My Review of Whole Foods 365 Brooklyn

So I went to the Whole Foods 365 store in Brooklyn recently.  I was curious exactly what Amazon was up to by launching this brand.  Well, I found out. The Whole Foods 365 brand is an attempt to bring in new customers by offering lower prices, yet still retaining the Whole Foods quality and "look and feel".  Make no mistake about it though, this grocery is directly aimed at the millennial crowd.  It sits opposite an Apple store (on the other side of the block) and is in a pricey section of real estate in downtown Brooklyn, right outside Atlantic Terminal.

How do they do this?  From my observation, they have streamlined the product selection quite a bit, choosing to go mainly with store brands over other suppliers products.  The hot food line is still there, but the variety has been slimmed down (compared to the regular Whole Foods hot food selection).  Amazon branding, including ads for Amazon Prime, is featured near the registers on huge monitors (you knew that was coming, right?).

Pricing was (and this is totally subjective to the items I bought) a little lower than the regular Whole Foods, and slightly to considerably above Trader Joe's from what I saw.  Some items were reasonable (like sale items on veggies and fruit), but you have to pay attention to notice this.  Sale signs weren't blatantly obvious, just simple black & white signs.  The store was extremely well lit, clean and merchandised.  I saw a decent number of staff running around to answer questions also.  Items were easy to find and extremely well presented, especially the vegetables.

There are 20 registers, though at the time I was there (about 10 pm on a Monday) only 5 were open.  The line moved very fast though (still using the Whole Foods round robin method).  Where Whole Foods 365 shines is in the selection of organics and vegan foods.  Trader Joes just doesn't compare to their selection, though they try.  If you are a vegan then this is the place for you!  Even the hot food line and store prepared foods have a nice selection of organic and vegan items.

This store has two floors, the first, ground-level, has a variety of independent food vendors like a coffee shop, a bakery, self-serve beer and cider, and two other vendors that I can't remember what was sold.  The actual grocery is in the basement.

Overall I still prefer Trader Joe's for pricing, but I can say if you are a vegan or eat organics (and the price is not an issue for you) this will be the better choice.  Trader Joe's can't compete with the variety, selection, and atmosphere.