US organic food giant aims to put down roots in Capital

American retail giant Whole Foods Market, which focuses on locally-sourced natural products, is understood to be on the lookout for sites in Edinburgh's upmarket suburbs, including Morningside and Corstorphine.

The Texas-based company, which racked up 5.6 billion of sales in 2010 and claims to be the world's largest retailer of natural and organic food, is planning a major expansion across the UK.

Its only existing stores outside the United States and Canada are in London's well-heeled boroughs but it has already announced plans to open a store in Giffnock, near Glasgow, later this year,

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It has now emerged that it is also eyeing sites in Edinburgh of a similar size to the Morningside and Comely Bank outlets of Waitrose.

It would be the first major new supermarket firm to enter the Capital since the arrival of Waitrose five years ago and is expected to pitch for a similar customer to Waitrose.

The company is expected to face competition for any mid-sized sites from the traditional "big four" supermarket chains, as well as Waitrose, Lidl and Aldi.

Bill Marley, retail partner at property firm Ryden, said: "There is a lot of demand over and above the main four operators - Morrisons, Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's.

"Waitrose is looking to expand and Whole Foods are looking to come into the market. They specialise at the top end of the market, with locally-sourced and organic products so they are bringing something different.

"They have secured one unit at Giffnock and they are also looking to secure space in Edinburgh.

"The catchments they go for are the higher demographic areas and the stores tend to be 20,000-30,000 square feet, so it's a smaller supermarket.

"They would like to go into the well-to-do areas of Edinburgh, so it is the likes of Corstorphine, Morningside and Barnton."

Whole Foods Market was launched as a single small natural foods store in Austin, Texas, in 1980 by 25-year-old philosophy graduate John Mackey and his 21-year-old girlfriend Rene Lawson.

Mr Mackey has led the firm as its chief executive ever since and built it up to its current position as a global leader with 58,000 staff and 300 stores.

Among its celebrity fans are designer Anya Hindmarch and singer Sheryl Crow, who teamed up with the firm to create its eco-friendly re-usable shopping bags.

In June 2007, Whole Foods opened its first full-size store in the UK, on three levels, on the site of the old Barker's department store in Kensington High Street, west London. It now has five London stores.

Ron Hewitt, chief executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "We like competition as it is good for the consumer and for business. We welcome innovative ideas so it is terrific they are looking here and hopefully it will bring about new jobs.

"There are already a number of organic suppliers in Scotland though, so they will have to fight to win their share of business."

Nobody at Whole Foods Market was available to comment.