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Assuming this is true: If you visit WF, your entire shopping needs won’t be met by the available 365-branded foods, which means you’ll either have to shop at mu

by p49k 7y ago

Assuming this is true: If you visit WF, your entire shopping needs won’t be met by the available 365-branded foods, which means you’ll either have to shop at multiple stores (extremely difficult if you are poor) or buy the remaining products at severely marked up prices, negating any savings the 365-brands products might have offered. In particular, produce, meats and other fresh products are absurdly marked up in WF.

bluntfang 7y ago
can you give some examples of products you can't find at WF? I only ask because WF is the closest grocery to me and I don't have a problem getting everything I need. Granted, fresh fruit and vegetables don't have the 365 brand, but I'm assuming you don't mean that? I think the 365 brand is more about staples like milk, eggs, juice? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though, I'm sure I'm biased.
- mc32 7y ago
  The only things that come to mind are some household items. Grease cleaners, motor oil, actual OTC drugs (cough, aspirin, etc.), actual full size brooms, pest control and few other things.
  - bluntfang 7y ago
    Those items really don't seem like grocery items to me, I think you might be confusing grocery and supermarket?
- rosensan 7y ago
  In my experience, every time I've been to Whole Foods they don't have basic produce, condiments and sauces, etc that I would expect to have at a normal grocery store. Common vegetables are just missing from the store for no apparent reason. And their selection of anything Asian is awful, much worse than even Safeway. It might be a regional thing (I live in a city) but where I live Whole Foods is expensive, bizzarely limited in selection, and caters to a very specific lifestyle and diet - I get the impression it caters to people for whom cooking for themselves is a special occasion and not a daily thing.
  - bluntfang 7y ago
    Which common vegetables? Can you be specific? At my local WF, not only do I feel their vegetable section to be complete, but the quality is much higher than other regional/national chains. >I get the impression it caters to people for whom cooking for themselves is a special occasion and not a daily thing. I'm really confused, you think WF caters to people who don't cook for themselves, but you feel like it's missing condiments and sauces? That's weird, people who cook for themselves probably aren't looking to smother their food with ketchup.
derefr 7y ago
> extremely difficult if you’re poor I mean, I live in an area where there’s a Whole Foods within two blocks’ walking distance of two other grocery stores (one mid-market, one down-market.) I think this isn’t actually that uncommon; people don’t see Whole Foods as actually satisfying the demand for “a grocery store” in an area (as it doesn’t carry many of the things people expect a larger grocery store to carry—it may have decent produce, deli, bakery, etc. sections, but its grocery section is rather lacking in anything other than up-market “bougie” brands) so if there’s an existing other grocery store, and then a Whole Foods also gets built, that doesn’t much decrease the traffic to the other grocery store to the point that it would close down. The only problem is property developers marketing a new neighbourhood that only has a Whole Foods as being “close to a grocery store”, and people believing them and moving there. That Whole Foods was probably already there before the neighbourhood was, serving as an outlet to travel to for the larger region that that the new neighbourhood is located in; but the other parts of the region were being served by grocery stores located closer to them, and this new neighbourhood actually doesn’t have one of those.
- mac01021 7y ago
  > but its grocery section is rather lacking What do you regard as the grocery section? I go to the grocery store weekly and all I buy, pretty much, are bread, dairy, and produce. Do you mean stuff like breakfast cereal and peanut butter?
Dylan16807 7y ago
Is the 365-brand selection smaller than what you get at CVS, though?
- momokoko 7y ago
  No. Not even close. https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/about-our-products/product-lines/365-everyday-value https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/about-our-products/product-...
momokoko 7y ago
> your entire shopping needs won’t be met by the available 365-branded foods Absolutely false. That is the entire stated purpose of the 365 brand. What 365 does not cover is produce and meat. Meat is definitely more expensive at Whole Foods as they do not use it as a loss leader like other stores. I also sometimes wonder if one of the founders being vegan had something to do with that. Produce at WF is definitely about merchandising. The lower priced produced is very well hidden. > shop at multiple stores (extremely difficult if you are poor) Poor people don't have legs? I was poor for most of my life. I rode a bicycle to the grocery store. And the 365 brand stuff is mostly non-perishables. You can shop for non-perishables every couple of weeks. Admit it. You just do not like the brand and identity the Whole Foods represents. It has nothing to do with the actual products or prices.
- satokema_work 7y ago
  "Just walk/bike to multiple stores if you're poor, lol!" No. In so many ways, no. If the trade off is to save a few dollars by running around for multiple hours per week to go to multiple stores (uses gas! or takes a long time!), or just going to the nearest cheap store to get everything they need, they're going to Walmart. It has nothing to do with brand and identity and everything to do with not wasting precious time and money.
behringer 7y ago
We call WF "whole paycheck", it's a store for rich people who have too much money. I save over half of my grocery bill shopping elsewhere.
- captainredbeard 7y ago
  In general, their produce is much better, especially with things like berries.
  - behringer 7y ago
    Better than what? In my area within just a few miles I can get to 5 different produce markets that offer world-class quality produce at rock bottom pricing. Organic or not, anything you want to eat.
    - captainredbeard 7y ago
      Chain grocery stories like Safeway...

