New Whole Foods Injects Life, Ruffles Feathers

As the new kid on the block, Mill Valley's sparkling new Whole Foods Market has infused its surroundings with a mixture of boon and blight.

Since its long-awaited unveiling at the Alto Shopping Center last month, the grocery chain's latest outlet has delivered some much-needed stimulus to the semi-dormant mall on E. Blithedale Ave. near the city's eastern gateway. But that activity has also forced local merchants to adjust to clogged parking lots and traffic arteries. It also has forced the local farmers market to become nomadic.

"(Whole Foods) opening is a very positive thing in general, but it has its downsides too," said councilman Garry Lion, who has been working to ease concerns in the center's surrounding area.

The new 24,000-square-foot Whole Foods, in a space occupied by Albertsons until it vacated it more than four years ago, offers shoppers an open-air farner's market feel with an abundance of organic and locally grown products. In a rarity for any town of Mill Valley's size, Whole Foods also has operated a 13,000-square-foot store at 414 Miller Ave. since 1989. That store was the company's 11th. It now has more than 270 stores in North America and the United Kingdom.

That expansion is not music to the ears of Antonio Caruso, owner of nearby Caffe Oggi. As he watched people park their cars and walk "with blinders on" to Whole Foods with no new foot traffic coming in his direction, Caruso said the company's expansion has come at a cost to nearby businesses.

"Parking is a really big, huge issue," said Caruso, a 15-year veteran of the shopping center. "Since Whole Foods opened up, the way I see it, they advertise themselves as a company that wants to help everybody. (But) they only want to help themselves."

Yong Sim, owner of Clean Look dry cleaners, isn't as critical of his new next-door neighbor.

"Parking has been hard for the first couple of weeks since (Whole Foods) opened, but you can see spots are becoming available," he said.

Prior to the store's arrival, members of the Alto-Sutton Neighborhood Association raised red flags with the city over looming parking and traffic. With the East Blithedale channel between the city and Highway 101 already a commuter chokepoint, neighbors feared more cars spilling out of the center onto neighborhood streets.

"We've been watching to make sure this doesn't turn into a big problem," Lion said.

Susan Grelock, marketing team leader for Whole Foods Market, said traffic and parking concerns have settled since the store's opening week. Some early neighborhood parking woes were attributed to employees who assisted in the store opening who were directed not to park in the lot or certain residential areas.

"It's great to see the plaza bustling with activity and now that the store is established, there seems to be ample parking for all," she said.

Paul Gradeff, managing director of HighBridge Properties in Corte Madera, one of several asset management firms overseeing the center, said he heard "positive feedback overall" from Whole Foods arrival.

"Parking has been an issue, but with anything, change will bring uncertainty, especially on the parking side," he said. "As days go on, traffic will probably be reduced to the center as the neighborhood gets comfortable with the center."

But Sim and others have faced a different problem. His newly signed lease is for a $6,000 monthly rent for a 1,200-square-foot space in the center, half of what he pays for his current 2,700-square-foot space. He said even as the center's anchor space sat vacant and business dropped off, his rent continued to increase year after year.

"Our landlord is very business-minded," Sim said, noting he knew of tenants in stagnant malls elsewhere who had their rents reduced. "I know business will increase with Whole Foods, but not enough for me to stay here."

One longtime tenant, who asked not to be identified, said of his lease, "all these years we've had no anchor here, we've been constantly having to pay more and more."

Like Sim, the city's first farmers market, started one year ago with Whole Foods' blessing in the parking lot facing their store, is also on the move. It was relegated last week to a side parking lot near CVS Pharmacy in the mall, the fourth such move since the Friday (9 am to 2 pm) enterprise started.

"We've got some changes, but we're surviving," said Lynn Bagley, director of Golden Gate Farmers Market Association, which runs the market. "We've had to consider Whole Foods and their needs as much as CVS. I want to be a good neighbor. I notice that the Whole Foods lot is virtually full most of the time. Chances of us going back there are pretty remote."

On a recent Friday, approximately 40 farmers market venders squeezed into one parking lot aisle as multiple CVS employees were out directing traffic. Most farmers market vendors agreed the moves have cut into their business, often as much as 30 to 50 percent.

"There's been a big difference," said Tanja Palmers of Green Gulch Farm. "Last year we were selling out. Now, we have to take a lot of stuff back with us."

Bagley said the latest move freed up space for vendors and access for elderly CVS patrons.

"We did have some initial concerns, but in the last couple of weeks we've had spaces reserved for pharmacy customers in the front," said Mike DeAngelis, spokesman for CVS Caremark Corp. "We're happy to have them there. We're seeing some overlap of customers visiting the farmers market that are visiting our store."

Lion said the city will continue to keep an eye on how things fare for the farmers market, parking and traffic.

"Hopefully, within the next few weeks, everything will settle down into a nice routine," he said. Even Caruso expects things to get better.

"It's still new," he said. "In the long run, it'll help. In a couple months it should be different."