The Palatine Whole Foods will be relocating operations in the early spring to their new location in Kildeer, and 100 employees will be moving with it.
Space constraints at their current location at 1331 N. Rand Road in the Park Place mall are the reason the company chose to leave, according Tanya Kostetsky, the Whole Foods store marketing & community relations specialist.
Kostetsky said previous media reports stated the company was laying off employees, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
"Approximately 100 team members from Palatine will be relocated to Kildeer in their current positions. We are looking to hire about 40 additional team members," Kostetsky said.
Kostetsky said the company did decide to close the Midwest Kitchen that was housed behind the Palatine store.
"Because we are moving we didn’t have room to relocate the kitchen and couldn’t work out a lease agreement at our current location, so we decided to close the kitchen and help relocate the team members to other stores," Kostetsky said.
She added that less than 10 employees chose to leave the company.
The new location in Kildeer is 38,000 square feet, which is 10,000 square feet larger than the Palatine location. The grand opening is expected to happen in early spring.
The Palatine location will remain open as long as a week before the grand opening, Kostetsky said, and the company is unaware if there is another business ready to take the Palatine location.
Village of Palatine Deputy Village Manager Mike Jacobs said meetings have been held between the Park Place shopping center owner regarding considerations for the property, and are ongoing.
