock at this WF. I feel its going to take a lot of my paycheck away from me, ha.
I can’t wait to visit the new store! I’ve worked at the Green Hills location since it opened (transfered from Wild Oats when the companies merged). Just want to let people know that while we don’t have fancy iPads at our location, my fellow supervisors and I are always happy to look things up for customers on the Internet at customer service :)
Ok, this Whole Foods is WAY cooler than the one here in downtown Baltimore. I had no idea they customized each store based on location<—awesome
I love Whole Food. But I was quite irked by their lack of attention to the gluten-free customers on the tour. They were definitely in tour mode. One of the presenters flat out gave erroneous info! I look forward to my first real grocery shopping trip, but I wasn’t impressed by the tour. (Except the sushi lady who honestly said that their sushi could NOT be made gf. THANK YOU!)