Whole Foods, Ward – Honolulu, Hawaii

Seven walking minutes — less than a half a mile — from the Kiyo’s Transmission Service, we came to this. Still, on Queen Street, the low-slung mishmash of businesses entangled in a web of power lines, morphed into this glittering Whole Foods.

We’ve left Kaka’ako and have entered Ward, an ambitious decade-plus development transforming warehouses into upscale condos. The two towers, the accompanying retail, and the other towers unseen behind me have sprung up within the last half-decade, with more to come.

Whole Foods, the Amazon-owned symbol of privilege, is a proxy for well-heeled neighborhoods. My impression of Whole Foods is different, however. Colored by my 30 years living in Austin. When I arrived in Texas, Whole Foods was a natural food store — for hippies, creatives, and alternative lifestyles. Cashiers competed with the number of visible tattoos and face piercings. To say Whole Foods has gone mainstream is an understatement.

I have a free monthly newsletter that’s perfect for busy people. Signup for the Newsletter to get the best of my posts, old and new, plus additional content not available anywhere else.