Whole Foods Market Opens Aug. 19 in Nashua

Whole Foods Market will open its Nashua store on Aug. 19.

The news came out today as Whole Foods Market held a "local suppliers' summit" in Concord for New Hampshire businesses, growers and producers interested in having their products stocked on their shelves.

The Nashua store – at 225 Amherst St. – will be the first location in New Hampshire for Whole Foods Market.

A second store is in the planning stages for Portsmouth, and Whole Foods Market is considering additional consumer reach in the state.

"Nashua's really just the beginning for us," Heather McCready, Public Relations manager for Whole Foods Market in the North Atlantic Region, said in a phone interview with Patch.

The Aug. 19th opening in Nashua will feature a "bread-breaking" ceremony, the store's take on a traditional ribbon-cutting event. There will be some other surprises, and the Nashua store will be a first for the New England region, but McCready is not immediately able to elaborate on just what that unique element is, or will be.

Every Whole Foods Market store is different, she notes.

Whole Foods Market-Nashua will mean 80 to 100 jobs, excluding the local suppliers contracted for goods. The suppliers' summit was held in Concord to draw New Hampshire businesses from around the state. Each store has an in-house "forager" who continually works to bring in local products, McCready said.

Whole Foods Market in Nashua already has some local flavor in its team. The Nashua store team leader is Philip DeVito, who lives in Nashua.