Kroger? They are huge. The us govt barely allowed wfm to buy Lil wild oats a few years back. They'd freak over that merger for sure
I love wfm but where are the differentiators anymore? Even craptacular Aldi is making the wfm-style natural standard pledge. And Walmart sells kombucha. Walmart?? I can't believe it. Walmart even sells the same mangos (champagne) that wfm used to exclusively distribute and sells them for .50 each every day vs wfm 4/$5 when on sale. The mangos are incredible and from the same farms in Chiapas Mexico. Now Walmart sells them for .50. Why would you buy the SAME Mango for 1.25 on sale only from wfm? Wfm sells them for $1.50 each off sale. My point is that competitors find what is unique about wfm. Rob the differentiator
Wfm could squeak out that extra 1-2% margin markup cuz they had items that no conventional grocer cared about except the co-op world. Like kombucha. Cold-pressed EVOO Expanded vegan/veg offerings, fancy cheese dept, Scottish sourced salmon and extremely fresh seafoods and dry-aged meats, great bulk foods, fresh cut fruit case, unbleached/unbromated flour breads, all natural body care (incredible margin here) the list goes on. But everyone does this stuff now!
Whole Foods is excellent with retail and merchandizing standards. But grocers have copied all of their moves. In western pa and oh giant eagle has made bank on simply building wfm-looking stores named market district. These beast mode grocery stores have all the things wfm started. Like the wood fired grills. Great seafood and prep foods. Organics, performance kitchens, community outreach, yada yada Everyone sells the fage yogurt now for instance. Wfm doesn't have exclusive deals that are significant standouts. For instance they used to be the only retailer that exclusively started with extremely aged parmigiana reggiano wheels as a store standard. Competitors do the same now.
Wfm is great but they lost the edge cuz you can't copyright these things. Trader Joe's goes wherever they open and erodes their prep food and bulk opportunities. And regional grocers all over the country go into the stores and price match and copycat everything.
When they announced the 365 chain stores I didn't like it. To me it marked an act of desperation from a old tired management team. The innovator was now the copycat. Let's do what aldi and Trader Joe's is doing. I don't like that implication one bit
Also team member benefits are weaker now then 10 years ago where wfm could do no wrong. I am really worried about union penetration into the stores with challenged morale after the layoffs and for some questionable job security.
I just see the regional management across the wfm regions scrambling to find the differentials. And they aren't as visible as a decade ago leaving me rather neutral about the company's growth.
Opening new stores are outrageously expensive as well as operating their regional headquarters
Maybe wfm should merge with unfi so they could stick it to competitors who rely on unfi deliveries for inventory
I really hope wfm breaks out. Love shopping there but it acts way more like a conventional operation than the conscious capitalist of Mackey's dream
AI
