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The market's first-ever permanent online-only store's first day of business was on Tuesday, Sept. 1 in New York City at the Brooklyn Industry City complex in the borough’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
The launch by Whole Foods' parent company, Amazon, comes during a higher demand for grocery delivery amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Online grocery sales tripled year over year in the second quarter this year.
"This new delivery-only retail model will allow Whole Foods Market to serve even more customers and continue to meet the growing demand for grocery delivery," Whole Foods said in a statement.
Whole Foods said it has hired hundreds of new team members to work in the so-called "dark store," including hiring from within the company.
Dark stores are facilities that look like a conventional supermarket or other store but are not open to the public, housing items to fulfill online orders.
Whole Foods says the store is "fully staffed by Whole Foods Market Team Members who are 100 percent dedicated to facilitating grocery delivery — enabling them to quickly receive, shop, and prepare orders for delivery to more customers than ever before."
Behind-the-scenes photos of the store in Brooklyn are above.
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