May 13, 2026
Provided Image/Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market Daily Shop will open a store at 2221-2225 South St. The Amazon-owned grocery store is a smaller version of the Whole Foods brand. It will replace the locally owned South Square Market.
Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, the smaller version of the grocery store that was introduced in New York two years ago, has signed a lease for a storefront on South Street.
The Amazon-owned chain said Wednesday it will expand to Philly, Boston and Chicago over the next two years. An opening date for the store at 2221-2225 South St., currently the locally owned South Square Market, has not been determined.
Whole Foods Market Daily Shop is designed to offer customers streamlined shopping in a smaller footprint, stocking high-demand items with a mix of pantry staples and grab-and-go foods. The stores also have fresh produce, meat and seafood, prepared foods and bakery items. Local and regional foods are stocked alongside Whole Foods' 365 brand items.
“Daily Shop is an important part of how we’re growing our physical store presence,” Christina Minardi, vice president of real estate and store development at Whole Foods Market and Amazon, said in a statement. “As we expand this smaller format into new cities, we’re continuing to deliver the same high standards and carefully curated assortment Whole Foods Market is known for, in a way that meets our customers’ everyday needs.”
The new store in Philly will be 14 blocks west of the Whole Foods Market that opened at 929 South St. in the mid-2000s.
Daily Shop now has eight locations in the New York City metro area, Virginia and a store that opened in London in April. Additional stores are planned to open in New York City and London later this year.
The concept is similar to other small-format grocery stores, including the three Giant Heirloom Markets in Graduate Hospital, Northern Liberties and University City.
In January, Amazon Fresh closed all of its 58 stores nationwide, including six in the Philly area and one that had opened last August in Northern Liberties. The chain had opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, hoping to attract customers with tech-enabled shopping carts and integration with Prime accounts. Amazon said the stores were underperforming.
Since acquiring Whole Foods in 2017, Amazon has touted a 40% increase in sales across the brand's 550 stores. The company plans to convert some of the former Amazon Fresh stores into Whole Foods locations, but it has declined to say whether any of the former stores in the Philly area will be transformed. More than 100 new Whole Foods locations are planned over the next few years.
South Square Market declined to say how long it will continue operations before it closes for Whole Foods' renovations. The storefront has been a supermarket for decades and has operated under its current owner for about 20 years.
Amazon said Daily Shop stores are organized to simplify navigation and encourage quick decision-making during grocery runs.
“These stores are designed with intention at every level, from layout to assortment,” Stephanie Curley, senior manager of growth & innovation at Whole Foods Market and Amazon, said in a statement. “We’re able to introduce new merchandising approaches and fixtures that make it easier for customers to find what they need, while still delivering the quality and discovery they expect from Whole Foods Market.”
