Whole Foods coming to former Blue Goose building in St. Charles

Whole Foods Market has signed a lease agreement to operate in the shuttered Blue Goose Market in downtown St. Charles.

“The number one goal was to make sure that there was a stable, exciting, high quality grocery use in that property.”

—  Blue Goose Market President and CEO Paul Lencioni

The sale of the property closed June 29, said Blue Goose Market President and CEO Paul Lencioni, who also sits on the St. Charles City Council. He did not disclose the purchase price.

“The vast majority of the proceeds are all going to pay off the bank and settle the bank note and expenses,” Lencioni said.

Lencioni is happy that Whole Foods decided to open a store in downtown St. Charles.

“The No. 1 goal was to make sure that there was a stable, exciting, high-quality grocery use in that property,” he said. “I chose to go down the route with Whole Foods because I thought it was the very best deal to make sure that there was a great supermarket in St. Charles.”

Matt Hendy, an affiliate of Fort Union and Swanson Development Group, agreed. FUSDG is a private real estate investment firm that purchased the property from Lencioni and agreed to lease it to Whole Foods.

“We are extremely gratified to be a part of this tremendous project as well as a new member and partner of the St. Charles community,” Hendy said in a statement. “We are also honored by the trust Paul and the Lencioni family placed in us regarding the legacy of their property. The addition of Whole Foods Market to this region will be a benefit for all.”

According to its website, Whole Foods Market is the world’s leader in natural and organic foods with more than 500 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market also is a subsidiary of Amazon.

Blue Goose has been shuttered since March 2022. In February 2022, Lencioni announced Blue Goose was closing its doors.

At the time, he said a number of factors contributed to the store’s closing, including the pandemic and supply chain issues. In August 2022, bakery and deli equipment, frozen food doors, shopping carts and baskets were among the more than 1,100 individual items auctioned from the store.

Blue Goose was facing its share of obstacles even before the pandemic. In July 2019, Lencioni held a news conference in front of the store to announce Blue Goose was fighting for survival in the face of the competitive grocery industry.

Blue Goose had been in business for more than 90 years. In 1928, Annunciata “Nancy” Lencioni – Paul Lencioni’s great-grandmother – opened the Blue Goose Fruit Market in what had been Gartner’s Bakery, 201 W. Main St. The store moved to its location at 300 S. Second St. in downtown St. Charles in 2008.

Paul Lencioni’s grandfather headed up the store for almost 50 years.

“He was just trying to make something that was great for St. Charles,” Paul Lencioni had said. “It was my grandfather that made the Blue Goose into the community fixture that we all think of. I’m doing my best to make sure – just like my grandfather did – that what I do in place of that serves St. Charles as well as we’ve always intended. Every generation has its responsibility to leave the world a better place and that is what I’m trying to do.”