WF is expensive, but their produce and meat are excellent. Their 365 organic stuff is good, also. I do not like the anti-gun policy, but to their credit, WF keeps armed security at the stores I go to.
Folks who think that cheap, factory farmed “medical meat” is the same as organic are misinformed. Grass-fed beef and heirloom chicken are completely different than their conventional, GMO-fed, antibiotics-pumped counterparts. I would rather switch to vegan than consume the conventional trash.
Part of the long term solution to health care should be relatively small-scale family farming, preferably organic.
The younger generation that isn’t obsessed with Organics and non Gluten bs started labeling Whole Foods as Whole Pay Check a few years ago.
More and more people are figuring that out.
I used to go to Whole Foods a lot but the regular supermarkets have really upped their game by offering many of the quality foods WF sells at much lower prices. Basically stay on the perimeters of a typical supermarket and you’ll do OK. But I do dart into the beer aisle!
I hate the prices of organic foods. People who do buy only organic foods think they are protecting themselves from getting cancer. They do not realize most that cancer is the results of DNA copy errors:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3538499/posts
High-energy radiation, such as x-rays, gamma rays, alpha particles, beta particles, and neutrons, can damage DNA play a large part of environmentally caused cancer. Up to 10% of invasive cancers are related to radiation exposure. Another environmental cause of cancer is tobacco. How many people smoke tobacco and buy at Whole Foods because they fear getting cancer? How many people lay out in the sun or go to tanning salons and buy Whole Foods’ organic to avoid cancer. Yet, there is little data that conventional methods of food production cause more cancerous outcomes. To me the entire organic industry is a marketing strategy playing on people’s uneducated fears.
Never went to the Whole Foods across town in Richmond. There are a few other niche stores like Trader Joe’s and Tom Leonard’s Farmer’s Market right near them.
I’m on the southwest side of Richmond, close in. Within maybe a 5 or 6 mile radius, we have:
Kroger x 3
Martin’s - formerly Ukrop’s stores (had 4, now down to a couple and fading)
Walmart x 2
Food Lion x 4
Aldi (new) x 2
Wegman’s (new)
Fresh Market
Grand Mart (ethnic foods)
under construction: Lidl
All the grocery experts think our small area is completely saturated, but they keep on coming. I guess the damned Yankees moving into this area have money.
A Whole Foods store a couple of miles from my house opened a year ago. It is closed now. We have no Krogers in Utah. But we have Trader Joes now. Whole Foods is insanely expensive. Watch the people come out of the store. You will seldom see anyone with more than one bag.
Another interesting thing is that food in usual supermarkets is less expensive in Utah than say SoCal. Yet WF is more expensive in Utah than LA. This indicates severe price gouging by WF in Utah. At least in Utah you don’t get harassed by faggots with their stupid petitions in the parking lot like you do in LA.
WF has also severely curtailed their stocks of supplements. So there’s no point in having an expensive organic store when Walmart and Smiths and others are carrying organic stuff cheaper. WF can go belly up afaic.
I suspect the whole “organic” thing is a crock. At my age, I have gotten used to various additives and growing methods. At 64, why do I need Organic?
Whole Paycheck???
Eff em
WF is pricey to be sure. But they have a huge deli section and you can basically eat for free. By “tasting”.
If I’m going to spend that kind of money, I’d rather go to Fresh Market. Also, they have $2.99 Tuesday specials on organic chicken breasts and ground chuck.
I don’t go into Whole Foods often, but when I do I feel like I need to take a shower when I get home. The liberal stench is just awful.
I wouldn’t say Kroger is in that great shape either and actually Whole Foods is still in better shape with twice the margin while Kroger has collapsing free cash flow. Grocers in general have extremely low margins of 1-3% and so rely on volume plus the fact that they are a negative working capital business (they are paid by the customer before they have to pay the supplier). It’s a very competitive business and it’s not difficult for other chains to copy each other. Whole Foods also has a limited customer base which other stores started to attack from years ago.
I prefer shopping with the Trader Joe’s and Aldi family of stores. Good prices, small stores, enjoy the variety of products they do have, and don’t have to spend long in the store. I have been to Whole Foods a few times and I do have to say the quality of their vegetables and meat are very high. They do offer organic food but real reason people shop there is because of the quality, variety of the food, and the shopping experience.
The most disappointing store is Walmart. I’ve always been a fan due to their selection of non-grocery products and generally low prices but they’re poorly run in general, overstaff rural stores (short lines, I liked this when I lived near one and was very loyal), understaff suburban stores (long lines, better off customers go elsewhere), and they have trouble hiring productive staff.
I was in San Antonio recently and Walmart is absolutely getting killed by HEB. HEB has variety, low prices, and very quick checkout (each lane has cashier and bagger 50% of time and the cashiers are very efficient). Walmart had incredibly inefficient cashiers (HEB cashiers are easily 3 x as efficient and often maybe 6 x). I think the customer experience alone explains while Walmart is failing in San Antonio - their parking lots are dead compared to HEB’s. HEB vs Walmart is a very interesting case.
Prices are high, the meat area flat out stinks, you can’t find beloved name brands. (No Campbells soup, Premium Saltines, Coke, etc.)
The toilet paper they sell is abysmal and rough as a cob. Some 7th son of a 7th son brand, or something like that.
The frozen pizza is all “uncured” or “Gluten Free”. No Mexican TV dinners except some ersatz frozen Mexican that looks like it came from San Francisco.
The Bread department is surprisingly good and its worth getting a fresh loaf sometimes. Checkout is friendly, but forget a snickers or milky way or zero bar.
You always have a feeling you are the most dangerous person in the store and could defeat everyone there if they all turned on you at once.
Meijer is my favorite. They always have great lakes fish for sale. White fish, walleye, yellow perch. Much cheaper than catching it yourself.
Nice clean store with many Hipster amenities, at least in the newish Brea CA. store. Rediculous prices but Brea might be able to sustain it. Been there twice left with next to nothing. Only good thing is that they had fresh Black Mussels. Even the local Asian 99 Market doesn’t carry them.
Nice clean store with many Hipster amenities, at least in the newish Brea CA. store. Rediculous prices but Brea might be able to sustain it. Been there twice left with next to nothing. Only good thing is that they had fresh Black Mussels. Even the local Asian 99 Market doesn’t carry them.
No way 3% “translates into 14 million lost customers”. That would give an original customer base of 467 million, which is roughly the entire population of the US and Mexico.