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

On Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:48:32 -0500, Metspitzer >
wrote:

> 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."

We have one of these stores along with several of the original type
models... I still haven't gone inside the little one. Looks like any
other upscale corner grocery store. Can't imagine what it would have
that I'd want to hunt for a parking space just to look around inside.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

Metspitzer wrote:
>
> 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.

Their old business model is suffering in the current
recession, so they are trying Trader Joe's model.
The problem with this is they're carrying the baggage
of the old model. A smarter move would have been to
use a new name for the stores in the new model, so
people wouldn't think of the high prices for small
portions of overpackaged food. Instead, they're
cheapening the high-end name while hobbling the
venture into mid-range stores.

On Feb 16, 10:58*am, Mark Thorson > wrote:
> Metspitzer wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> Their old business model is suffering in the current
> recession, so they are trying Trader Joe's model.
> The problem with this is they're carrying the baggage
> of the old model. *A smarter move would have been to
> use a new name for the stores in the new model, so
> people wouldn't think of the high prices for small
> portions of overpackaged food. *Instead, they're
> cheapening the high-end name while hobbling the
> venture into mid-range stores.

You beat me to it......I was going to reply that they are emulating
Trader Joe's.....

"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.

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Metspitzer wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>
> Their old business model is suffering in the current
> recession, so they are trying Trader Joe's model.
> The problem with this is they're carrying the baggage
> of the old model. A smarter move would have been to
> use a new name for the stores in the new model, so
> people wouldn't think of the high prices for small
> portions of overpackaged food. Instead, they're
> cheapening the high-end name while hobbling the
> venture into mid-range stores.

I think the problem in this area is that customers demand organic foods. So
all of the stores are selling them now.