Whole Foods, an Austin-Based Store with Over 400 Locations in the U.S. and U.K. - Being Purchased by Amazon for $13.7 Billion

[The Hersch]

That's it in a nutshell, really (in a clamshell?) I really didn't need a pound of mace. And freezing it in a ziplock will only make it so far. Freezer burn is yuuuuck. But the price was too good to pass up.

And yes, they do package beans and rice and powdered soup mix that way, not to mention trail mix and crunchy snacks and dried mushrooms and dried fruit and nuts and anything else dry you can think of. Wasabi peas. I could go on.

Oh heavens. It's worse than I imagined. How can we stop this madness? Can't we make the case that anyone who would package beans and rice and spices and crunchy snacks like this obviously Hates America? And even if I live to be a hundred and three, I cannot possibly use a pound of mace in my lifetime.

[Heather]

And even if I live to be a hundred and three, I cannot possibly use a pound of mace in my lifetime.

How about a pound of cream of tartar?

It's stupid packaging, to be sure, but I don't think it goes so far as to be anti-American.

[chickenlover]

I have twice purchased rancid cashews in the clam shell packaging. But in WF's defense, they could have been rancid when they went into the packaging. Seriously, I've had it with that place. I live 4 blocks away from the WF on P St., and I'm going to start driving to Virginia to do my grocery shopping.

[dcdavidm]

New seafood counter at Tenleytown Whole Foods opened overnight. Can't vouch for the quality, but the fresh selections are wide and nicely displayed. They also have a large frozen seafood display, with vacuum-packed seafood similar to that at Trader Joe's, and a seafood soup and salad station. Typically, administration hasn't caught up with the new department -- I packaged some calamari salad for lunch but it wasn't yet in the checkout computer, so they couldn't charge me; that won't last long!

[TinDC]

The Georgetown Whole Foods just added expanded salad bars and a hot food bar just like the ones that recently opened in Tenleytown.

[The Hersch]

The Georgetown Whole Foods just added expanded salad bars and a hot food bar just like the ones that recently opened in Tenleytown.

Whole Foods may like to pretend that they have a store in Georgetown, but their store is in Glover Park. As to the changes, what did they eliminate or shrink to make room for all that ready-made crap? (I haven't been in a week or two.)

[TinDC]

I know, I just refer to it as the Georgetown Whole Foods because everyone else does .

The three new bars are currently in the same location as the old salad bar, which is now a wider space.

[JLK]

I was glad to see that addition at Glover when I was in the store yesterday afternoon, however it lacked the variety I have found at Tenley. Ended up at Tenley today to get some of my beloved quinoa and also the curried couscous. Quinoa a la Ranchero wasn't available (drat!) so I got lemon couscous instead. I have my own packaging issue with WF in that the salads and other prepared foods that are small (say quinoa) get stuck in the ridges. You can easily lose a quarter of your stuff in those darn ridges so I have started using the small soup containers instead.

[Anna Blume]

Good news!

The Georgetown/Glover Park store (several doors up from a good canning supplier, thanks everyone!) has started to carry Valrhona cocoa again. Elizabeth, the head of the Cheese/Etc. team, said it took a while to find a distributor. It's on sale for the month at $14.99 a lb. in WF containers of various sizes.

[TinDC]

It looks like the Glover Park store is getting a pizza oven like Tenleytown. It was up when I was there today but not yet cooking.

Does anyone know if they are going to reopen the Jamba Juice at the front of the store?

[jiveturk21]

While I constantly curse the day that I moved out to the suburbs, I at least have the new Whole Foods in Fair Lakes to be thankful for. It has been open for a bit less than a month now and I can say that I have already been there five or six times to eat, which is what happens when you tell your friends that you like it and they ask you to come along with them.

