Natural foods grocer Whole Foods Market this month unveils an education program for new and expectant moms.
The Whole Baby program gives nutrition and lifestyle information for pregnant women and infants via seminars, sampling kits and booklets.
A fall lecture series on natural pregnancy and childbirth, conducted with partner Mothering Magazine, begins in New York City on Sept. 22, with dates in Philadelphia (Sept. 26), Chicago (Oct. 12) and Atlanta (Oct. 15) and plans for other locales next spring. Attendees register online for the free lectures, which are held at college, library and hotel sites, not in Whole Foods stores.
Whole Foods tested the lecture in its hometown of Austin, TX, in early September, with 150 attendees. Another 505 have already registered for lectures in the five cities.
Lecture speakers are Jody Villecco, Whole Foods’ food and nutrition quality standards coordinator, and Kimber Pasquali, Mothering’s resource and Web editor. Villecco will discuss nutrition (including which foods pregnant women should avoid) and will give recipes for making natural baby food and smoothies; Pasquali will tell moms-to-be how to pamper themselves and give advice on natural products, breastfeeding and baby care.
Attendees also get a bundle of samples from Traditional Medicinals, Seventh Generation, Earth’s Best, Burt’s Bees, Stonyfield Farms and Hyland’s as well as Mothering magazine.
Sample kits also will be distributed via childbirth classes, nurses and doulas (childbirth assistants). The canvas tote bags carry special offers from the vendors, redeemable at Whole Foods, in addition to samples. Kits will be distributed through all childbirth programs located within five miles of any of Whole Foods’ 165 stores nationally.
Lastly, Whole Foods will distribute education booklets with coupons in-store. Sample kits and booklets will be available through summer 2006. GCI Group, Austin, TX, handles the full effort for Whole Foods.
“This targets an important gateway shopper,” said GCI Group spokesperson Emily Thomson. “Women think more about nutrition and natural alternatives when they’re pregnant; over time, these moms end up becoming lifelong shoppers for Whole Foods.”
Separately, Whole Foods will build a 75,000-square-foot flagship store in London in early 2007. Austin, TX-based Whole Foods entered the U.K. in January when it bought seven Fresh & Wild stores for $38 million. The new flagship store, in fashionable Kensington, will employ 400 to 500 staffers and host cooking demonstrations, product samplings and in-house eateries.
“The success we have seen in the Fresh & Wild stores since acquiring them about 18 months ago created an even higher level of excitement and intensity to find a location for our first large-format Whole Foods Market store in London,” said Whole Foods Executive VP-Growth and Business Development Jim Sud in a statement.
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