PHOTOS: Whole Foods Shows Off NYC's First 365 Store

FORT GREENE — The first East Coast location of Whole Foods' more affordable off-shoot opens this week in Fort Greene offering organic produce, beer on tap, mochi and a pizza phone.

Whole Foods 365's 30,000 square-foot location at 292 Ashland Place opens Wednesday with gifts, samples and special offers for the first customers inside, a spokeswoman for the store said. Shoppers can also use a special phone to call in an order for a pie once they get in the store, then pick it up once they're done buying groceries.

The shop has a smaller footprint then regular Whole Foods supermarkets but sells similar produce, meats, cheeses and other products at a cheaper price. The space also has grab-and-go food, single-serve mochi ice cream and a large beer selection with a tablet shopper can scan to get food pairings and reviews.

The first floor of the market has the POURiT Authority where customers can fill up glasses or growlers of beer on their own to drink inside, an Orwashers bakery and the Juice Press. It also features the first East Coast location of the all-vegan joint Next Level Burger which serves up plant-based burgers, fries, shakes and more.

"I'd say Brooklyn is about a cool kid as you're going to get when it comes to opening up our kind of burger joint," said Matt de Gruyter, CEO and cofounder of Next Level Burger. "We consider it to the be the future of the burger joint."

Brooklyn's Whole Foods 365 is the off-shoot's seventh location in the country and took over the ground-floor of the luxury condominium 300 Ashland. The chain hired nearly 150 workers, mostly local residents, to man their newest store, a spokeswoman said.

Aside from the supermarket, the building will also have a 20,000-square-foot public plaza, four Brooklyn Academy of Music movie screens, a Brooklyn Public Library branch and space for 651 ARTS and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.

Lead images: Nicholas Rizzi/Patch