Whole Foods Market on Beacon Street shut its door May 2 as part of a series of nationwide closures by the supermarket chain.
Whole Foods Market employees were notified of the closure, originally intended for May 6, on April 29 and the store had a subsequent 50% off clearance sale leaving shelves, freezers and display cases completely empty.
With shelves cleared, the Brookline location closed early.
“As we continue to position Whole Foods Market for long-term success, we regularly evaluate the performance and growth potential of each of our stores, and we have made the difficult decision to close six stores,” a Whole Foods Market spokesperson wrote in an email. “We are supporting impacted Team Members through this transition and expect that all interested, eligible Team Members will find positions at our other locations.”
Whole Foods Market will also close five supermarkets across the nation, including in Alabama, California and Illinois.
Quanna Moody, who works at the Whole Foods Market on Prospect Street in Cambridge, described the closing as “really devastating.”
“It is very surprising,” Moody said. “It’s been here for years.”
Colleen Thomson, a cashier who worked at the Whole Foods Market in Brookline, said the supermarket chain asked its workers individually about their plans for the future, and offered relocation opportunities to those who were interested.
“There hadn’t even really been rumors floating around the store that I had heard,” she said. “It was pretty surprising, and that seemed to be the consensus among employees, that it was a little bit of a shock.”
Thomson added she was never given a clear reason for why the store was closing down.
Chuck Gordon, a Boston resident, speculated that the Whole Foods Market branch may have been struggling financially.
“It [the store] probably is too small for them to make money off of it, even though they’re in a great neighborhood,” he said. “Maybe it just doesn’t fit where they’re going.”
Essa Zhang — a student at Boston University who regularly shopped at the supermarket — said she was surprised by the store’s closure.
“I feel quite sad because I’ve been getting my groceries from the store and it’s relatively close to my apartment,” Zhang said. “If I were to live in South [Campus] again, I feel that I would definitely have to go to Fenway to get my groceries.”
