Gus and Janice Yoshimura remain faithful customers of the conventional grocery stores near their Makiki condominium. They make a monthly trip to a big box store for things they buy in bulk, like paper goods, laundry soap and dog food for their Lhasa apso, Mochi.

But they've added another regular shopping excursion to their schedule: two or three visits a month to the Whole Foods Market at Kahala Mall, which opened last September.

They're especially looking forward to a May 30 event presented by The Honolulu Advertiser, "Think Global, Live Local," where they'll meet some of the farmers whose produce they've been buying. They're also planning to enter an online drawing with a first prize of a trip for two to Napa and Sonoma, with a stop in San Francisco. In Napa and Sonoma, the winners will tour organic farms and vineyards.

For Janice, who loves to cook and have friends over for dinner, but who is also trying to move their diet in a more healthful direction, going to Whole Foods Market "is like a trip to Disneyland ... It's a happy place."

"Just look at this," she says, gesturing to a curved shelving unit stuffed with locally grown produce that is the first thing you see as you come in the door. The vegetables in a rainbow of colors are arranged horizontally in bins, like a wall-size edible bouquet. Fresh bay leaves. Plastic tubs of edible flowers. Knobby turmeric and thick Thai ginger. Purple radishes. Rainbow beets. Green Louisiana eggplant. Kahuku sea asparagus. Every form of green from lettuce to mizuna. Waialua-grown asparagus. Maui basil.

"You can get things here you can't get anywhere else, or maybe you have to go three, four places — Chinatown, health food store, like that," said Gus Yoshimura.

Community and vendor relations coordinator Claire Sullivan says the store deals with about 149 local vendors and is negotiating with about 30 more.

"Regardless of what department you're in in the store, you're going to find items that are locally produced," says marketing supervisor Elyse Ditzel.

The Yoshimuras said one thing they enjoy at Whole Foods is a longtime Whole Foods practice: informative signage. At the very least, tags below each product identify the maker, what it is and its country of origin.

But with the local products, Whole Foods goes further: colorful cards that tell a brief story about the producers. Overhead, posters introduce such suppliers as Ma'O Farms, Taro Delight and Surfing Goat Dairy with enticing photos.

"We're trying to have a conversation with our customers about where their food is coming from ... Having that connection with the local producer is very reassuring," said Ditzel.

Slogans posted overhead remind both staff and customers of the Whole Foods way: "We satisfy and delight our customers." "We create win-win partnerships with our suppliers." "We support team member excellence and happiness."

They employ a full-time graphic artist, Andrea Calhoun, who daily creates bright chalkboard signs posted around the store to advertise specials and such. And they work with a macrobiotic chef, Leslie Ashburn, who gives cooking demonstrations.

As we stroll through the various departments, admiring rare locally grown potatoes, sampling smoked swordfish, discovering that you can make yogurt from coconut milk, Ditzel ticks off the factors that make Whole Foods different from the average grocery store: