
Our team members have been incredible throughout this entire ordeal, working hard on behalf of the community, despite the personal hardships they have endured over the past few days. We'd like to offer our heartfelt thanks for their efforts during this difficult time.
Initial estimates of the damage caused by Ike top 22 billion dollars, making it the third costliest storm on record in the United States. Curfew in the city of Houston is in effect until Friday and our stores will continue operating limited hours until further notice.
Here's the latest info from our Houston area stores:
Kirby Open with city power and water.
Wilcrest Open with city power and water.
Sugar Land Open with city power and water.
Woodway Opens today at noon. Generator powered and has water.
Bellaire This location is still without power and Bellaire Team Members have been sent to help out at our other four stores, which are still short handed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes for those of us who were in the path of Hurricane Ike. Wanted to give you an update on what's going on from the perspective of our stores.
Throughout Houston, many of the roads are impassible due to downed power lines and trees. Access to gas is extremely challenging since only a handful of stations have power to operate their pumps.
So far, we've been able to open three of our five stores for very limited pockets of time. Among the hundreds of grocery stores in Houston, these three stores are part of about 20 grocery stores city-wide that have been able to reopen at all.
Ice is the primary need. We are bringing in about five trucks of ice a day. Each store gets about 30 pallets and we sell through this in a few hours.
Here's a rundown on our specific stores:
Note: We are not publishing store hours here because they vary depending on the city curfew as well as the supply of ice and non-perishables available.
Kirby We have power but no water. We can only sell non-perishables, fruit and milk.
Wilcrest We have power but no water. Selling non-perishables only.
Sugar Land We are fully powered and have water. Over the next 2-3 days, we will be fully functional in this store.
Woodway This store is still closed due to lack of power and water. Hope to have a generator connected soon.
Bellaire This store is still closed due to lack of power and water. We are hoping to restore power to this location soon.
Thanks to all of our team members who are working so hard to get these stores open so we can meet the needs of the community. Most of our team members are living without power and water just like everyone else. It is also challenging for them to get to the stores with roads impassable and gas hard to find. We thank everyone for their patience as we all work through this crisis together.
We will keep you updated with more information as it comes in.
Welcome to Whole Story, the official blog of Whole Foods Market. Don't know us? In a nutshell, we are the world’s leading natural and organic grocer and we’re passionate about healthy food and a healthy planet. Learn more about us.
We’re lucky to have a whole bunch of smart, passionate people doing incredible things in areas like organics, supporting local growers, green practices, fair trade, micro-lending and all kinds of food related stuff. We’ll use this blog to share some of the cool things going on around here.
Of course what makes this blog really exciting is YOU — so join the conversation!