[yldstrk]

overpriced sanctimonious bullhockey

[bgill]

We used to drive by their parking lot just to watch the pasty sickly looking libs willingly walking in to waste their money. If the company crashes and burns, oh well.

[Wolfie]

Long past due to break out the Trust Busters again in this country.

[BBQToadRibs]

Whole Foods has been making some pretty piss poor business decisions lately. It’s mind boggling.

[moovova]

"Now, Whole Foods Jeff Bezos wants to control that process, and will charge some companies roughly 3 to 5 percent of sales for the service."

Mr. Bezos, with a net worth in the multi-billions, was later heard to say..."Enough money is never enough.".

[LydiaLong]

The term ‘organic’ as they use it in foo foo stores always drives me crazy. All food is organic.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Hey! I have an idea!

Let’s take a Business Model that was working seamlessly and replace it with something that’s going to alienate our Vendors, our Customers and our Employees!

That’s the ticket!

Oy! These people with money think they own the friggin’ WORLD, don’t they?

*COUGH*Bezos*COUGH*

(Off to burn my Business School Diploma now, ‘cuz whadda *I* know? I’ve only run THREE multi-million dollar enterprises through the years...)

[Nifster]

Bezoar running a locally sourced grocery chain into the ground by trying to make it what it ain’t....a big box chain

I’ll stick with Trader Joe’s and Publix

[sphinx]

I happened to meet a local Whole Foods supplier a couple of years ago. He was running a substantial greenhouse operation producing all that greenhousy-type stuff. Initially, he had balked when Whole Foods approached him, saying that he didn't think he could jump through all the necessary hoops to be certified organic. (Nor did he have any interest in joining the Cult of Organic, which he recognized as foolish nonsense.) The Whole Foods rep chuckled at that response, and went on to say that Whole Foods wanted enough organic products on the shelves to let the crunchy granola types think it's organic, but that the company was really much more interested in local sourcing. Local sourcing can also increase prices, but at least there's a freshness benefit for fresh produce.

I've always avoided Whole Foods because of the prices. Unfortunately, Albertson's bought Safeway and now my local stores are joining the organic scam. I refuse to pay a premium for a marketing gimmick.

[ridesthemiles]

My first real job out of high school was at Kroger Divisional offices in Madison, Wis. I also worked at 3 other grocery chains in my life before being self employed.

CHARGING vendors for selling you their goods?

What a complete & radical change from what I remember.

[Phillyred]

Once you’ve been to Wegmans, Whole Foods is sorta a joke. And Trader Joe’s is great too. No need for WF.

[Wuli]

I was just looking at the financials for Whole Foods.

What is clear is that its profit margins are not above the average for the supermarket industry as whole.

Yet, having shopped there, the prices of many things it sells are above average compared to elsewhere for similar items.

That leads me to think the higher prices at Whole Foods is not because it makes more money than other food markets, but that it pays more for many of the goods it sells. If that were not the case, if it was getting bargains from its suppliers and marking things up immensely, its net profits would be different, larger than they are.

That changes the picture for me about the Whole Foods suppliers complaints.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Whole Foods hasn't disclosed its reason for shifting to this model, but one key advantage that it could give them is data. Brokers represent multiple brands and work with multiple retailers. Cutting them out of the process means Whole Foods limits the number of people that know what goes on in its stores and who can share that information with others.

Whole Food's parent, Amazon, of course, is a master — and fiercely protective of — its data management.

Doing business with Amazon - even as a small seller - always requires giving away your supplier information. And if what you are doing is profitable enough, they will immediately cut you out and make and sell your product themselves.

It was a genius scam to get thousands of small American companies to share their profitability secrets by offering a (largely false) promise of broad market exposure.