First came La Jolla. Then Hillcrest. For a while, Encinitas. Del Mar has one. Spot a trend? All the Whole Foods Markets are in coastal or central San Diego.
After years of waiting, inland San Diego is getting its first Whole Foods Market. The chosen neighborhood is Carmel Mountain Ranch. The address: 11160 Rancho Carmel Drive.
The exact address might not ring a bell, but the location perhaps will: that is where a Best Buy stood until it closed in February as part of a broader retail strategy shift. It is part of the Courtyard at Carmel Mountain Ranch shopping center, just east of Interstate 15 and north of Carmel Mountain Road.
A Whole Foods Market representative confirmed the location but did not share more, including an opening date or plans for updating the space.
Once that store opens, San Diego County will have four Whole Foods Markets.
The store will be about 2 1/2 miles from a recently shuttered Amazon Fresh store — San Diego’s only such store — in Poway. That closed in March. Plans for this new Whole Foods Market, including how the space could be renovated, are not known.
If it stays the same size as that Best Buy, it will be 37,400 square feet, according to a 2024 leasing brochure for the shopping center, versus around 44,500 square feet for the Amazon Fresh store.
Poway’s Amazon Fresh store to close March 13, just over a year after it opened
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 Amazon owns the company, and the farmers stand vibe has blended with high tech. Members of Amazon’s paid loyalty club members can get discounts, and people can order groceries on Amazon’s website and pick them up at Whole Foods Markets.
The company’s careers page currently has openings for the La Jolla and Del Mar stores, but not yet for Carmel Mountain Ranch.