"Metspitzer" > wrote in message
...
> The grocery chain, which mostly entices young, trendy city dwellers,
> is now moving into smaller, suburban areas where its new, smaller
> stores are seeing stronger returns. But to make it work, Whole Foods
> has to rid itself of its top-dollar reputation. A nickname like "Whole
> Paycheck" will make it tough to draw in the new demographic, since
> lower-priced competitors are homing in on the fresh-food fad.
>
> In its recent quarter, Whole Foods opened six stores, focusing on
> these new markets where its says rent is lower, square footage is
> smaller and competition for natural, organic food isn't as heated. The
> new stores saw sales per square foot rise 29% from a year earlier. In
> general, total sales at Whole Foods stores that have been open at
> least 53 weeks rose 8.7% in the quarter compared to the year before.
>
> "We've done surprisingly well in some of these secondary markets; a
> lot better than we thought we were going to do," said Co-Chief
> Executive Walter Robb on a conference call with analysts last week.
> "It's a very powerful economic model, so I think we're going to open a
> lot more of those types of stores."
>
> To counter its reputation for being expensive, Whole Foods is offering
> more price promotions and discounts in all of its stores, and lately
> it has held many of its grocery prices flat despite its own costs
> rising. The idea is for customers to feel that while there may be
> certain product prices that are going up, they are finding plenty of
> good deals to make up for that, said executives, who call the strategy
> "price perception."
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...094392986.html
They are putting one in Lynnwood WA, slated to open soon. Lynnwood is not
considered a wealthy place but I still think that market is for the well to
do. I have been there once and I did buy a few things but most of what they
sell is available elsewhere for less money. And we did not like the taste
of the foods from their hot food bar that we bought. Also the gluten free
bread that we bought was moldy when we looked at it the following day.