Free Republic

A DECLINE IN FOOD SPENDING confirms a deflationary undercurrent. Consumers are still spending less on food, even while pushing a touch less forcefully on the usual money-saving levers – suggesting disinflationary retail prices may have worsened to end 2009. The deflation-induced operating deleverage that plagued food retail over the past three to six months leaves little room for further price declines – just as we enter a tough holiday season. The table is set for a competitive holiday season. Consumers continue their trend of "shopper activism" (coupons, promotions, etc.) and plan to spend less this holiday season. Twenty-four percent of...

How often do you shop for groceries? I don't mean for the last-minute half-gallon of milk or package of cigarettes from the convenience store, but the heavy-duty grocery shopping. All the older siblings and their spouses appeared to shop once a week, filling up the automobile or van to the rafters. I on the other hand have always emulated the parents, who shopped for groceries every single day excepting Sundays (but then and again, it needs pointed out franksolich has no spouse and dependents, so it's a somewhat different sort of thing). In the town of circa 3,000 alongside the...

In response to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed by Whole Foods’ Chief Executive Officer John Mackey, activists, consumers and labor groups around the country have been organizing in opposition to his efforts to undermine meaningful health care reform. Over the course of the next few weeks, members and staff from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) will be disseminating educational information to Whole Foods shoppers. The purpose of these efforts will be to set the record straight about health care reform and to raise serious concerns about Whole Foods CEO’s position on this critical issue. These events...

The usual cadre of ignorant prominent conservatives is urging us to support of Whole Foods because left-wingers are boycotting the overpriced gourmet food chain since CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed against ObamaCare in the Wall Street Journal. Sorry, but I have no sympathy for the guy. What goes around in his store’s behavior, comes around, even in organics. (snip) But, unlike them, I look beneath the surface of silly, shallow talking points and principle-free partisan knee-jerking. And I’m not upset that Whole Foods is being boycotted. In fact, I love it. It’s a great episode in poetic justice for...

I've written several columns over the last couple months about the attempts by Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress to impose nationalized health-care insurance -- so-called "Obamacare." I've said it's bad for corporate profits, bad for the stock market, bad for the economy -- and even bad for people seeking quality health care. I've never had such a huge volume of reader response to anything I've written here, and never so polarized. To half of you, I'm a messiah. To the other half, I'm a pariah. So I was glad to find support in this perilous position from one of...

As a leftist up until last year, I know what liberals are good at:  emotion and righteous indignation.  And they're experts at channeling that fury into concrete action.  So Moveon.org and other far left groups are e mailing and twittering and Facebooking like crazy to mobilize the troops into doing whatever they dictate. Their tactics can be so cruel and chilling, that those of us with a conscience can be left hanging in the dust.  Meanwhile, a la Saul Alinsky, the Left isolates, demonizes and destroys their "enemies," that is anyone who disagrees with them. When a person or company is...

Around a dozen protesters were in front of the Whole Foods on Route 9 in Framingham this afternoon, handing out fliers calling for CEO John Mackey to be fired. Mackey recently wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that against more government involvement in health care and saying that people do not have an “intrinsic right to health care.” “My heart wouldn’t bleed if he left,” said Dean Ethier, an organizing director with the United Food and Commercial Workers. “You need a compassionate person who’s for reform.” The opinion piece has become a target of supporters of...

“A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America,” Mackey wrote in the piece. In response, a Facebook group called, “Boycott Whole Foods,” was founded, and today it has almost 23,000 members who have pledged to stop shopping there. Whole Foods spokesperson Libba Letton said “there’s no telling,” whether or not the company’s bottom line will be impacted by the boycott.

I plan to do a lot more shopping at Whole Foods in the coming weeks. Mostly in response to the moronic boycott of the store now gaining momentum on the left. Let me see if I have the logic correct here: Whole Foods is consistently ranked among the most employee-friendly places to work in the service industry. In fact, Whole Foods treats employees a hell of a lot better than most liberal activist groups do. The company has strict environmental and humane animal treatment standards about how its food is grown and raised. The company buys local. The store near...

Protesters are hoping a boycott will cut into the success of Whole Foods, the 10th largest food and drug store in the U.S., which reported sales of $1.8 billion for last quarter, a 2 percent increase from the previous quarter. Calls to boycott Whole Foods Market are growing louder and more sophisticated following a Wall Street Journal opinion article by the company's chief executive, John Mackey, in which he criticized President Obama's health care plan and offered his own alternative. Mackey's article first prompted individuals to threaten taking their business elsewhere. But now the Progressive Review, an online alternative publication,...

