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Whole Foods Market: Stores
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New Yorkers often don't warm easily to national chains, but Whole Foods Markets, a coast-to-coast phenom, is a growing presence in a local scene long dominated by homegrown gourmet and organic specialty stores. For a post-ethnic, post-A&P generation of shoppers, Whole Foods is the mother lode for healthy, freshly made foods, where quality trumps price, produce and seafood are impeccably fresh, aisles are wide, and service is earnest and attentive. Prepared foods—sushi, salads, or whole dinners to go—are made with natural ingredients, minimal or zero additives (and, it must be said, scant seasoning). The chain's overall slant leans toward the righteous and organic—the salad bar presents a global array of bulgur, couscous, quinoa and kasha; the in-house bakery uses unbleached, unbromated flour; and the upscale cheeses and meats are produced by independent, "humane" farms. City locations devote about a third of their square footage to in-store dining, and these gracious spaces—particularly the Union Square mezzanine, with a park view—have become prime flirting grounds for New Yorkers whose dinners for one may be numbered.
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About Whole Foods Market: Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market(R) is a Fortune 500 company and one of the leading retailers of natural and organic foods. The Company had sales of $5.6 billion in fiscal year 2006 and currently has 197 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
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The company was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980 when the first Whole Foods Market opened on September 20. The company's founders were Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of the Clarksville Natural Grocery, and John Mackey, owner of Safer Way Natural Foods. Mackey, a self-described hippie who had dropped out of the University of Texas a few credits shy of gaining a philosophy degree, had cajoled $45,000 out of family and friends to open Safer Way, a small health food store, in Austin in 1978. Age 25 at the time, Mackey had, as he described it, "had the natural foods conversion," and wanted to convert others.
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In February 2007, Whole Foods Market announced the acquisition of Wild Oats Markets. Wild Oats, based out of Boulder Colorado, Is ... a well known natural foods market. Wild Oats currently has 110 stores in 24 states and also in Canada. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is looking to stop the acquisition. Claiming that the merger will eliminate competition in the natural-foods industry, therefore increasing prices and lowering quality. The FTC is looking to go as far as a Federal lawsuit to stop this merger.
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In October 1986 Whole Foods made its first purchase of an existing store, when it bought the Bluebonnet Natural Foods Grocery in Dallas and converted it into a Whole Foods Market. From this point forward, the company expanded both by purchasing existing natural food stores or chains and by opening new stores. The expansion program was a gradual one, ensuring that Whole Foods did not grow too quickly. Typically, each year saw the addition of one new store in each existing region as well as the addition of a new region.
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With food and other items that are free of pesticides, preservatives, sweeteners, and cruelty, Whole Foods Market knows more about guiltless eating and shopping than most retailers. The world's #1 natural foods chain, the firm operates 160-plus stores in 28 states; Washington, DC; and in Canada and the UK. (It pioneered the supermarket concept in health foods retailing.) The stores emphasize perishable products, which account for about two-thirds of sales. Whole Foods offers more than 1,200 items in six lines of private-label products (such as the premium Whole Foods and a line of organic products for children, Whole Kids). In addition, the company has moved into related businesses (nutritional supplements).
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