Fidi residents must be so excited for the new Whole Foods — in fact I know they are, since Hank sent me a picture taken before 8a of folks lined up down to Charging Bull to get in. S. told me she only waited 20 minutes to get in at 8:30; still she missed the giveaway for the first 200 customers. (Even FDNY Ten House from Liberty Street made it in for day one — it’s always a thrill to see firefighters in the supermarket.)

The store is smaller than ours (42,000 vs. 69,000 square feet) and you can tell. The upstairs has a huge coffee bar in the round, prepared food counters and hot kitchen takeout (and, as you can see in the video below, the three-piece band); all the groceries and produce are downstairs in a warren of aisles that’s a bit claustrophobic — the meat and fish counters are not visible at all till you wind all the way back there. From what I could tell, it’s all there in the basement: the cheese counter, the piles of produce and even the wacky ones, checkout aisles, and in a twist, the butcher is on display behind a glass window.

(I had so many photos I did a second post…)

The Art Deco touches — to reflect their address at One Wall Street, the Deco landmark upstairs — are lovely. NB the brass panels above the checkout line, which are the old elevator doors; the old-school mailbox mounted at the foot of the escalator; and the graphic design throughout — even on the lights at each cashier.

It was a total madhouse on day one, and I assume they will work out some kinks — like the fact that the checkout line downstairs snakes into the main thoroughfare of the grocery, and that there is no cell service downstairs so you can’t pull up your prime code.

For first impressions as a Fidi resident raising three kids nearby, S. thought it was nice but not great — she couldn’t tell if they were catering to workers or families. (My guess is both.) She now walks from TJ’s on Spring or WF Tribeca with her heavy bags to Maiden Lane, so I have to think this will be good for her spinal alignment.

Whole Foods One Wall Street
66 Broadway
7a to 10p, seven days
646-779-8229