Neither Austin-based Whole Foods nor the company that owns the shopping mall at 600 S. 700 East would confirm the announcement, which could occur during Whole Foods' Nov. 2 conference call on fourth-quarter earnings.

But several sources say that Whole Foods has settled on Trolley, which was purchased earlier this year by real estate investment company ScanlanKemperBard. The company, also known as SKB, plans to expand and renovate the downtown-area mall.

SKB, based in Portland, Ore., has said it plans to add a 50,000-square-foot anchor store to the mall and build an underground parking structure in the northeast corner of the property that is now primarily a surface parking lot.

SKB executives say they aren't yet ready to make an announcement about a major deal at Trolley.

Whole Foods remains as vague as ever about its plans in Utah. Earlier this year, the company would not even confirm it was trying to finalize a location near downtown, while it was doing just that.

"We are very interested in the Salt Lake area and hope to find a suitable location someday," Whole Foods spokeswoman Kate Lowery said last week in response to inquiries about Trolley Square.

In any event, Whole Foods is in a major expansion mode and is increasing the size of its stores. For years, it has built stores averaging about 32,000 square feet. Now it is interested in building 50,000-square-foot operations and even opened an 80,000-square-foot superstore in Austin, going head to head with the popular Central Market chain.

Speculation about Whole Foods expanding in Utah has been circulating for some time.

Commercial brokers say Utah's first Whole Foods store would raise the state's profile among retailers nationally, just as the popular Swedish furniture retailer IKEA did when it announced it plans to open its first store in Utah next year.

Utah is largely surrounded by states with Whole Foods stores - Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico and Oregon.

The company is known as an aggressive competitor to other specialty grocers such as Wild Oats, which has five Utah locations - 645 E. 400 South, 1131 E. Wilmington Ave., and 6930 S. Highland Drive in Salt Lake City, as well as stores in West Jordan's Jordan Landing development and in Park City.

If it opens in Trolley Square, Whole Foods' store would be within a couple of blocks of Wild Oats' 400 South location.

Whole Foods has few competitive worries, according to Mitchell Corwin, a Morningstar analyst. It doesn't worry about cutting prices to compete with Wal-Mart and other discounters because its customers are willing to pay more for fresh, natural and organic products. And it doesn't seem to be worried about competitors such as Wild Oats, which Corwin considers a "second-tier" competitor to Whole Foods.

lesley@sltrib.com

About Whole Foods

* The organic and natural foods grocer is publicly traded under the symbol WFMI on Nasdaq.

* 187 locations in North America and Britain. The company is based in Austin, Texas.

* Employs 39,000 people in 31 states, Canada and Britain.

* What makes it different from other organic grocers? Morningstar analyst Mitchell P. Corwin says: "Whole Foods sets the standard for differentiation in the supermarket industry. The firm doesn't look at itself simply as a delivery vehicle for everyday foods. Rather, it has created a brand image that connects with high-end food shoppers."