Per Crain’s New York, Bushwick proper is finally set to receive a Whole Foods, potentially opening as early as next year at 1224 Flushing Ave., just off the Jefferson L stop.

“Anybody who has heard has been very excited about it being there,” said landlord David Moore, as quoted in Crain’s. I’m sure you’re rejoicing.

Whole Foods has signed a 15 year lease on the 10,000 square foot property that was once Super Steel Works, which sold rollup storefront gates, before it became consumer electronics wholesaler Reiko Wireless, before standing empty for years because H&M flaked.

Per FMI, an industry trade org, the average supermarket is around 40,000 square feet, while Whole Foods’ future Bushwick store will be a quarter of that size. The small size makes it a key part of Amazon/Whole Foods’ Daily Shop concept, part of their national expansion into denser metros like NYC, Chicago, and—I’m sorry you have to read this next one—Philly.

The concept’s size and offering mimics deli grocers, whom we are 100% sure Whole Foods will be a great neighbor to. The concept first arrived in the Upper East Side (1551 3rd Ave) and East Williamsburg (774 Grand St.), and is now pushing eastward.

Amazon is also pushing into South Brooklyn, inking a deal for a 35,000-square-foot property between Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill. This is all in addition to the impending Whole Foods in Ridgewood (55-60 Myrtle Ave.), which will join such local beloved institutions as the ghost-forward food hall Wonder (56-16 Myrtle Ave.) and the Cinnabon down the block (58-24 Myrtle Ave.).

By the USDA’s definition of a food desert, Bushwick is not one. Its poverty rate also isn’t high enough by federal thresholds, and there are multiple supermarkets spread across the neighborhood. But, the neighborhood’s grocery problem is at once terrible, expensive, and spiritually immiserating.

Food Bazaar’s pricing of its terrible produce is like the last ripoff in New Orleans before the first floodwaters turned everything into soup. Every visit there costs a pound of flesh. Key Food, meanwhile, often takes design notes from Rikers. Despite Whole Foods’ imagined and historical effects on real estate, another Whole Foods will be nothing but a boon to the community. The groceries will stay expensive, but they’ll be better, and the decor might be too.

At night, the Jefferson Street L sidewalk in front of this future Whole Foods to come is occupied by food vendors servicing nightlife crowds. I hope they survive competition from the hot bar.

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