They'll kill the chain. The whole point of Whole Foods is to provide an upscale, yuppie, shopping experience. Make it like WalMart, and attract the "Walmart Crowd", and the Whole Foods customer base will shop elsewhere.
I saw something similar happen years ago when an upscale local chain was acquired. The things that I went out of my way to get from there were no longer offered, so I stopped making the special trip.
Soaring labor costs may have made that business model unsustainable. If it is, and Amazazon has figured that out, it’ll be interesting to see what Amazon has in mind for Whole Foods.
I don't know that Amazon cares about the current Whole Foods business model. They want the over 400 stores to use as refrigerated retail distribution centers. They want to go head to head with the large big box grocery retailers and take their share of the market.
The only reason I go to Whole Foods for a few items is because they source their meats and fish etc. You can know the exact farm and do your research on how healthy the animal.
Well, one more reason. It’s the closest place where I can walk in and get 30 chicken wings, or certain vegetables. Can’t even find wings at most stores these days and not enough. Also chicken feet for making bone broth richer.