S.J. Collins News

In a Los Angeles suburb, Austin-based Whole Foods Market on Wednesday is set to debut its new chain of smaller, value-driven stores.

The first 365 by Whole Foods Market store is scheduled to open Wednesday morning in Silver Lake, Calif., followed by a second store in Lake Oswego, Ore., near Portland on July 14 and a third location in Bellevue, Wash., near Seattle in August.

Company leaders have said they hope the 365 stores will help the retailer shake off its “Whole Paycheck” nickname with lower prices, while drawing millennial and older shoppers alike and injecting new life into the Whole Foods’ earnings. Whole Foods is one of Austin’s highest-profile companies, with 86,000 workers in 449 stores worldwide and about 2,500 employees in Central Texas.

While there won't be any of the rumored tattoo parlors, there will be robotic tea servers and in-store restaurants. More importantly -- we hope there'll be traffic.

Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM) announced in May of last year that it was working on a new concept store design, one with convenience, price, and technology in mind. The new locations, called 365 by Whole Foods Market, have been talked about as the savior to Whole Foods' declining margins and traffic, as well as a way to attract younger consumers with cheaper prices and a focus on more than just groceries.