By Gianna Ferace ‘25
If you haven’t heard yet, the Whole Foods here in Beverly is officially sinking, the news originally broken to the public by @EnteringBeverly on Instagram. Cracks and dips on the ground of the store have been noticed by customers over the past few months, but concerns were initially brushed off. Flashforward to this March, Whole Foods is now filing a lawsuit, alleging ‘negligent design, planning, and construction’ and claims the ongoing problems are indicators of ‘faulty workmanship’. The blame is being placed on the landlord CEA Beverly LLC, the general contractor, and site developer.
Whole Foods became aware of the foundational issues back in 2022, and attempted to solve the issue by replacing the storefront glass windows with installed acrylic windows, which would allow for more movement and to prevent glass from shattering. But it wasn’t a long term solution, and the lawsuit to fix the foundation problems is estimated to cost millions of dollars and force the store to shut down for a prolonged period of time while they are reconstructing. Whole Foods claims that shutting down will result in a loss of $1 million dollar profits per week. At this time, there are no major potential safety concerns for the community but that could soon change as more information is shared.
Image credit: northshorecrossing.com
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