Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Most people don't care, though, and that's why Whole Foods is in financial trouble. Also, most regular Americans can't afford to do their weekly shopping at a store that runs on a philosophy.
Additionally, it's not a one-stop shop for most people and a lot of shoppers, when pressed for time, will switch to a regular supermarket or Wal-Mart over Whole Foods so they don't have to go to multiple stores.
A real-world example: A friend of mine in my neighborhood had a baby a couple of months ago. She buys a lot of the family's food at Whole Foods but buys pretty much everything else at Wal-Mart. The other day she was fretting about how she'd find the time to go to both stores once she goes back to work in a few months' time.
My guess is that she won't. She'll simply do all of her shopping at Wal-Mart, or she'll split the difference and shop at Kroger which has a bigger selection of organic foods.
In what way is it not one-stop shopping? What else do people need, grocery-wise, that WF doesn't offer? They also have a cosmetics section, misc. household or kitchen goods, and vitamins.
My objection lately is that they hiked up their prices significantly just in the last year or so. And they sell certain things in quantities that eliminate lower-cost options. For ex., they used to carry bagged spinach and lettuce, as well as the same in larger plastic containers. Now they only sell the larger amounts, which cost twice as much as the bags did. There's a lot of that subtle manipulation going on there.
I always liked Trader Joe's and wish there was one near me.
Whole Foods was just far too expensive. A friend of mine shopped there regularly and I could not believe the prices. But he and his wife swore by it and they had children to feed, too.
Always found the TJs shopping experience pleasant enough.
In what way is it not one-stop shopping? What else do people need, grocery-wise, that WF doesn't offer? They also have a cosmetics section, misc. household or kitchen goods, and vitamins.
My objection lately is that they hiked up their prices significantly just in the last year or so. And they sell certain things in quantities that eliminate lower-cost options. For ex., they used to carry bagged spinach and lettuce, as well as the same in larger plastic containers. Now they only sell the larger amounts, which cost twice as much as the bags did. There's a lot of that subtle manipulation going on there.
I make a Portuguese dish called shrimp Mozambique. A critical ingredient is an unhopped domestic lager/pilsner. I tend to use Bud Light. At Whole Foods, you can find 100 funky microbrews but most are uber-bitter American-style IPA or have bizarre ingredients totally inappropriate for this recipe. I then tried 3 different nearby upscale liquor stores/wine shops/bottle shops. Nope. No trailer trash swill to be found. At the 3rd one, I asked if they had any lager at all. Fosters oil can. Well, I need 12 oz of beer, not a keg. I finally found a bottle of Stella Artois.
I joke. The problem with Whole Foods is their prices which is why they just sold themselves to Amazon. Back in the day, they were pretty much the only game in town for high quality organic produce. Now, you can find a reasonable selection in pretty much any grocery store. You need to be pretty affluent to exist on upscale high end convenience foods which is what's in the shopping carts of most people I observe shopping at Whole Foods. Their problems with declining sales have been well documented in places like the Wall Street Journal. I can walk to a Whole Foods from my girlfriend's apartment. It's fine to buy a couple high end things but I'm far too much of a cheap bastitch to do major grocery shopping there.
I think the Amazon review system is skewed in favor of paid and shill reviews. That said, I am still able to find useful and informative reviews there. But I am worried that I might still be influenced subconsciously by the positive shill reviews, because those are the first reviews I see.
I sort by most recent, instead of letting Amazon sort by "most helpful." At least they got rid of all of the reviews by their chosen reviewers who all got free products. At least now it says the reviews are from verified purchases - though still not entirely sure I can even trust that.
I joke. The problem with Whole Foods is their prices which is why they just sold themselves to Amazon. Back in the day, they were pretty much the only game in town for high quality organic produce. Now, you can find a reasonable selection in pretty much any grocery store. You need to be pretty affluent to exist on upscale high end convenience foods which is what's in the shopping carts of most people I observe shopping at Whole Foods. Their problems with declining sales have been well documented in places like the Wall Street Journal. I can walk to a Whole Foods from my girlfriend's apartment. It's fine to buy a couple high end things but I'm far too much of a cheap bastitch to do major grocery shopping there.
I haven't paid attention to what others buy there. I only get meats/fish, produce, and used to get cheese & other dairy there, but they now charge $2 more for the same 8 oz. brick of cheese I can get elsewhere for cheaper. They changed suppliers on their cooked chickens, too, and now charge $2 more than they did before the change in brand.
If they're losing sales, it's not only due to competition, IMO. They've made some bad choices in staff hiring, as well, in my town. Well, and they also over-expanded, when they acquired the Wild Oats chain.
To address the elephant in the room, I think a lot of people prefer to do their grocery shopping at WF simply because of the "ambiance" and more upscale shopping experience.
I make a Portuguese dish called shrimp Mozambique. A critical ingredient is an unhopped domestic lager/pilsner. I tend to use Bud Light. At Whole Foods, you can find 100 funky microbrews but most are uber-bitter American-style IPA or have bizarre ingredients totally inappropriate for this recipe. I then tried 3 different nearby upscale liquor stores/wine shops/bottle shops. Nope. No trailer trash swill to be found. At the 3rd one, I asked if they had any lager at all. Fosters oil can. Well, I need 12 oz of beer, not a keg. I finally found a bottle of Stella Artois.
I joke. The problem with Whole Foods is their prices which is why they just sold themselves to Amazon. Back in the day, they were pretty much the only game in town for high quality organic produce. Now, you can find a reasonable selection in pretty much any grocery store. You need to be pretty affluent to exist on upscale high end convenience foods which is what's in the shopping carts of most people I observe shopping at Whole Foods. Their problems with declining sales have been well documented in places like the Wall Street Journal. I can walk to a Whole Foods from my girlfriend's apartment. It's fine to buy a couple high end things but I'm far too much of a cheap bastitch to do major grocery shopping there.
Where in the hell do you live? You are telling me that where you live there is a WF close by, yet there is difficulty in locating Bud Light, one of the most distributed beers in the US?
WF has beer that is usually not widely distributed anywhere else. I can go anywhere for Bud Light, but a lot of beer only WF carries in my area (Miami).
Nah. It's the parking lot. Every space has either a Prius or a Tesla.
Not in my town. Nor at any of the WF's I've been to in California.
I think their price hikes have probably lost them some customers, and maybe the novelty of it has worn off, as well. I think there's something to the factor someone mentioned earlier--that some people were going there for the upscale vibe. But people who were drawn to the store for that alone would tend to drop out of the "scene" once significant price hikes were introduced.
I suspect lower-priced purveyors of organic food, like Sprouts, are drawing people away, too. I think WF hoped that introducing a huge hot bar area would draw people in, but it's not making up for the number of people they're losing.
We'll see if Amazon mgmt. will result in any changes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
