"We are particularly excited about our 80,000-sf site in Chicago, which will be a relocation of our highly successful Lincoln Park store, as well as the signing of our first store in Hawaii," said John Mackey, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market, during the chain's earnings conference call.

Mackey said that the company has announced seven or more newly signed leases in each of the past 10 quarters and now has 72 stores and four million sf under development through 2009, representing 66% of its existing square footage.

"We are confident about the potential future returns of larger stores, as we believe they appeal to a broader customer base, take longer to reach maximum capacity, and are less vulnerable to competition as they create a higher barrier to entry," Mackey said, adding that the chain currently operates eight stores within the 60,000 sf to 80,000 sf range, with an additional 25 stores of that size in development, including eight relocations.

During the past five years, Whole Foods has produced average sales growth, comp-store sales growth and weighted average sf growth of 21%, 11% and 14%, respectively. The chain said in a statement that it expects sales growth of from 18% to 21% in 2006, up from store sales growth of between 8% and 11% the previous year, plus sf growth of roughly 14%.

"Given our current sales momentum and record store-development pipeline, we believe we are well-positioned to achieve our goal of $12 billion in sales by the year 2010," Mackey said. "Over the longer term, however, we believe the sales potential for Whole Foods Market is much greater than $12 billion as the market continues to grow and as our brand continues to strengthen."