Christina Minardi: The Leasemaster
As EVP of Real Estate and Store Development for Whole Foods Market, Christina Minardi is leading the charge against the onslaught of one-off “shoppy shops” in grocery, those Naked Miamis and Pop-Up Grocers who are disrupting the high end long dominated by WFM. They’ve tried before, with 365 By Whole Foods, but with the new Whole Foods Daily Shop concept, Minardi and her bosses think they’ve got a winner. It won’t be easy, though: WFM owner Amazon loves to have internal competition, and real estate’s expensive. Between ghost fulfillment centers, Amazon GO, and oh-so-many fast delivery services, will having Whole Foods in the brand name make the difference?