Anti-Gentrification Group Demands Whole Foods Donate 1 Percent of Store Revenue

Whose Foods, an anti-gentrification group founded as a response to high-end grocer Whole Foods' new store in Hyde Square, demands that 1 percent of the store's revenues be used to combat what the group sees as the store's negative effects.

A statement signed by 20 people reads: "We demand this 1 percent for the funding of local anti-displacement organizing, especially in Hyde Square, and the creation and/or preservation of local affordable housing, annually for the duration of the store’s 20-year lease."

The statement, posted today on the group's Web site, comes after Whole Foods said it would put forward by a negotiating team from the JP Neighborhood Council. The terms of that agreement were not made public, but are based on a report the Neighborhood Council wrote this summer, a council member told the Gazette.

Whose Foods calls on Whole Foods to sign a community benefits agreement in addition to donating 1 percent of store revenue.

"The Whose Foods? Coalition is unwilling to let Whole Foods walk into our neighborhood without a real commitment to keeping JP affordable and diverse," the statement read.

Keep up with all the news on this issue and browse its history on the JP Patch Whole Foods topic page.