Whole Foods
Sep. 19th, 2004 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mahoganyIt’s really easy for me to be holier than thou, and shop Canadian (and preach to my friends about shopping Canadian - preferably with local retailers) and boycott places like Wal-Mart. The stores themselves are giant puss filled boils on the landscape, their buying practices are evil, and they don’t sell anything that I want badly enough to get me to shop there.
Whole Foods is another story. They’ve recently opened a store on the North Shore, and apparently they’re driving prices at the local Capers down. Now, I’m all for competition, and I’ve often thought that Capers, which is a local natural foods chain, has charged exhorbitant prices. Still, with just three stores, Capers doesn’t come close to having the buying power of Whole Foods.
It’s so tempting, when groceries are easily our biggest expense to justify saving a few pennies, by shopping at Whole Foods - when I’m on the North Shore, that is. I mean, we really don’t have the money to burn, and we’re committed to maintaining a healthy diet and eating organic, and Whole Foods isn’t an evil empire like Wal-Mart, right? They have numerous lofty ideals, and have been ranked among the top 100 places to work etc. etc. etc.
Still, if my shopping (and everyone elses shopping) puts a local retailer out of business, then it’s not a good thing. I think there’s room in the market place for more health oriented grocery stores, and I think that some competition will bring prices down, but I’m very concerned that a huge player like Whole Foods will swallow the little guys that have been here for ages - the same little guys that helped make eating organic mainstream in the first place. What to do, what to do, what to do? Do I support Whole Foods just until some of the smaller stores get their act together and bring their prices down - even just a little, and then continue shopping as before and supporting local business (even if it means paying a little more)?
Whole Foods is another story. They’ve recently opened a store on the North Shore, and apparently they’re driving prices at the local Capers down. Now, I’m all for competition, and I’ve often thought that Capers, which is a local natural foods chain, has charged exhorbitant prices. Still, with just three stores, Capers doesn’t come close to having the buying power of Whole Foods.
It’s so tempting, when groceries are easily our biggest expense to justify saving a few pennies, by shopping at Whole Foods - when I’m on the North Shore, that is. I mean, we really don’t have the money to burn, and we’re committed to maintaining a healthy diet and eating organic, and Whole Foods isn’t an evil empire like Wal-Mart, right? They have numerous lofty ideals, and have been ranked among the top 100 places to work etc. etc. etc.
Still, if my shopping (and everyone elses shopping) puts a local retailer out of business, then it’s not a good thing. I think there’s room in the market place for more health oriented grocery stores, and I think that some competition will bring prices down, but I’m very concerned that a huge player like Whole Foods will swallow the little guys that have been here for ages - the same little guys that helped make eating organic mainstream in the first place. What to do, what to do, what to do? Do I support Whole Foods just until some of the smaller stores get their act together and bring their prices down - even just a little, and then continue shopping as before and supporting local business (even if it means paying a little more)?
