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Time for some local nits: * Jewel's produce is fine, but as you note it's hard to find much of anything outside of the typical fruits and veggies. It's also hi

by Gorbzel 10y ago

Time for some local nits: * Jewel's produce is fine, but as you note it's hard to find much of anything outside of the typical fruits and veggies. It's also highly dependent on the individual store. * Mariano's is god-awful produce wise, so can't imagine that's what you're talking about. Which Mexican produce store? * Coincidentally, I did this check very recently and can guarantee you that WF stocks 4-5 different brands of chicken stock. But why does that matter? Ultimately, my research revealed the best price/quality sweet spot for stock was Kirkland (shocker!). Which only proves the point: single item (the TJ's approach) might be all the market really demands. Now admittedly, if the 365 brand isn't quality, that's a problem. Things you are right about: * WF way over-invested in prepared foods, probably because the markup is so damn high. Problem is, as another poster noted, the quality used to be consistently pretty high, but is now closer to slop. * Your list of what WF excels at...with one huge omission: bulk raw ingredients. But again, same question. Going by the rule that the outside of the store (fresh foods) is where you want to eat most of your food from anyway — if WF is consistently better at the majority of what we should be buying, what's the issue?

tptacek 10y ago
We've more or less switched from WF produce to Pete's, a local commodity grocery chain, and it puts WF to shame. I'm sure similar things are true in other markets. I think maybe the issue is that grocery stores don't make nearly as much on produce as they do on prepared foods or even on house-brand packaged foods, and it's pretty plain to see that Whole Foods optimized itself over the last 10 years for revenue maximization. Competition is an issue, but so is wedging yourself into a local maxima. Another thought is that grocery stores might be like drug stores in the sense that they are in significant part a commercial real estate bet; the store is really just a mechanism for extracting value from specific parcels of land. One other major difference between WF and "big box" chains is that WF tends to be smaller; it can't extract dollars from square feet by stocking them with Frito Lay and Coca Cola products the way Krogers can.
perardi 10y ago
I've had better luck with Mariano's than Jewel for produce, but as you say, that may be highly dependent on the individual store.

by Gorbzel 10y ago

tptacek 10y ago

We've more or less switched from WF produce to Pete's, a local commodity grocery chain, and it puts WF to shame. I'm sure similar things are true in other markets. I think maybe the issue is that grocery stores don't make nearly as much on produce as they do on prepared foods or even on house-brand packaged foods, and it's pretty plain to see that Whole Foods optimized itself over the last 10 years for revenue maximization. Competition is an issue, but so is wedging yourself into a local maxima. Another thought is that grocery stores might be like drug stores in the sense that they are in significant part a commercial real estate bet; the store is really just a mechanism for extracting value from specific parcels of land. One other major difference between WF and "big box" chains is that WF tends to be smaller; it can't extract dollars from square feet by stocking them with Frito Lay and Coca Cola products the way Krogers can.

perardi 10y ago

I've had better luck with Mariano's than Jewel for produce, but as you say, that may be highly dependent on the individual store.