Whole Foods Market is bringing a long-awaited grocery store to downtown San Diego’s west side with an official opening on Sept. 23, the company announced this week.
The new grocery store, at 201 West A Street, at the corner of Front Street, will be a ground-floor tenant of The Torrey, a mixed-use development with 450 residences and parking for residents and shoppers. Whole Foods Market is claiming roughly 50,000 square feet at the base of The Torrey’s 34-story residential tower, developed by Holland Partner Group and announced in 2024.
The neighborhood, with an estimated population of 53,673 in the downtown community planning area, according to the San Diego Association of Governments, has has four large grocers: Ralphs, immediately south of Horton Plaza on G Street, and an Albertsons, Smart & Final and Grocery Outlet, several blocks east.
The neighborhood’s west side, where The Torrey and several other residential developments are opening, has small markets and convenience stores, including specialty shops in Little Italy.
This Whole Foods reintroduces downtown to an organic grocery store chain after Jimbo’s, which had been in Horton Plaza, closed its store there amid a legal dispute with the mall’s developer several years ago.
Whole Foods Market is claiming roughly 50,000 square feet at the base of The Torrey’s 34-story residential tower, developed by Holland Partner Group and announced in 2024. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The new Whole Foods Market has openings for butchers, dishwashers and in management. Apply here: careers.wholefoods.com.
The chain, owned by Amazon, has been expanding in the county. It is opening a store in San Diego in Carmel Mountain Ranch, just east of Interstate 15 and north of Carmel Mountain Road. Another is heading to the Encinitas Marketplace shopping center at North El Camino Real and Via Molena.
These three stores double the company’s San Diego County footprint. Its existing stores are in Hillcrest, La Jolla and Del Mar.
San Diego’s first Whole Foods Market opened in the mid-1990s. Back then it was an Austin-based natural and organic foods store whose steep price tags earned it the nickname “Whole Paycheck.” Today the farmers stand vibe blends with high tech. Members of Amazon’s paid loyalty club can get discounts, and people can order groceries on Amazon’s website and pick them up at Whole Foods stores.
One organic shopping list, 9 San Diego stores. This store had the lowest prices