Whole Foods to launch lower-cost chain

With the millennial generation now the biggest in America, it’s getting special attention from marketers and retailers. That now will include its own grocery store chain.

Whole Foods is working on a new type of grocery store aimed at millennials, or those people born between 1981 to 1997. Ranging from their early thirties to college students, the millennial generation consists of 75.3 million Americans, or more than the 74.9 million Baby Boomers, according to the Pew Research Center.

Whole Foods, like other marketers, is realizing that the millennials have issues unique to their generation. Many in the group have graduated from college with high levels of student debt, and have struggled to find good-paying jobs amid the Great Recession and anemic post-recession years. That may help explain why they’re a more frugal group than their elders.

The new chain ” will offer a convenient, transparent, and values-oriented experience geared toward millennial shoppers, while appealing to anyone looking for high quality, fresh food at great prices,” said co-chief executive officer John Mackey on a Thursday conference call.

Whole Foods plans to start opening stores next year, and Mackey said it expects “a fairly rapid expansion from there.” The company is also building a team to focus on developing the concept, he said. A Whole Foods representative said the company doesn’t have any additional details to share aside from what was discussed during Mackey’s call.