Whole Foods suddenly closing down another grocery store forever

You probably don't stop to consider the ins and outs of your local supermarket's business during your weekly run.

Those economic intricacies are typically for board rooms and operators to ponder. 

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Of course, if you're a nosy retail writer, you might find yourself considering these factors pretty closely. 

You might, for example, linger for too long in the produce aisle, trying to figure out the cost your store might incur to ship in organic blueberries from across the country, as opposed to the pint available from the next state over.

By and large, however, you probably aren't going to your local grocery store with economics on the mind. 

But it's keeping these very ideas in mind that's helping supermarkets stay afloat. In many cases, economic details are where most grocery stores make their money.

It's estimated that about 50% of grocery stores fail within the first five years of operation, partly because running such a business can require a lot of up-front capital and all of one's time. 

Grocery stores run a tight business

It's no secret that running a grocery store is a difficult venture. 

That's partly because these stores operate on razor-thin profit margins. In fact, the average supermarket only makes between two to three percent profit  in its best quarters, and that's if everything goes according to plan.

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Grocery stores are also massive operations; the average store is about 40,000 square feet. 

And every single one of these square feet must be tightly temperature controlled and restocked often. Any slight variation to this cadence can mean all those perishable goods go to waste.

Which means that utility bills, plus the cost of labor and goods, are typically quite high. 

And many of the most popular items at a grocery store are often loss leaders, like produce, chicken, bread, milk, and eggs. 

When you add into this the rising levels of inventory shrink (or the industry term for losses due to theft and other issues), profits quickly dwindle.

Whole Foods closing location

So it's really no surprise that grocery stores across the U.S. run into issues on a regular basis. Sometimes those issues become insurmountable, and a store must do the unthinkable: face going into the red, or close altogether. 

And now, Whole Foods has announced it will close a location in Seattle, Wash., in June. 

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The Whole Foods is located in the Capitol Hill area of the city and sits at the bottom of the Danforth, a new luxury apartment building. 

"The area has also been at the center of a growing public safety debate with plans for a county mental health crisis center across the Madison-Broadway intersection," Capitol Hill Seattle wrote of the closure.

The area is near Seattle University and several medical centers.

Its last day is slotted for June 20, 2025. 

“Like any business, we regularly evaluate the performance and growth potential of each of our stores and make decisions to position the company for long-term success,” a Whole Foods spokesperson told CHS. 

There are still several grocery stores in the area, including a few Safeway stores.