Whole Foods, you fickle lover. You champion healthy eating and then sell us $6 asparagus water. You ply us with free samples, only to charge our paycheck for a wedge of that same cheese. The only light at the end of the tunnel is 365 by Whole Foods, a budget line available on Whole Foods' shelves, that eases us into gourmet groceries like Smirnoff paving the way for Grey Goose. Well, there's good news for you budget shoppers: Soon we'll have an entire 365 by Whole Foods grocery store, when it opens in East Austin's Plaza Saltillo.
The off-shoot isn't expected to arrive until late 2019, until Plaza Saltillo, a 10-acre development at I-35 and E Fifth Street, officially opens. But there is plenty to look forward to: affordable groceries, hot and cold bars and, if it follows the model for other 365 locations (which are currently in California, New York, Ohio and Oregon—plus one in Cedar Park), an in-store café.
East Austin is considered by many to be a food desert; despite its plethora of restaurants and food trucks, there aren't many places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. The 30,000-square-foot store could be a game-changer for how the neighborhood shops. Most importantly, we won't be tempted by that damn asparagus water.