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# Whole Foods to open Wilshire store today
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/whole-foods-to-open-wilshire-store-today/
- Published: 2003-07-16T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:32:19.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Business, Malibu, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Whole Foods Market, the world’s largest natural and organic supermarket, opens its doors in Santa Monica today.

The store, located at 2201 Wilshire Blvd., will celebrate its grand opening today beginning at 9 a.m. with city officials and community members hosting a bread-breaking ceremony. The first 300 customers will receive a free baguette during the opening ceremony. There will be food sampling and music all day.

On Friday, a kids’ tile project party will be held for students from McKinley Elementary School who painted the tiles that will be permanently displayed at the market. The celebration, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., will include cake and ice cream for the kids.

Then on July 23, the market will donate 5 percent of the day’s sales to Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation’s “For The Arts... For Every Child” program. Local artist Peter Tigler will help create a mural for customers to help paint and sign their names. The mural will be permanently displayed in the store.

The program’s goal is to make the arts a consistent and reliable part of children’s education through a unique funding opportunity. The goal of the program is to create a permanent endowment fund of $15 million, which will support the arts in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, including music, visual arts, dance and drama.

The foundation will administer the endowment, which will generate $825,000 annually. The program will provide choral music teachers at every elementary school, visual arts and enhanced music programs at local middle schools and additional support drama and dance at the high schools.

Whole Foods features premium organic and natural foods, free of artificial additives and preservatives, along with a complete selection of health and body care products. Some of the offerings at the store include fresh seafood delivered six days a week, organic and free range poultry, more than 250 different artisan cheeses, an olive bar featuring varieties from around the world, dry-aged beef, extensive wine and beer selections including organic wines, ethnic cuisine, ready to eat foods, an in-store coffee roaster and much more.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 16, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071603.pdf?ref=smdp.com)