Whole Foods to
open new store in Chicago gay center

Whole Foods Market is scheduled to open a new store in a Chicago gay community center, according to the Chicago Tribune. When it opens on July 25 in the Center on Halsted, Whole Foods will become the first major retailer to join a gay community center in the United States.

Store manager Tom Marciniak expects the 40,000-square-foot store built in the East Lakeview neighborhood to become one of the most profitable stores in the area, given its proximity to Wrigley Field and the community's demographics.

"We're going to really promote the center," Marciniak told the Tribune. "We'll be one of their greatest marketing vehicles."

Whole Foods' decision makes it one of many mainstream companies catering to gay and lesbian shoppers.

The U.S. LGBT population has an estimated buying power of $650 billion, according to Chance Mitchell, cofounder and chief executive of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. A recent study by market research firm Packaged Facts predicts that the figure will grow to more than $835 billion by 2011.

"The gay household is now highly, highly visible," Bob Witeck, chief executive of Witeck-Combs Communications Inc., told the Tribune. Witeck's firm specializes in gay consumers.

"Now companies can say, '[We] now know who they are and [we] want them to be part of [our] mix as customers, shareholders and employees,'" he said.

Whole Foods has vied for a location in the neighborhood for the past five years. Company representatives approached the center as it was planning a smaller project that would include a bookstore or gift shop as the only retail tenant.

In return, the store will also help its new landlord, providing potential clients a discreet side entrance that leads to the center's lobby.

"There's a lot of people that are still struggling with coming-out issues," Modesto Tico Valle, executive director of the center, told the Tribune. "We're definitely setting the benchmark when you're talking about a comprehensive center."

Valle said this new business venture has inspired centers in other cities to search out potential retail tenants.

"There are many people coming here to learn from us," he said. (The Advocate)