Smallest Whole Foods Market to debut

What may be the smallest Whole Foods Market is set to open in Brookline, Mass., this week.

The 8,000-square-foot former Johnnie’s Foodmaster is scheduled to open Thursday, April 11. Traditional Whole Foods stores range from 50,000 to 70,000 square feet while the typical independent natural products store averages 6,300 square feet, according to Natural Foods Merchandiser’s annual Market Overview industry survey.

This location could preview more of what’s to come for the natural chain that has focused in the last year on expanding into smaller markets with smaller stores.

Take a sneak peek with pictures posted at brookline.patch.com of the store that will highlight ready-to-eat convenience, employ 75 and stock 4,000 products with a focus on New England flavor and flair.

“We didn’t eliminate any entire department,” associate team leader David Lomonaco told the Boston Herald in an article that previews the store. “We squeezed them in.”

The Boston Business Journal reported last month about the state of the area’s grocery shakeup with Whole Foods taking on six leases from Johnnie’s closures, and Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. taking others.

Johnnie’s Foodmaster was a family-owned supermarket chain started in 1947 that toughed it out in a competitive grocery environment until last fall, when it announced the Whole Foods agreement, as reported by the Boston Globe.