MCLEAN, Va. - Move over Starbucks, Whole Foods is stealing a page from your playbook. The upscale grocer is raising the bar, literally, inside stores nationwide, USA Today reports, by testing bar-like concepts that serve up craft beers and local wine.

So far a handful of Whole Foods stores in California, Arizona, Illinois and Texas feature the bar. By 2012, the grocer hopes to add at least seven more bars. "Coming out of the recession, people are looking for affordable luxuries and more intimate experiences," said CEO Walter Robb.

Supermarket consultant Howard Solganik told the newspaper that Whole Foods could lure more shoppers into the store and keep them there longer, which will help boost "highly profitable" sales of beer and wine. "It achieves everything Whole Foods is trying to achieve," he said.

According to consultant Kate Newlin, an on-premise bar "can lift the entire experience of shopping, adding that the only real risk would be "if it takes on a life of its own" and patrons get rowdy or drunk.

Robb says that current locations with bars haven??t has an issue with problematic bar patrons, adding that it won??t clash with the grocer??s friendly shopping atmosphere image. "This is about creating community in the store," he told the newspaper.

Whole Foods?? newest bar in Austin, with about 20 seats, was included as part of a store remodel. It??s a semi-circle in the middle of the store that offers beer and wine by the glass for $4 to $10, or growler jugs starting at $6.99.