Here's an email I got from a reader on Monday: "Any new information about when Whole Foods is opening? Anxiously waiting!" Another, earlier message: "Is it EVER going to open?"
It's been more than a year since Whole Foods broke ground on its 42,000-square-foot store, near Fairview and Sharon roads. And considering that Charlotte has been tantalized with the prospect of a Whole Foods store of its own since 2004, when the upscale grocer planned to open a store in Elizabeth, readers seem to be getting antsy for the SouthPark-area store to open. (If you'd like a taste of some vintage Charlotte angst over Whole Foods' absence, here's a 2010 blog post by my predecessor, Jen Aronoff).
Whole Foods spokeswoman Darrah Horgan told me she's also getting lots of inquiries about the opening date, which was originally planned to be this past spring. No firm date has been set, but Horgan said, "August is safe to say, at this point."
So stay tuned. As soon as there's a date set for the grand opening, I'll post it here. Or, you can even follow me on Twitter and know even earlier.
Bonus observation: There's a lot going on in the local grocery market this year. The arrival of two new major players, Whole Foods and Publix, Harris Teeter buying all of Lowes Foods' local stores, Harris Teeter upgrading many of its local stores to large, distinctive, flagship designs, Wal-Mart overtaking Harris Teeter as the No. 1 grocer in the Charlotte region (OK, that happened in 2011, but the data was released this year) - well, it all makes good blog fodder.