7 Things You Might Not Know About Whole Foods

The new Charlestown Whole Foods Market in the Bunker Hill Mall opens for business this week, and on Monday Patch got a sneak peak of the store and some insider information about what's new and different about the company.

The new store will open Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 10 a.m. Regular store hours will be seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. 

Here are a few of the things we learned:

1. Creative flair: Every Whole Foods Market has artists in the store who create much of the store’s signage, which is part of what makes every store unique. “We always say that no two Whole Foods Markets are alike, and that’s one of the real reasons,” Public Relations Manager Heather McCready said.

2. Money-back guarantee: Whole Foods Market offers a “satisfaction, money-back guarantee” on all products in the grocery section. “If you buy anything and you’re not completely satisfied, you can bring it back for a 100 percent refund,” McCready said. Customers can also sample nearly everything in the store.

3. You won't find it here: Whole Foods keeps a list of about 80 banned ingredients that customers won’t find in any of the store’s products, including artificial colors and flavors, hydrogenated oils and irradiated foods.

4. It's on the tag: Because transparency is important to Whole Foods, the store clearly marks certain categories of foods right on the shelf tag, including items that are locally produced, verified by the Non-GMO Project and gluten-free.

5. Cruelty-free meat: Whole Foods collaborates with the Global Animal Partnership to identify meat products according to their Five-Step Animal Welfare Rating Standards. All fresh meat sold at the market is rated 1-5, with Step 1 prohibiting the use of cages and crates and Step 5+ ensuring an animal-centered approach in which the animal spends its entire life on an integrated farm. Customers can also flip through a book available on top of the meat counter that shows which farms that market’s meat comes from.

6. Sustainable seafood: Whole Foods takes a similar approach when it comes to selling fish. The company works in accordance with the Marine Stewardship Council to sell only sustainably caught species, with either a green or yellow rating. The company formerly sold products that were rated red, which meant that the fish population was less abundant and caught through practices that could be harmful to other marine life, but Whole Foods ceased sale of these items on Earth Day 2012, McCready said.

7. Just for Charlestown: The Charlestown Whole Foods’ prepared foods department offers signature sandwich options (at $7 each) that are unique to Charlestown, including:

• The Town—Red onion, corned beef, pickle, cheddar, Swiss, coleslaw and Russian dressing on multigrain bread
• Freedom Trail—Bacon, chicken breast, goat cheese, green leaf lettuce, Roma, tomato and pesto mayonnaise on a whole wheat baguette
• The Charles—Genoa salami, pepperoni, ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, pepperoncini, prosciutto, black olives, oil and vinegar on Sesame torta
• Breed’s Hill—Falafel, hummus, tabouli, cucumber, spring mix, pepperoncini and tzatzeki on a whole wheat wrap.

Explore the new Whole Foods Market yourself on Wednesday, Aug. 7. The store will open to the public at 10 a.m. following a bread-breaking ceremony. In addition, these five Charlestown nonprofits will split 5 percent of the day's profits: The Kennedy Center, Harvest on Vine, The Boys and Girls Club of Boston, Gardens for Charlestown and the Charlestown Historical Society.

Customers can also choose to donate $1 or $3 at the register, to be added to the total cost of their purchase, that will go to the Charlestown Mothers' Association.