4 ms·

Whole Foods still has very strange retailing choices (afaik, you can't get standard Heinz Ketchup or Hellman's Mayo at the big one near me - just the organic va

Whole Foods still has very strange retailing choices (afaik, you can't get standard Heinz Ketchup or Hellman's Mayo at the big one near me - just the organic varieties).

jonnyreiss 4y ago
The organic varieties are much more in line with what a consumer expects to find in Whole Foods --- this retailing choice makes sense to me.
- kritiko 4y ago
  Obviously this is in line with the history of the brand of a fancy, organic- and artisanal- focused grocery. (Does it have better profit margins than other groceries?) My point was that Amazon could support another retail brand beyond WF.
sacnoradhq 4y ago
TL;DR: Buy those at Costco or Trader Joe's (Aldi Nord). Don't waste your money buying staples at WF. Their target demo is Mercedes or BMW SUV driver (I'm mostly joking): elitist, hyper-self-absorbed, conspicuous consumption Before Amazon acquired them, their prices were relatively absurd and the products were even bougier. It's also true you can't get some staples at WF because they need to ensure each SKU makes enough profit / shelf area. The priciest of WFs are the small ones in major metros in mixed use commercial-residential areas that are essentially convenience stores. WF post-Amazon also discontinues items that seem to me to be desirable, but I guess I'm not an average WF customer. One positive point of WF is many locations have bulk dry goods that can sometimes be almost sanely priced. Disclosure: I live ~1 mi from 3 WF and their HQ. PS: I recall I was walking on the sidewalk crossing a WF parking garage, and out of nowhere, a white woman driving a white Mercedes SUV with the window rolled down tried to physically push me with their vehicle, laid into their car horn, and shouted profanities at me for the crime of not moving fast enough. Makes one consider wearing several GoPros when they venture forth into the world.

Whole Foods still has very strange retailing choices (afaik, you can't get standard Heinz Ketchup or Hellman's Mayo at the big one near me - just the organic varieties).

jonnyreiss 4y ago

The organic varieties are much more in line with what a consumer expects to find in Whole Foods --- this retailing choice makes sense to me.

kritiko 4y ago
Obviously this is in line with the history of the brand of a fancy, organic- and artisanal- focused grocery. (Does it have better profit margins than other groceries?) My point was that Amazon could support another retail brand beyond WF.

sacnoradhq 4y ago

TL;DR: Buy those at Costco or Trader Joe's (Aldi Nord). Don't waste your money buying staples at WF. Their target demo is Mercedes or BMW SUV driver (I'm mostly joking): elitist, hyper-self-absorbed, conspicuous consumption Before Amazon acquired them, their prices were relatively absurd and the products were even bougier. It's also true you can't get some staples at WF because they need to ensure each SKU makes enough profit / shelf area. The priciest of WFs are the small ones in major metros in mixed use commercial-residential areas that are essentially convenience stores. WF post-Amazon also discontinues items that seem to me to be desirable, but I guess I'm not an average WF customer. One positive point of WF is many locations have bulk dry goods that can sometimes be almost sanely priced. Disclosure: I live ~1 mi from 3 WF and their HQ. PS: I recall I was walking on the sidewalk crossing a WF parking garage, and out of nowhere, a white woman driving a white Mercedes SUV with the window rolled down tried to physically push me with their vehicle, laid into their car horn, and shouted profanities at me for the crime of not moving fast enough. Makes one consider wearing several GoPros when they venture forth into the world.