Whole Foods merger with Wild Oats

[RawVee]

Interesting article...

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2007/db20070606_903061.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

[FirstGarden]

RawVee - thanks for posting this article.

"Regulators want to block the merger, claiming it's bad for consumers, but industry experts disagree, citing healthy competition.

"The popular grocery chain Whole Foods Market (WFMI) charges handsomely for its all-natural and organic offerings—enough to be dubbed "whole paycheck" by many wags. Now, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges that Whole Foods would boost prices even higher, while reducing the quality and services at its stores, if it's allowed to acquire chief rival Wild Oats Markets (OATS)."

"Devour?" Such a strong word. This smacks of hostility toward smaller businesses like Whole Foods who pose a threat to the overwhelming dominance that Big Food has with consumers. Whole Foods doesn't have the massive advertising budget and media-manipulating power that the big boys have. The FTC sees what it wants to see, says what it wants to say. It is a very corrupt agency, beholden to big special interests. They didn't seem to have any problem with the Exxon/Mobile merger.

Wild Oats' prices are very high. An acquisition by Whole Foods might bring prices down.

"The FTC wants to block the $670 million deal announced in February on the grounds that it would prove anticompetitive and harm consumers. 'Whole Foods and Wild Oats are each other's closest competitors in premium natural and organic supermarkets, and are engaged in intense head-to-head competition in markets across the country,' Jeffrey Schmidt, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said in a June 5 news release announcing the agency's lawsuit aimed at blocking the sale. 'If Whole Foods is allowed to devour Wild Oats, it will mean higher prices, reduced quality, and fewer choices for consumers. That is a deal consumers should not be required to swallow.'

Typical statement of a power brokering, entitlement bureaucrat. I'll bet that Big Drug and Big Food are passing lots of sweet green to FTC officials and sending them on frequent vacations to Europe & the Bahamas.

[rawsurfer]

i dont disagree with the guy in front of me (i forget your name), but there are definitely things that wild oats charges MUCH less for. most obviously is the juice bar. whole foods charges like 3 times as much as wild oats for a wheat grass shot.

just saying...

but i am definitely against government regulation concerning the matter. if it takes really expensive whole foods prices to bring a new competitor into the market, then us grass eating hippies will be that much better off because of it, even if we do have to suffer for a short period of time.

[FirstGarden]

i dont disagree with the guy in front of me (i forget your name), but there are definitely things that wild oats charges MUCH less for. most obviously is the juice bar. whole foods charges like 3 times as much as wild oats for a wheat grass shot.

rawsurfer - thanks for pointing that out. I haven't been to Wild Oats that much, so I didn't know that. I was just running on general impressions. Both stores are expensive. Trader Joe's blows them both away if you can find what you need there. But I have to admit, I just love the atmosphere of a Whole Foods Market and such.

[eatyourbroccoli]

farmers markets for the win

if only i didnt live in canada..




i was actually under the impression WF already owned WO

the WF up here sells David Wolfe's green powder (EXACT same as Alissas who sells it for like $40) for $120 plus tax so that it comes to about $140 (free canadian healthcare taxes..woo)

$ 1 4 0. thats like 2 weeks worth of groceries for me.

WF, youre ridiculous. this merger will just make you more ridiculous and evil. i dont understand how mega-corporations differ from monopolies and last time i checked monopolies were pretty anti-capitalism..



basically what we need to do is start our own organic farm and set up a store on it. that does mail-order too. and maybe set up a few franchises run solely by RFT people around the world, that never sell out and sacrifice integrity and quality for $$.

[RawVee]

What bugs me about WF is that a LOT of their produce is conventional, not organic. I have the benefit of having an organic grocery store near me. Everything they sell is organic, and it's cheaper than WF. To charge as much as they do for non-organic is just ridiculous, IMO.

Perhaps we should re-name them WTF? :rolleyes:

[eatyourbroccoli]

Perhaps we should re-name them WTF? :rolleyes:

hahahahahaha

yes..we def. should

[Morn]

I know off topic but I love your avatar Rawvee. You are very pretty and you almost remind me of an oldfashioned movie star! I think I would like to do a black and white avatar some day!

[xinmywayx]

I've frequented Whole Foods and Wild Oats and while they are both nice to have access to I do not make them my main shopping place. Most of the vegan stuff I buy for my kid comes from Trader Joes. Trader's wins HANDS DOWN for best prices on so many things that WF and WO charged too much for. And WO and WF totally have tons of conventional produce that they charge, in my opinion, an organic price for. Basically, WO and WF is so fricking overpriced I only go there if I have to. Another thing I noticed when I lived in Philly was that the Whole Foods off Callowhill (was Fresh Fields) was the only place within a close distance that sold fresh food. Because people didn't have any other shopping option and many people in that city rely on public trans and bikes they knew they could charge whatever they wanted because people didnt have many other choices. I would see these people buying like 10 things and their bills would be upwards of 50 bucks. It was insane! I don't know a remedy to that problem but it still annoyed me. I was glad that I wasn't paying 4.99 a pound for non organic asparagus in the spring from the non "natural" stores by my house! So, I am not a huge fan of those giant stores.....

I love having access to these bigger "natural" food stores but I love my local places as well. In Orange County, CA we are blessed to have Mother's Market which I think is awesome. Sure, I pay a little more for a few items but 1) I think their prices are close to if not less than Wo and WF 2) they are a smaller company that sells lots of local products and I like supporting that. I do farmer's markets as well and that is the best way to get local produce =)

I also found co-ops to be awesome and wish I had one close by!

[RawVee]

I know off topic but I love your avatar Rawvee. You are very pretty and you almost remind me of an oldfashioned movie star! I think I would like to do a black and white avatar some day!

*Blush*

Gosh, Morn, you made me turn bright red. :) Thanks for the lovely compliment--you made my day!

V.

[145ish]

Wild Oats is the only "full service" if you will, health food store in my area. The prices are pretty high, I try to limit my shopping to sale items and items that I can't get anywhere else. I don't know the prices at other places but when I saw that a 16 oz jar of almond butter was $39.99 I thought I was going to faint. :eek: Needless to say I won't be eating any almond butter! Is that an average price?

[lavendarJ]

In my area, the Whole Foods has already bought out the Wild Oats - though they are still posting the sign. This was disappointing to me because they are some things at Wild Oats (even same brand label) that I have found for $1.00 or more less. I've shopped at both. Wild Oats seemed to have its own unique style and feel in regards to its line of services- things that I couldn't find at Whole Foods; W F's felt more like a grocery store - just healthier. Also, the Wild Oats in my area had a more down-to-earth and personable staff (didn't get those what are you doing shopping here looks) I don't know ... I guess I'll have to wait and see. The next time I go, I think I'll just chat with the manager and dig around and see if I can find out anything about upcoming changes.