Whole Foods Market wants to engage a younger audience with new, smaller concept stores set to open in 2016.
The announcement came during Wednesday’s second-quarter financial earnings conference call.
“Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of a new, uniquely-branded store concept unlike anything that currently exists in the marketplace,” Whole Foods C0-CEO John Mackey said, according to Seeking Alpha. “Offering our industry-leading standards at value prices, this new format will feature a modern, streamlined design, innovative technology, and a curated selection. It will offer convenient, transparent, and values-oriented experience geared toward millennial shoppers, while appealing to anyone looking for high quality, fresh food at great prices.”
Mackey said Whole Foods is building a team to focus exclusively on this new concept and is already negotiating leases.
“We plan to begin opening stores next year, and given the more standardized design and product assortment, we expect a fairly rapid expansion from there,” he explained. “Over the past several years, we have 
explored the idea of new formats several times but never felt the time was right, particularly given our accelerated growth plans. That issue is now behind us, as we have successfully increased our new store openings for six years. In addition, we now have a successful track record of opening some smaller format stores with a lower cost structure.”
The Whole Foods Market brand has helped lead the shift in consciousness toward fresh, healthy foods by offering the highest quality, broadest selection, and best customer service, “and we believe we can still triple the number of Whole Foods Market stores in the United States,” Mackey said. “At the same time, we also see an opportunity to leverage our long history of retail innovation and extend our reach in the marketplace beyond 1,200 stores. We want to underscore we see this as an ‘and’ to our Whole Foods Market brand, and not an ‘or.’ We believe the growth potential for this new and complementary brand to be as great as it is for our highly successful Whole Foods Market brand.”
The new sister chain of stores will have lower prices, cost less to run and be “hip, cool, and tech-oriented,” Mackey said.
Officials wouldn’t provide details such as the name, how many stores the company plans, or when they would open. They plan to share more information in the summer.
Walter Robb Co-CEO said the Whole Foods brand “can bend a little bit, but we can’t break it. We’re not willing to break it, but we think we can create a complementary brand that can go places the Whole Foods Market brand cannot effectively go.”