Earlier this week, we promised you a photo of the store we believe is most generally like WF’s plans for the Lakewood store. So here’s a parking-lot-view photo of the Whole Foods Market at Preston & Forest in Dallas.
Now before everyone gets all hot and bothered (in either a good or bad way), note this: WF has not released the elevations they’ve been showing to neighborhood groups, so this is strictly our interpretation of something in the general range of what they’re looking to do in Lakewood, based on a several-minute gander at their elevations during a homeowners’ meeting.
For example, a big window of glass like the one pictured here figures prominently in the front of the Lakewood store facing the Abrams/Gaston intersection, although the wavy pattern pictured here wasn’t in evidence on the plans I saw. The Preston store looks to be two stories; whether the Lakewood store will be two stories or not, I wasn’t able to tell from the elevations.
But you get the idea: The Lakewood plans clearly outline a more modern-looking building and facade than the old Minyard’s, and certainly even more than you see at the existing Greenville Avenue store.
We didn’t take any pictures inside the Preston & Forest store, primarily to keep the curiously secretive WF people from having heart palpitations. But if you wander inside this store, I believe two things will strike you:
• The flooring and shelving are generally similar to what you see in the Greenville store, particularly in the produce and deli sections.
• But the higher ceilings and overall bigger feeling of the Preston & Forest store make the place seem much more elegant and high-end (lacking a better term) than the Greenville store could ever aspire to.
• As for what’s going on now, we’re looking into that, and hopefully we’ll have an update next week. In the meantime, check out the comments to our earlier post, particularly comment #24 by David Gonzalez, concerning his take on parking, urban shopping and living, and Whole Foods and Lakewood.
— Rick Wamre
