<p> Whole Foods’ ReFresh Project in New Orleans has just kicked off with the opening of a new 25,000 square foot store aimed at catering to low income shoppers in the area. Alongside the opening of its new store, the retailer also announced the launch of Whole Cities Foundation, a new initiative that is dedicated to promoting nutrition and health education among shoppers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/reFresh_sign.jpg" alt="cropped_Image_020414" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> It may seem odd to see Whole Foods and low-income in the same sentence, but the company assures that the new store provides the infrastructure necessary to accommodate these low-income shoppers with fresh, affordable high quality food, according to WWNO. Ernest Roy, the manager of the new store, is confident that Whole Foods’ 365 Everyday Value line and value tours, led by two healthy eating educators, will help the community shop on a budget. “We feel like we’re very price competitive – we do a lot of shopping around to make sure that we are price competitive,” says Roy.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> In fact, the entire project revolves around catering to the low-income shopper. It is being developed by Broad Community Connections, a local non-profit, and L&M Development Partners, a New York-based company that specializes in low-income and market-rate housing, according to The Times-Picayune.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/reFresh_bakery.jpg" alt="cropped_Image_020414" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> With the opening of the new store, Whole Foods is further extending a helpful hand to the community with Whole Cities Foundation. The goals of the foundation include a focus on healthy eating, how to shop on a budget, how to cook with limited time, and how to cook with maximum nutritional value.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “We are really hoping that this deep engagement with New Orleans will become a perfect environment – with the support of community partners – to pilot test and evaluate a model for community outreach that we can bring to other cities,” said Meredith Smith, Executive Director of the new foundation.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> The 60,000 square-foot ReFresh Project also includes Liberty’s Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides culinary training for kids and meals to public schools, and Tulane University’s Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, a school dedicated to teaching residents, students, and doctors how to use healthy cooking to avoid food-related diseases.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://wwno.org/post/whole-foods-opens-new-store-geared-lower-income-shoppers-mid-city" target="_new"> WWNO </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/whole_foods_launches_nationwid.html" target="_new"> The Times-Picayune </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
