Fresh & Easy, the new 10,000-square-foot food retailer, has opened 120 stores in the western United States in less than two years, and plans to open 200 more. The stores focus on quality prepared foods, fresh produce, everyday items at low prices and average $500 in sales per square...
Recessions end, but your strategy is constant. Natural products are expensive. Most shoppers think so. If you lower your prices to match conventional products, will shoppers change their minds? Probably not. Here’s the true story of one retailer who tried. Natural products have always sold well alongside fresh produce, and...
If this economic downturn is like previous ones, the weak will get weaker while the strong get stronger.In recessions, companies with lots of cash tend to do better than companies with lots of debt, because they can step up to the plate to take advantage of fire-sale opportunities on...
Whole Foods Acquires Wild Oats (sort of) Did you know that natural and organic foods are in a “premium” class that is completely separate from gourmet and conventional foods? Neither did John Mackey, CEO of Austin, TX-based Whole Foods Market when he agreed to acquire arch competitor, Boulder, CO-based Wild...
Amid these stressful economic times, independent natural products retailers can feel good about at least four things. While many other businesses, and entire industries, are suffering huge sales hits and major restructurings, natural products retailers are staying relatively healthy. Instead of growing at the typical 8% to 10% per...
Independents are the key to a healthier society.Independent natural products retailers don’t diagnose, treat, prevent or cure disease, but they do help millions of Americans on the path to well being. Independent natural products retailers can’t legally practice medicine, but their knowledge of nutrition and genuine empathy and concern supports...
Which would be better for the natural products industry: an Obama or a McCain presidency? Political intelligence from our representatives at the Natural Products Association (NPA) in Washington, D.C. says that either a McCain or an Obama administration is likely to be less favorable to the natural products industry...
In the early 1970s, when natural products were just getting started, most food shoppers did not strongly believe that, “You are what you eat!” Perhaps just two in 100 shopped in natural foods stores to avoid the highly processed foods in conventional supermarkets. Today, 20 out of 100 shoppers say...
Before a new competitor comes to town, you can fix the weak spots in your store. Is your facility clean and well-lit? Are your floor and ceiling in good condition and your walls freshly painted? Do your refrigerators and freezers work properly? Have you changed your window displays recently?...
