Whole Foods in Chicago's South Side neighborhood of Englewood is permanently closed

The South Side location is one of six underperforming stores closing, including another site in Chicago at DePaul University.

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(CHICAGO) On Sunday, November 13, 2022, Whole Foods in the Chicago neighborhood of Englewood shut its doors.

It was 2016 when the South Side neighborhood celebrated a Whole Foods store opening at 63rd and Halsted Streets that promised to bring fresh food and produce to an area desperately in need of easier access to healthy foods.

Whole Foods had a disappointing first quarter

In 2017, Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. After a loss of $3.8 billion in the first quarter of 2022, Amazon announced the closing of six Whole Foods locations. Two of the stores are in Chicago. The other four are located in Alabama, California, and Massachusetts.

However, Asiaha Butler, CEO of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood said the 63rd Street location was never going to make a lot of money. "We knew this wasn't a store that was supposed to gain a lot of profit," Butler told ABC7 Chicago. "We are in a food apartheid here and this was a corporate responsibility decision that was done."

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release in April when the closing was announced,

"Amazon's decision to close stores in Englewood and Lincoln Park as part of a nationwide closure of stores is obviously disappointing. My immediate worry is for the workers in both locations." She continued, "We as a city will continue to work hard to close food deserts that meet community needs with community at the table.”

$10 million in tax incentives lured Whole Foods to the area

Chicago mayor at the time, Rahm Emanuel, negotiated an over $10 million tax incentive to bring the grocer to the community. In April 2014, the city council voted in favor of a $10.7 million tax increment financing funds to subsidize the development.

And now, just six years later, the store is gone, and the only other option for grocery shopping in Englewood is a recently renovated Aldi, which is a few blocks away from the former Whole Foods.

What comes next for Englewood?

For now, the building at the Englewood Square development remains empty. But according to the Chicago Tribune, the sales agreement with the city requires a full-service grocery store to open in the space within 18 months of Whole Foods leaving.

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