The size is obviously a selling point for me, lots more space means they get to carry a lot more products, which I appreciate. The "restaurants" that they have there are good as well. The barbeque joint is just OK, but the amount of food that you get when you order "The Kitchen Sink" is absurd for the $13 price tag. But, since I tend to shy away from above average food, even for a good price, I have eaten most often at the seafood place that they have. A Tilapia BLT on Texas Toast with Fries is well worth the $8. I also have had pretty good food at the Asian grill that they have there.

Anyway, I could go on for a long time about this place, but I will talk about the highlight and the lowlight. Highlight first...

The wine tasting room upstairs is just plain cool. The fact that you can taste from a $600 bottle of wine if you want to is awesome. The fact that you can get 1, 3 or 5 ounce pours is great as well. And the variety, between 70 and 80 bottles, is a nice treat. Personally, I have been to no place quite like this, so it is nice to have around, even if you can drop $50 there on an evening in a blink of an eye.

Now, the lowlight of the new Whole Foods...

It looks like the Italian "restaurant" that they have at the store is the featured eating venue in the place. It is somewhat separated from the rest of the hustle and bustle of the store and has much more seating for everyone. I haven't eaten there yet, but the menu has looked very creative for a "restaurant" in Whole Foods (think pumpkin ravioli and ricotta gnocchi). Anyway, we went last night to try to Italian place and the menu was half the size it used to be with pizza being the highlight along with a few sandwiches (meatball sub, etc.) and some basic pastas (spaghetti with meatballs). In my state of confusion I asked the lady that worked there about the new, smaller and less creative menu and she told me that they wanted to simplify it because those cooler, more creative and more tasty items weren't selling at all. How? Don't ask me, but I guess that is the upside (bigger space to build a cool store) and downside (plain vanilla customers) of being in the suburbs.

Overall, the place is great though, may be a fun day trip for city dwellers to make at some point.

[Anna Blume]

Caveat Emptor: The new cases at Georgetown/Glover Park seem to be creating problems in virtually every department in peripheries of store. Other than the prepared-foods section, cheeses seem to have been affected the most yesterday afternoon. Much scrambling to put all on ice.

[Al Dente]

Big News in Whole Foods land today:

Wild Oats Acquired

[DLB]

Big News in Whole Foods land today:

Wild Oats Acquired

I hope they don't get too big, as the quality is sure to suffer.... it may already be too late.

[johnb]

I hope they don't get too big, as the quality is sure to suffer.... it may already be too late.

They have always grown by acquisition, including Fresh Fields and Bread & Circus both of which had locations around the DC area (old timers like me still mark themselves by referring to "Fresh Fields").

This may be WF's last big acquisition since they have now eaten everybody else up and there is no one left to buy of meaningful size with a similar business model. But they too have to change their model anyway (and being bigger might help the transition). They have already attracted all the over-monied yuppie types as customers and they are not attracting new customers from other demographics, which they now must do to keep growing. Furthermore, everybody else (Wal-mart, Safeway, Kroger, etc etc etc) is now getting into their niche, so-called natural foods, but at markedly lower prices with more convenience since the other chains also carry all the staples that most people mostly buy. Hence, look for big changes in WF in the next year or two. Specifically, more realistic pricing, and a broader product line.

I'll even go further and predict (greater than 50-50 chance) that WF itself will be bought by somebody within two years. The impact that might have on the stores/business model will depend on the type of buyer. If it's an investment group, probably not so much. If it were somebody like Albertsons or Ahold (think about that), different story, although any buyer will keep the same format in general since that's where the value is in the first place.

Dean, what sayest thee?

[deangold]

I personally don't see what it offers them. A huge number of their stores will need to be 86'd. They have an even less customer service and less knowlegable team member base than does WFM. The shopping experience at WFM has gone down hill steadily over the last years with few knowing anything about the product they sell (just try to find out if they have somehting in stock by phoning a store. I think WFM would do better shoring up their internal problems before taking on something of this nature. But the street loved it (stock up 5% on overnights) so maybe that is the reasoning. In any case, WFM feels to be to be moving into an endgame where they will be acquired. I still shop there but I dont like the experience and I feel as if I have no other options. Not a good reason to shop there.

