Genius or insanity? Fresh Market opens less than a mile from Whole Foods

Here's a shot looking across Fresh Market's produce section to the center deli counter, with cheese and ready-made items to go.

You be the judge: Upscale Fresh Market opens today at Arboretum Village (Gaston at Garland roads) just over a mile from the Lakewood Whole Foods Market. Savvy business writer Maria Halkias says it’s smart business.

“That area has been underserved for years,” she writes in an email. “When Whole Foods moved to old Minyard store that was good. Then Trader Joe’s and Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market came in to Lower Greenville. The only other big store there is an Albertson’s at Casa Linda and there’s a Natural Grocer there too. It’s a great demographic Forrest Hills and Lakewood, Old East Dallas….there’s room for them, too.”

Here's the chocolate area in the section devoted to candy.

So what does it mean to shoppers? First, Fresh Market offers an expansive experience: Stocking and shelving are deliberately kept low so you can see across the store, making the space feel larger than 24,000 square feet. Soft lighting. Classical music. The smell of coffee brewing in the morning. Lots of feel-good touches to make shopping pleasant here.

Nearly a third of the store is given over to fresh produce. Quality is first, says PR and community relations manager Drewry Sackett, so you won’t see the kinds of bargains you do at places like Sprouts Farmers Market, where the produce items can be smaller (albeit no less flavorful).

Fresh Market uses a 100-300 system to designate local and regional produce sourcing. 100 means it’s sourced within 100 miles; 300, within 300 miles. That’s a common-sense solution to a problem that has dogged area markets – how to distinguish Parker County peaches from Rio Grande Valley Rio Stars in the pantheon of localness.

With an on-premise bakery, an appealing chocolate display, wine and beer (including some local), lots of chef-case and grab-and-go items, Fresh Market makes shopping for good ingredients pretty painless – even if it doesn’t offer the range of a Central Market or the health-sustainability vetting of a Whole Foods.

Osso buco is one of Fresh Market's specialty frozen foods.

I saw bourbon-praline pecans in the bulk section ($14.99/pound), cool house-brand frozen pastas as well as other items, like the frozen osso bucco, that make it clear this isn’t a “budget” store. But I also noticed bags of Halo brand mandarin oranges for a dollar less than Whole Foods.

In the seafood section, I noticed farmed Atlantic salmon (from Chile), however. Sackett says Fresh Market partners with the New England Aquarium to vet its seafood, but I couldn’t find any blessing for farm-raised Chilean salmon on the aquarium’s website. That particular salmon has often been disdained by what USAToday calls “environmentally motivated consumers,” but pointed out in a 2013 story that one such fish farm had been promoted to “yellow” status from red. Sackett has promised to look into this.

Bottom line, I saw lots to like here as a shopper. I can’t wait to see how things shake out.