From our Walt Whitman desk
The selfie local tabloid seems determined to run a Whole Foods/Herald story as often as possible.
It started with this piece last Wednesday.
Whole Foods design honors Herald legacy
In the South End landmark where ink once flowed and the Boston Herald’s presses roared, shoppers will now enjoy frangipane tarts, cooked-to-order ramen and a milk + honey spa at Boston’s newest and most innovative Whole Foods.
The 50,000-square-foot gourmet supermarket is part of National Development’s Ink Block project on the site that was home to the Herald for 53 years.
(Boston Magazine’s Eric Randall immediately had a smart piece chronicling the Herald’s “screeds against the half of the country that columnist Howie Carr sometimes collectively refers to as ‘Whole Foods nation'” along with a roll call of the Herald’s Whole lotta love.)
Then Saturday’s Herald featured this update from Donna Goodison:
It’s a Whole new story at old Herald site
Whole Foods Market debuted its newest Boston store in the South End Friday — its second largest in the region and considered a flagship for its North Atlantic division — and co-CEO Walter Robb sees room in the Hub for another of its size.
“We’ve seen the city evolving, so we have lots of plans,” the Boston native said. “The opportunity to come in here and get 50,000 square feet — that’s hard to do these days, and I do think there’s another one (in the future pipeline).” . . .
Its South End supermarket is in National Development’s $200 million Ink Block project, the former Boston Herald headquarters site for more than half a century, and it memorializes the newspaper’s history throughout its decor.
Of course it does.
Then yesterday, there was this thoroughly readable piece from Peter Gelzinis:
From press to produce
The legendary author Thomas Wolfe was misinformed when he wrote “You Can’t Go Home Again.”
I’m here to say you can. But when you do, you’ll discover home has been transformed into the biggest Whole Foods store in Boston.
It’s a sweet trip down Memory Lane with Bert McNeil and Mike Bello, Danny and Dennis Messing, and especially Gelzinis himself.
But there’s also a subtext to all that Wholesomeness: “Herald publisher Patrick J. Purcell [is] a minority investor in the $200 million Ink Block project, which also will include luxury condos and apartments, retail shops and restaurants.”
So – a Whole lotta money involved.
And today?
Wholly absent.
But we don’t expect that to last long.