Prohibiting this merger would appeal to the hippie-granola-liberals that are the bulk of each stores customers. Is the FTC heavily laden with Democrat administrators?
Their revenue in 2006 was $5.6 Billion.
I only go to the Whole Foods in Berkeley, so that's the only one I can comment on. The sentiment among most of the Berkeley left is that it's preferable to shop at a similar store called Berkeley Bowl, because it's not "corporately owned." IOW, Whole Foods is considered to be part of those "evil corporations," like Haliburton. And, of course, now that it's acquired Wild Oats, I'm sure there will be pickets in front of the store. If so, it's going to be a pleasure to cross that line.