[hungry prof]

It looks like the Glover Park store is getting a pizza oven like Tenleytown. It was up when I was there today but not yet cooking.

Does anyone know if they are going to reopen the Jamba Juice at the front of the store?

I was in last night, and there was an employee manning the operational pizza oven. Behind him, I could see one lone pizza in the oven that looked like it had way too many toppings on it (like the type of pizza you imagine a five-year old constructing at some sort of do-it-yourself pizza birthday party). There were no pizzas available for purchase, so perhaps he was in training.

As for Jamba Juice, my understanding from a previous discussion here, I believe, is that WFM and Jamba Juice have severed their relationship nationally, so Jamba Juice will not be returning.

At one point, I looked at the plans for the Glover Park WFM, and I believe that front space is going to be allocated for some of the non-edible merchandise that WFM has gotten into--cosmetics, greeting cards, and even clothing (I have a friend who works in corporate at American Apparel, and apparently WFM and American Apparel have been working on a marketing relationship for WFM to sell American Apparel's "environmentally-friendly, worker-friendly" t-shirts. I heard that awhile ago, so I'm not sure whatever became of it).

[The Hersch]

I was in last night, and there was an employee manning the operational pizza oven. Behind him, I could see one lone pizza in the oven that looked like it had way too many toppings on it (like the type of pizza you imagine a five-year old constructing at some sort of do-it-yourself pizza birthday party). There were no pizzas available for purchase, so perhaps he was in training.

I was last at the Glover Park WFM on (I'm pretty sure) Sunday, February 11, mid-day, and the pizza operation appeared to be in full swing back then, with a couple of employees and an array of (presumably growing cold) already-baked pizzas on display. I don't really understand the concept of not-baked-to-order pizza.

Now that I think about it for a minute, I may be remembering this from the Tenleytown store. For whatever reason, I visited both that weekend. Well, regardless, I still don't get the concept of not-baked-to-order pizza.

[cheezepowder]

As for Jamba Juice, my understanding from a previous discussion here, I believe, is that WFM and Jamba Juice have severed their relationship nationally, so Jamba Juice will not be returning.

There's a sign at the Jamba Juice in the Clarendon Whole Foods that Jamba Juice is closing for good on March 5. The sign also said there's new food and wine stuff coming in its place this summer (guess we're getting a pizza oven too?)

[DLB]

Great Piece from the Times today. I know that the Whole Foods on Duke is always understocked on Saturdays at 11am. I first discovered Whole Foods when I lived in Durham, NC, and I loved the small feel of that store. Although I still love shopping at Whole Foods, the level ofservice is not there anymore. It's become the Home Depot of the food world, as most of the staff knows very little about the products. Just about every week a cashier will ask me to identify an item from the produce section. I find that that staff at my local Trader Joe's is much more helpful and knowledgeable about their products. There is something to be said about going public and getting too big too fast.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/dining/2...amp;oref=slogin

[silentbob]

As for Jamba Juice, my understanding from a previous discussion here, I believe, is that WFM and Jamba Juice have severed their relationship nationally, so Jamba Juice will not be returning.

I assume that the Jamba Juice in the Whole Foods Silver Spring will be closing as well. Bummer. I was looking forward to ordering from the secret menu, which was unknown to me until someone posted about it in another thread.

There are no "standalone" JJs in the DC area to the best of my knowledge. I wonder what will happen next.

[gizydorczyk]

I assume that the Jamba Juice in the Whole Foods Silver Spring will be closing as well. Bummer. I was looking forward to ordering from the secret menu, which was unknown to me until someone posted about it in another thread.

There are no "standalone" JJs in the DC area to the best of my knowledge. I wonder what will happen next.

There is one on the campus of GWU.

