As Whole Foods Closes its Doors in Englewood: A Documentary Shows How the Store Brought Hope to a Community

Whole Foods Englewood, Changing Chicago’s Food Desert film documentary is now available on Amazon Prime Video. The 27 minute film documentary is produced, written and edited by Emmy Award winning Editor Don Howze. The documentary chronicles Whole Food Market Inc. and how they invested in Englewood, one of Chicago’s underserved communities. The documentary is available for streaming on Prime Video and on DVD.

Whole Foods Englewood, Changing Chicago’s Food Desert {OFFICIAL TRAILER #1}

Whole Foods Market Inc. has been a Chicago news story these past few months when they made the announcement in April 2022 that they would close several stores throughout the city, with the Englewood store located on 63rd and Halsted shuttering its operations on November 13th. The other store slated to close is the Lincoln Park store at the DePaul University Welcome Center.

The Whole Foods Englewood store completed construction in September 2016 to much fanfare that was captured by local news media and supported by Englewood residents. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Congressman Bobby Rush, former Co-CEO of Whole Foods Walter Robb and local group leaders were in attendance during the grand opening.

“At first, most residents were apprehensive about an expensive franchise moving to an economically deprived area,” says Don Howze, a Chicago native and producer of the Whole Foods Englewood documentary. At the time when construction started, Howze was an Adjunct Professor at Kennedy-King College, which was located directly across from Whole Foods.
“So I inquired about their upcoming community events and received permission to document on-camera, their building and orientation process.“

Whole Foods Englewood, Changing Chicago’s Food Desert {OFFICIAL TRAILER #2}

Howze says in filming the documentary, he captured the excitement of local residents who participated in resume’ workshops and on site job interviews at the orientation meetings. Whole Foods also took the initiative to seek out local producers and suppliers and help them prepare their products for commercial merchandising at the Whole Foods Englewood store.

The film documentary also compares the similarities of a recently built Whole Foods store in Detroit Michigan. Both the Englewood and Detroit locations were built near a local college and catered to residents in a low income urban area deemed as a ‘food desert’, where fresh food items like fruits and vegetables weren’t easily accessible. Since it’s opening in 2013, Whole Foods Market in midtown Detroit has proven to be the company’s most profitable store in Michigan.

The Whole Foods Englewood, Changing Chicago’s Food Desert film documentary was funded in part by The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and awarded by the Chicago Headline Club. It premiered in 2017 on WCIU-TV Chicago to rave reviews as an ‘entertaining and educational program’. The documentary is registered in Chicago libraries and often used as a learning tool for corporations who want to open businesses in challenged communities.

Whole Foods Englewood, Changing Chicago’s Food Desert {OFFICIAL COMMERCIAL #3}

Interviews include Asiaha Butler, president of R.A.G.E. (Resident Association Of Greater Englewood),
Cecile DeMello, Community Engagement Specialist at Whole Foods Market Englewood, Larry Austin,
Whole Foods Detroit Store Team Leader , and Peter Aliu, Whole Foods Englewood Store Team Leader.
Speaking appearances include Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Congressman Bobby Rush, Walter
Robb, Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc. and Leon Walker, Managing Partner at DL3 Realty.