Whole Foods, the upscale organic and natural foods grocery chain found in cities and tony neighborhoods from New York to San Francisco, will open a store at Kahala Mall in the former Star Market space next year.

The retailer expects to open in the 26,000-square-foot space next spring.

"We're excited," said mall general manager Ron Yoda. "We're looking forward to this."

Star closed in March after being an anchor tenant at the mall since 1961.

Martin Hsia, a local attorney who has lived on the slopes of Diamond Head for nearly 25 years, said he's curious what grocery items and prices Whole Foods will offer, though he sadly misses Star.

"I was very disappointed that Star Market closed, because I did a lot of shopping there," he said.

Hsia said he's never been to a Whole Foods store, and looks forward to seeing what the company has to offer in the way of healthful foods and competitive prices.

"I'm not a fanatic, but I would prefer to eat foods that are more healthy," he said.

Whole Foods is expected to increase competition in the retail grocery and health-food industry, particularly for the smaller local health-food chains Down To Earth Natural Foods, which has three O'ahu locations, and Umeke Market and Deli, which has a store in Kahala near the mall.

A representative of Umeke Market could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Texas-based Whole Foods has considered expanding to Hawai'i for many years, and previously has been mentioned as a possible tenant at Kahala Mall.

The Kahala Mall Whole Foods store is the company's second announced on O'ahu. The other store will be the anchor tenant at the $100-million-plus redevelopment of Ward Village Shops in Kaka'ako.

The Ward store will be a 67,000-square-foot market that initially was projected to open next year, though repeated construction delays related to discovery of old Hawaiian remains have set back plans.

Whole Foods was established in 1980 and has grown to about 190 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company's average store is 34,000 square feet and produces $31 million in annual sales. In the last fiscal year, ending in September 2006, Whole Foods reported total sales of $5.6 billion.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.