by p49k 7y ago

bluntfang 7y ago

can you give some examples of products you can't find at WF? I only ask because WF is the closest grocery to me and I don't have a problem getting everything I need. Granted, fresh fruit and vegetables don't have the 365 brand, but I'm assuming you don't mean that? I think the 365 brand is more about staples like milk, eggs, juice? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though, I'm sure I'm biased.

mc32 7y ago
The only things that come to mind are some household items. Grease cleaners, motor oil, actual OTC drugs (cough, aspirin, etc.), actual full size brooms, pest control and few other things.
- bluntfang 7y ago
  Those items really don't seem like grocery items to me, I think you might be confusing grocery and supermarket?
rosensan 7y ago
In my experience, every time I've been to Whole Foods they don't have basic produce, condiments and sauces, etc that I would expect to have at a normal grocery store. Common vegetables are just missing from the store for no apparent reason. And their selection of anything Asian is awful, much worse than even Safeway. It might be a regional thing (I live in a city) but where I live Whole Foods is expensive, bizzarely limited in selection, and caters to a very specific lifestyle and diet - I get the impression it caters to people for whom cooking for themselves is a special occasion and not a daily thing.
- bluntfang 7y ago
  Which common vegetables? Can you be specific? At my local WF, not only do I feel their vegetable section to be complete, but the quality is much higher than other regional/national chains. >I get the impression it caters to people for whom cooking for themselves is a special occasion and not a daily thing. I'm really confused, you think WF caters to people who don't cook for themselves, but you feel like it's missing condiments and sauces? That's weird, people who cook for themselves probably aren't looking to smother their food with ketchup.

derefr 7y ago

> extremely difficult if you’re poor I mean, I live in an area where there’s a Whole Foods within two blocks’ walking distance of two other grocery stores (one mid-market, one down-market.) I think this isn’t actually that uncommon; people don’t see Whole Foods as actually satisfying the demand for “a grocery store” in an area (as it doesn’t carry many of the things people expect a larger grocery store to carry—it may have decent produce, deli, bakery, etc. sections, but its grocery section is rather lacking in anything other than up-market “bougie” brands) so if there’s an existing other grocery store, and then a Whole Foods also gets built, that doesn’t much decrease the traffic to the other grocery store to the point that it would close down. The only problem is property developers marketing a new neighbourhood that only has a Whole Foods as being “close to a grocery store”, and people believing them and moving there. That Whole Foods was probably already there before the neighbourhood was, serving as an outlet to travel to for the larger region that that the new neighbourhood is located in; but the other parts of the region were being served by grocery stores located closer to them, and this new neighbourhood actually doesn’t have one of those.

mac01021 7y ago
> but its grocery section is rather lacking What do you regard as the grocery section? I go to the grocery store weekly and all I buy, pretty much, are bread, dairy, and produce. Do you mean stuff like breakfast cereal and peanut butter?

Dylan16807 7y ago

Is the 365-brand selection smaller than what you get at CVS, though?

momokoko 7y ago
No. Not even close. https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/about-our-products/product-lines/365-everyday-value https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/about-our-products/product-...

momokoko 7y ago

> your entire shopping needs won’t be met by the available 365-branded foods Absolutely false. That is the entire stated purpose of the 365 brand. What 365 does not cover is produce and meat. Meat is definitely more expensive at Whole Foods as they do not use it as a loss leader like other stores. I also sometimes wonder if one of the founders being vegan had something to do with that. Produce at WF is definitely about merchandising. The lower priced produced is very well hidden. > shop at multiple stores (extremely difficult if you are poor) Poor people don't have legs? I was poor for most of my life. I rode a bicycle to the grocery store. And the 365 brand stuff is mostly non-perishables. You can shop for non-perishables every couple of weeks. Admit it. You just do not like the brand and identity the Whole Foods represents. It has nothing to do with the actual products or prices.

satokema_work 7y ago
"Just walk/bike to multiple stores if you're poor, lol!" No. In so many ways, no. If the trade off is to save a few dollars by running around for multiple hours per week to go to multiple stores (uses gas! or takes a long time!), or just going to the nearest cheap store to get everything they need, they're going to Walmart. It has nothing to do with brand and identity and everything to do with not wasting precious time and money.

behringer 7y ago

We call WF "whole paycheck", it's a store for rich people who have too much money. I save over half of my grocery bill shopping elsewhere.

captainredbeard 7y ago
In general, their produce is much better, especially with things like berries.
- behringer 7y ago
  Better than what? In my area within just a few miles I can get to 5 different produce markets that offer world-class quality produce at rock bottom pricing. Organic or not, anything you want to eat.
  - captainredbeard 7y ago
    Chain grocery stories like Safeway...