Whole Foods Market
Opened: 2003
Also as The Caldor Rainbow mentions, the Fresh Pond Mall is a bit rundown these days. The Whole Foods isn't in bad shape, but it's also very clearly an old building that doesn't appear to have gotten very much love over the years.
Whole Foods refers to this location as Fresh Pond, which makes sense as it's just across the street from the actual pond. Cambridge has three Whole Foods locations and Somerville has one, too, though some of those stores are very small. We'll be touring all of those in the coming days.
Although this store is an old building and in fact looks downright outdated outside, it's quite nice inside and is one of the more extensively renovated Whole Foods locations we've seen. (Many of the Boston-area locations are on the older side.)
Produce is on the right side, with meat and seafood counters at the back of the right side. Dairy lines the back wall with frozen on the left side. Bakery, cheese, and deli/prepared foods are in the last aisle on the left side of the store.
The concrete flooring is particularly nice here because it's very smooth and consistent, and the color is pleasant.
I don't know when or if this store got a renovation after opening. I doubt this was how it opened in 2003, but it's definitely had this decor package since at least 2015. Whole Foods doesn't tend to update decor packages in their stores the way other chains do, in part because the decor tends to be custom designed for each location. They've also kept a reasonably similar style for decades now.
Interesting adaptation of the decor given this intrusive partial wall!
A look at floral and the front-end. Notice that there's a drop ceiling over the front-end, but the rest of the store has an exposed ceiling.
Whole Body in the first few aisles.
And a look across the back wall with the dairy department also under a drop ceiling.
I love these signs, calling out local producers and how far away from the store they are. The signage is great!
Frozen foods towards the end of the store on the left side.
It looks like the cases on the left are newer than the ones on the right, but again, I don't know when or if this store was remodeled.
Moving into the last aisle with the bakery and prepared foods, you can see we're once again under a drop ceiling. Pizza is on the front wall, with deli and bakery on the left side and cheese at the back.
I do like this signage, and it's an interesting choice to have the lettering actually angled towards the front of the store. It makes sense in the produce department -- where theoretically everyone's entering from the front door, right? -- but here, I wonder if it's as effective a choice when I'm sure some customers are coming in from the back wall.
And a look across the front-end...
Owner: Amazon
Previous Tenants: Stop & Shop > Bread & Circus (opened by 1994, converted to Whole Foods in 2003)
Cooperative: none
Location: 200 Alewife Brook Pkwy, Cambridge, MA
Photographed: July 27, 2019
Welcome to the Fresh Pond Mall! The Caldor Rainbow notes that this was never an indoor mall, but instead always strip mall. It appears to have been originally anchored by Zayre and Stop & Shop, which by 1994 had closed and Bread & Circus had opened up in the roughly 40,000 square feet. That said, I don't know for certain that the current Whole Foods was originally a Stop & Shop; that might've been elsewhere in the mall.
Again, I love the look of the floor here! Today we're also touring the Trader Joe's right across the street, and tomorrow we're headed about a mile east to see a unique independent store. Come back to check it out!
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