You can stop wasting your hard earned money at Democrat Party HQ...uh I mean Whole Paychecks...whoops Whole Foods Market. The following was reported in the Investor's Business Daily: "Organic food is no healthier than ordinary food, a large U.K. study found. Despite a small number of differences in nutrition between organic and conventionally produce food, no evidence of any extra health health benefit was found, London researchers said. The result was the same for studies of meat, dairy, and eggs." IBD 7/30/09 Seems that slapping an organic sticker on something these days is a license to steal. Thankfully I never...

Beneath the attention of major media coverage, the boycott of Israeli products has arrived in America. Its first (reported target) over this past weekend was the couscous at Trader Joe's. The Atlantic's (Jeffrey Goldberg comments:) "My recommendation: Head to Trader Joe's and buy anything made or grown in Israel. I hear the Israeli couscous goes well with grilled scapegoat, by the way." Rabbi Isaac Jeret of Congregation Ner Tamid in Los Angeles elaborates in an email to friends: As many of you know, one of the most difficult challenges for the State of Israel during its recent war in Gaza...

I received this message from a colleague alerting me to the fact that Trader Joe's, a well-known market for imported foods and wines, is now under pressure to stop selling products made in Israel (like Israeli cous cous, for example). This effort is being launched by South Bay Mobilization, a leftist, activist anti-Israel bunch in San Jose, California. In addition to its letter to Trader Joe's asking them not to sell Israeli products, this bunch is asking its members to actually go into local Trader Joe's stores on June 20, which if you did not know, is "World Refugee Day"...

George Torres' future looked pretty bleak: The supermarket mogul had been stripped of his riches by government prosecutors, convicted in a massive racketeering case and was awaiting a potential life sentence in federal prison. But in a stunning reversal of fortune Tuesday, the government released its grip on Torres' assets, a judge tossed out the most serious convictions against him, and he was ordered set free -- at least for now. The turnaround came after prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles turned over tape-recorded conversations that contained information that was potentially beneficial to Torres' defense regarding at...

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - As Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opens about 150 new or expanded stores in the U.S. in 2009, the company expects to hire about 22,000 people for new positions. Those positions include plenty of cashiers and stock clerks, but the world’s largest retailer will also be adding store managers, pharmacists and personnel workers. Wal-Mart is holding its annual shareholders meeting on Friday, and employees from its stores around the world are spending the week in Bentonville at company headquarters. Unlike many retailers, Wal-Mart has managed to keep sales growing since the recession began in late 2007, helped greatly by...

TULSA, Okla. — One of the most deadly spiders in the world has been found in the produce section of a Tulsa grocery store. An employee of Whole Foods Market found the Brazilian Wandering Spider Sunday in bananas from Honduras and managed to catch it in a container. The spider was given to University of Tulsa Animal Facilities director Terry Childs who said this type of spider kills more people than any other.

Paper grocery bags are bad. Plastic grocery bags are evil. To "save" the planet and not be labeled as a delinquent, you must use reusable canvas or cloth grocery bags. It would appear that soon there will not be a choice of what you use. You will use the reusable grocery bag or not be shopping!

Commodity prices are down, but the bad news for consumers is that U.S. farmers are responding by cutting back their planting and production, reducing the chances of lower prices reaching the supermarket. Clay T. Mitchell of Buckingham, Iowa, said he will reduce his corn acreage 26% when the planting season starts in mid-April. The 930 acres of corn that the 35-year-old farmer plans to grow would be his smallest effort ever, even though corn has long been his most profitable crop. He is planting more soybeans, which don't need expensive nitrogen fertilizer. "Farming is very strange right now," said Mr....

Consumers have cut back sharply on food spending, shunning restaurants, opting for generic products over brand names, trading in lattes for home-brewed coffee and shopping for bargains. That is hurting sales and profits at many food processors, grocery chains and restaurants. First, consumers have been trading down to lower-priced items. Second, he thinks many households dug into their pantries for staples rather than going to the store, a trend that can't continue indefinitely. "You can't contract at this rate for long," he said. "It's just shocking." Cindy Greco, a 45-year-old Chicago resident, said she's shopping more at Costco Wholesale Corp....

INDIANAPOLIS -- A grocery store employee who shot and killed a robber when he pointed a gun at a woman with a child will not be charged in the shooting. Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said Tuesday that Miguel Mondragon, 29, was justified in shooting Christopher Barreto, 23, during a robbery at the store Sunday night. Police responded to a holdup alarm just after 8 p.m. at El Michoacana Supermarket at 6240 W. 34th St. and found Barreto shot and critically injured. He was transported to Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Witnesses told police that Barreto had ordered...