We’ve now twice lapped Amazon’s August, 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods Markets. With the benefit of hindsight, do we believe Amazon was executing a long-planned, well-thought-out strategic move to offer only the highest quality, premium groceries to U.S. shoppers? Reporting in a July 28, 2019, piece in the New York...
In the 1960s, as the world worried about a population explosion that would cause global food shortages, chemical companies reassured Americans that, with technology, we could synthesize in a test tube all the food we need. A large swath of the Baby Boom generation—just coming of age and already skeptical...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In December, we reported excerpts from our conversation with Michael Kanter, co-founder 45 years ago of Cambridge Naturals, in Cambridge, MA. Michael was one of the pioneers of the Buy Local movement there and told us the first thing he did was educate himself on why buying local was important...
In September, we outlined the most important steps we believe you need to take to get your store ready for a successful sale. To quickly recap, and expand on these ideas: 1. Detach yourself emotionally from the value of your business, so that you can negotiate effectively with prospective buyers,...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If you are like the majority of owners of U.S. independent natural organic products stores, you are the founder. You may have started your store 20, 30 or more years ago. If you are thinking about selling, this means you probably don’t have children interested in, or capable of, taking...
Next month, Amazon will reach its first anniversary owning Whole Foods Market. How’s it doing so far? As we expected, Amazon will not spend a lot of time giving us specific results for its Whole Foods unit, which makes up less than 10% of Amazon’s total sales. In what appears...
A year ago this week, the retail world changed forever when Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey announced ecommerce behemoth Amazon.com was buying the struggling natural products giant. Here's a report card. Next month, Amazon will reach its first anniversary owning Whole Foods Market. How’s it doing so far? As...
What a tumultuous year in the food business! On April 10, 2017, activist investor Jana Partners announces an 8.8% stake in Whole Foods Market and pressures the retailer to sell after a long string of declines in quarterly same-store sales; a key retail metric. Before the end of that month,...
At the recent SENPA/SOHO natural products trade show, we had the chance to sit with Aaron Gottlieb, founder and owner of Native Sun Natural Foods Market, which has three stores in Jacksonville, FL. Here are excerpts from our conversation. WholeFoods Magazine (WF): Please tell us a little about your stores.
Well, that didn’t take long. “Day One,” of the Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods Market on Aug. 28, 2017, saw significant—and reportedly permanent—price cuts in Whole Foods’ stores on everyday market basket items like milk, eggs and bananas. Plus, the chain cut prices on key fresh proteins, fresh produce, and...
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