World’s Largest Vegan Grocery Store Has Just Launched in the U.S.

EAT

Aug 16

PlantX is striving to make sustainable, plant-based eating more accessible with the opening of its 6000-square-foot superstore located in Chicago.

Plant-based digital platform PlantX has opened what is believed to be the world’s largest brick-and-mortar completely vegan superstore. Located in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, the company transformed a 6000-square-foot space that was previously a Peter Rubi grocery store into XMarket, an exclusively plant-based food outlet.

XMarket’s shelves are stocked with everything from alternative meats, dairy products, and eggs to vegan snacks, sauces, and on-the-go food items, as part of its mission to make plant-based eating more accessible. Similar to Wholefoods, XMarket also offers a range of self-branded products and offers delivery through the grocery app Mercato.

To celebrate the opening, XMarket hosted a range of festivities featuring booths and sampling stations from Dreampops, Kitchen 17, Good2Go Veggie and Up-N-Down Burger. The store has weekly events scheduled through to the end of the year to showcase and share the joys and benefits of plant-based eating with customers.

"Our carefully designed XMarket concept brings the vegan lifestyle directly to consumers in Chicago to taste, explore, and understand the plant-based lifestyle," PlantX CEO Lorne Rapkin said.

"XMarket is a vegan bodega, featuring a highly curated selection of the best vegan products available from around the world as well as nearby. Our goal is to make the plant-based lifestyle accessible. Our grand opening party in Chicago was an overwhelming success. We plan to leverage the success of live events by hosting weekly events at the store."

PlantX, dubbed the ‘Vegan Amazon’, is a Vancouver-based online marketplace and community offering more than 5,000 plant-based products. In addition to offering delivery service for meals and selling indoor plants, the company is planning to expand its product lines to include a juice and coffee company.

XMarket is PlantX’s second store in the United States, following Venice Beach, CA, and its seventh store globally, operating locations in Israel and throughout Canada.

Prior to its Chicago launch, XMarket’s flagship U.S. store opened in San Diego. However, the 4,500-square-foot location, which featured vegan food products, cruelty-free cosmetics, indoor plants, and an in-house cafe, shut its doors indefinitely only two months later due to issues with the property and landlord.

Last year, PlantX appointed Matthew Kenney, a leading plant-based chef, as its new Chief Culinary Officer, facilitated through a new five year partnership with Kenney's plant-based lifestyle brand Matthew Kenney Cuisine (MKC). The company also acquired Kenney’s vegan deli concept New Deli, and transformed the Venice Beach store into an XMarket location that specializes in plant-based sandwiches. The “Vegan Pop-Up by XMarket” hosts multiple pop-ups to promote selected plant-based brands.

"To our knowledge, the PlantX vegan pop-up concept is the first of its kind – so far, no-one else in the plant-based space is adopting such market innovation strategies," said Rapkin at the same. "By paving the way for pop-up opportunities, we hope to revolutionize the plant-based industry and contribute to its growth in novel and creative ways."

PlantX’s new Chicago superstore location is one of the many vegan grocery stores operating around the world as the popularity of sustainable, vegan eating continues to soar. Australia’s Vegan Grocery Store has locations in Sydney and Melbourne, while Veganz in Germany has multiple locations spread across three of the country’s provinces. Meanwhile, online vegan retailers include Los Angeles–based BESTIES Vegan Paradise, The Vegetarian Site, Plant Based Grocery, which all offer nationwide shipping across the U.S.

XMarket Uptown is located at 804 W Montrose Avenue, Chicago, IL, and is open daily from 9AM – 9PM.

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