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Sorry for the thread bump but this one comes up again and again. The Cerillos store exceeded expectations so much with all the business it got that when Whole Foods bought Wild Oats they saw an opportunity to offer a relief valve for customers tired of dealing with the parking and crowds at Cerillos. So instead of closing it like so many other Wild Oats stores, they kept it open and ultimately branded the store as a Whole Foods.
Wild Oats shoppers shouldn't give up all hope though: the Wild Oats label was sold to an operator in California and many of the Wild Oats brand items like olive oil are back on shelves at stores including Walmart. Rumor has it that billionaire Ron Burkle who bought the failed west coast Fresh and Easy chain from Tescos is thinking of opening them under the Wild Oats name. If that happens and the stores do well maybe Wild Oats will come back to SF!
SANTA FE — The Whole Foods Market on St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe is one of nine stores the company will be closing across the country as the natural food grocer scales back on expansion plans.
I wonder which retailer will want to take over that space. Every single gourmet grocer is already represented in Santa Fe afaik and they each seem to have adequate space.
My first idea of what that space should be transformed into is an indoor non-chain food court. Santa Fe's version of Reading Terminal Market or Singapore's hawker centers.
Whole Foods may view it as competition for their own store but perhaps a partnership/supplier relationship could be experimented with.
The one on St. Francis Dr. used to be Wild Oats Market until Whole Foods bought them out.
This. At the time W Foods considered closing a few of the Wild Oats stores they'd acquired, but decided to keep them. Then, after that, business really picked up at the little store. Seems strange, I know, but it did. There are a lot of people who live within walking distance of the smaller store, and in the neighborhood to the south, so they use the small store, because it's closest to them.
However, I couldn't help notice that many of the cashiers at that store didn't seem to like their jobs. Many of them look like they wish they didn't have to come in to work everyday. It's a completely different atmosphere than at the big store, where cashiers are cheery and friendly. One of the guys was downright creepy, trying to hustle the women customers. The management at the smaller store seems to be left over from Wild Oats days, or something, and isn't with the WF program of creating an inviting atmosphere.
I think WFoods should move to the empty grocery store space on Zia, where Zia and Rodeo fork, at that little commercial center. There are many south side residents that would love a WF in their nabe.
But the company says they'll relocate some of the employees to neighboring states. Or will offer them jobs in neighboring states, but the employees have to pay their own relo expenses.
I wonder which retailer will want to take over that space. Every single gourmet grocer is already represented in Santa Fe afaik and they each seem to have adequate space.
This is what I'm curious to see, too. It would be nice to see something new there; some new grocer we don't have yet. Or like another poster said, maybe Wild Oats would return to the spot.
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The management at the smaller store seems to be left over from Wild Oats days, or something, and isn't with the WF program of creating an inviting atmosphere. 
