Why didn’t Whole Foods make it on Hilton Head Island? Here’s what we know
With its plethora of gated communities, golf courses and a median household income of $96,715, Hilton Head Island might seem like the perfect place for a Whole Foods Market.
But the organic grocery chain left the island after just 10 years, closing its doors for the last time in August 2024. The store originally opened at 50 Shelter Cove Lane in July 2014, about seven months after Kroger opened a supermarket location at the Shelter Cove Towne Centre right next door.
Hilton Head has plenty of big-name grocers, including Kroger, Walmart Supercenter, Publix and Harris Teeter. Even the Fresh Market, a spiritual sister to Whole Foods, established a store in town before the other organic grocer arrived.
So why did Whole Foods leave?
When asked directly about Hilton Head, the Texas-based grocery chain said it regularly evaluates the performance and growth potential of each of its stores, and makes decisions that position it for long-term success.
Local retail experts said despite the chain’s merits on paper, it might not have been a good fit.
Offseason months can be hard on grocers
David Martin, the owner of Piggly Wiggly in Hilton Head’s Coligny Plaza, has been involved in the local grocery industry since he was a kid. His father, Gene Martin, purchased the store in 1969, and David always worked there – he enjoyed it, and felt like he was good at it. Now he’s in the store every day, and he’s his own boss, working about 90 hours a week.
Over the years, Martin’s family store has gone from the only grocer on the island in the 1970s to a small business in a sea of big grocery chains. The offseason months are hard, he said – there’s a 70% difference between the store’s busiest eight weeks and its slowest.
Some grocery stores struggle to adapt when the island’s population dips from hundreds of thousands of people during the busy summers to just about 40,000 in the winter months, Martin said. Large chains have to throw out a lot of food when it’s slow, he said, but they can offset those losses.
Smaller stores like his, Martin said, can’t afford to take that risk.
“It’s a tough business. There’s so much food waste,” he said. “They can eat that because they have thousands of stores, but for us, we got one shot at it.”
Whole Foods’customer base in Hilton Head & Bluffton
Whole Foods typically looks for stores with 200,000 people or more in a 20-minute drive, according to real estate requirements posted on the company’s website.
Stores are typically 25,000-50,000 square feet, with lots of parking for the store’s “exclusive” use. The company also looks for easy access from roadways, excellent visibility and a “large number” of college-educated residents.
Although Hilton Head’s summer population can balloon up to anywhere from 150,000 to 300,000, the island’s year-round population sits at about 38,000. Nearby Bluffton has a population of 36,146. Combined, the two adjacent towns don’t even make up half of Whole Foods’ stated population requirement most of the year.
Lee Lucier, COO of the Richardson Group on Hilton Head, said grocers that do well on the island cater to a specific audience.
Food Lion, which is opening in the former Sam’s Club at 93 Mathews Drive, has competitive prices and is a familiar brand. Piggly Wiggly caters to locals and does a great job with its seafood, he said. Whole Foods was located right next to Kroger, a supermarket not seen as a specialty grocer.
Whole Foods’ customer base on the island leaned towards tourists, Lucier said. The retailer’s high price points likely worked against it, he said.
“I don’t think Whole Foods had a specific niche except they were organic,” he said. “I think people are watching their money, and I think Whole Foods is looked at as luxury items.”