(AlishaV)
There are certain assumptions we make in this world: The sun rises in the east; the Cubs will never win the World Series again; and Whole Foods is an expensive place to shop. But don’t tell that to the grocery chain’s CEO John Mackey, who says that only .1% of the products he sells are pricier than you’ll find elsewhere.
Speaking to USA Today, Mackey tries to downplay Whole Foods’ image as an expensive place to feed your family:
On like items, Whole Foods is very competitive…. We have 30,000 items, and you can probably find 30 on which we’re more expensive. Look at our 365 private-label line, which we price against Trader Joe’s. We match their prices. But you can’t always be cheapest if you have the highest quality.
Considering that, as recently as April, Whole Foods was found to be 14% more expensive than most other grocery stores, we find it hard to believe that customers are paying more on only one out of every 1,000 items there.
Now here is your chance to publicly stick it to the CEO of Whole Foods. If any of you are up to the challenge, we’d love to see just how many products sold at Whole Foods you can find cheaper elsewhere. We have a hunch it’s slightly higher than 30.
If you decide to comparison shop at Whole Foods, send us your results at tips@consumerist.com
Whole Foods CEO: Healthy food is affordable necessity [USA Today]
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i would agree that their items are more expensive, but aren’t they all/mostly organic ?
if thats the case, they’re pretty on par with other store’s organic offerings i think
No Whole “Price” food, no “hype” Trader Joes here. We have what we call Gardens in Alabama, Beat that Price Whole/Joes!
I don’t think it’s fair to assume that Mackey is lying.
If we assume that, on average Whole Foods products cost 14% more than other supermarkets but we also assume that only 30 out of 30,000 products are actually more expensive, these two statement can be easily resolved.
To be generous, let’s assume that the other 29,970 products cost the same price as other supermarkets.
If X is the % markup on those 30 products we have:
30 * X% + 29,970 * 100% = 30,000 * 114%
When we solve for X, we get 14100%.
So, you see, all Mackey is saying is that they only have 30 products which are more expensive than other supermarkets and that those 30 products average at around 141 times the cost of the same products at other supermarkets.
Perhaps these are super-luxury items such as a $70 can of soda or a $400 gallon of milk.
I’m more than up for calling a CEO out on his bullshit. I’ll buy a bill of groceries at HEB here in Austin, and then I’ll go buy the EXACT same bill of groceries at Whole Paycheck foods. And don’t get me started on how all their stuff is organic. Penn & Teller: Bullshit already have made some VERY compelling arguments against Organic foods and how they’re not really better.
I also forgot to mention that maybe Whole Foods would shed that more expensive image if they didn’t build all their stores in the more affluent parts of a city. Here in Austin the 2 Whole foods stores I’ve driven by are in affluent parts of town. The 183/Arboretum area and right in the middle of downtown (And downtown Austin is quite upscale thanks to the Capitol.)
In Manhattan, Whole Foods is a bargain (seriously). Everything from milk and yogurt to fruit and baked goods is cheaper than in other grocery stores. I know that’s probably more of a reflection on the other stores than WF, but at least I never feel any guilt for shopping there — and the food is much fresher to boot.
I would love to take this on comparing them with Harris Teeter. Even if you went with only the HT Traders label of products to compare with Whole Foods, I bet HT would come out on top. If you compared the same items, the organics, the whole nine yards, I would still bet good money that you’d save a lot shopping at Harris Teeter instead.
Assuming you were in the small geographical area that HT serves. Which is the only drawback I can see.
It’s not so much the extra cost of shopping at Whole Foods, it’s the condesending attitude of the workers that’s such a turn off. That and all the Hope and Change decals in the parking lot.
Whole foods sell BS at a high price to food snobs. The Higher the price the better the snobs like it.
LPOS.
That Whole Foods CEO is a total liability. I haven’t stepped into a Whole Foods in about a year now solely because of his bs…and we were some of their stupidest customers spending dollar after dollar on their overpriced items. I appreciate his helping to snap me out of the Whole Foods fog.