Honest to Goodness Wellness

Whole Foods, the market’s leading organic food retailer, is launching Wellness Clubs in the US, designed to help members lead healthier, happier lifestyles. For a fee, members gain access to lectures, courses designed by medical doctors, support, supper clubs and cooking demos.

The club model tries to amalgamate all areas of the health sector into a single destination – shoppers can do a cookery class, see a nutrition counsellor and even do some yoga all in one place. The initiative broadens the Whole Foods brand from being a retailer to a healthy lifestyle provider – an attractive prospect for the busy modern consumer. And at $45 a month it doesn’t cost the earth, either.

Having opened five pilot Wellness Clubs in Dedham, Massachusetts in August, the first Wellness Club hits New York in October.