[giant shrimp]

Great Piece from the Times today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/dining/2...amp;oref=slogin

spot reports from p street: i bought some smoked salmon on p street recently that was a week past the sell-by date, without disastrous consequences. wouldn't you know that on a night when you're really craving a sprout sandwich, only onion sprouts are available. on monday this week, green and yellow beans were converging toward the same color: brown. parmesan wedges have been getting small. the marcona almonds now have their skins on, which makes me glad to be able to get away from the excess sunflower oil. rustichella d'abruzzo pasta is on the lowest shelf, almost on the floor, and it almost looked like it was being phased out until boxed penne arrived this week, $1 more than the same product in a brown bag. they have temporarily run out of their brand of 160-capsule st. john's wart, my favorite placebo (so much for sustainability), and i have stopped hoping for a return of the three-pecker coffee, which disappeared before christmas. there was a nice baby pecorino at the cheese counter this week i hadn't seen before, and they have been bringing in some new wines. there is rarely, if ever, any really good bread in the store, so i just make so-so suffice, although half baking is all too common here and you may feel like rolling the whole thing up into a ball of dough.

[silentbob]

There is [a Jamba Juice] on the campus of GWU.

Excellent, good to know.

I still hope that more standalone joints open after the Whole Foods closings, though.

[JLK]

The front of the Glover Park store looks like vitamins, supplements and other things for which I have no use. I didn't have any use for Jamba either. <shrugs>

Post-renovation, I have a strong preference for the Tenley store. I don't like that Glover has the prepared food area up front where it's chaos with the checkout aisles. The selection also does not seem as comprehensive as at Tenley. At prime time this weekend, the pizza area was doing brisk business.

[JLK]

I just realized that Whole Foods carries lupini in harissa (similar to that offered at the bar at Dino) at the olive bar for $8.99. My favorite snack!

[Meaghan]

I'm gonna tell you something, but don't you dare tell a soul. Can I count on you?

Promise.

Yeah?

Cross my heart and hope to die.

Okay, Well you know the Whole Foods deli, salad bar, sushi, pre-packaged stuff, you know that stuff? I'm talking about the egg salad, the meatballs, the $19.99/lb salmon special, the fried brown rice, the fireworks slaw, the chicken salad, the mushroom risotto balls, the crab cakes, the bowtie bullshit pasta, the collard greens, the mashed potatoes, the brown rice avocado roll et al, the tomato bisque, the hot bar with the willowing cod, and sorry broccoli that wishes it was uncooked and still wearing that purple rubber band, the funky fennel salad, the Israeli couscous....You know that stuff?

Yes, yes. What do you want from me??

I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you know how vile it is. Do it now.

I can't!

Yes, you can. I said now!

Please don't make me do it. Please, no

[Ilaine]

I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you know how vile it is. Do it now.

I'll bite.

Not vile, per se, but corporate, and without soul.

[giant shrimp]

I just realized that Whole Foods carries lupini in harissa (similar to that offered at the bar at Dino) at the olive bar for $8.99. My favorite snack!

they had vanished last night from the usual spot at the p street location. i didn't think of asking where they have gone or when they are coming back, even when i was asked at the checkout register if i had found everything i was looking for.

[giant shrimp]

The front of the Glover Park store looks like vitamins, supplements and other things for which I have no use. I didn't have any use for Jamba either. <shrugs>

the front of the glover park store makes absolutely no sense. it feels disconnected from the rest of the store and saturday night i avoided going in there. with the old layout, i wouldn't have left the premises without some impulse shopping for items such as chalky indian toothpaste, hair repair lotions, small bottles of homeopathic remedies and baby soap. the prepared foods section has been given much more space, but is still not expansive enough to avoid some of the zombies negotiating the steaming bars and counters. (you should not ask them to look you in the eye.) the wine selection here has become erratic and many of the bottles are quite expensive. it just doesn't seem to be the right kind of place to be spending $60 for a bottle of wine you know nothing about. (out on the shelf for valentine's day there was pink champagne costing more than $200 a bottle; it went fast, maybe because it was that good or maybe because it should have been locked up.) i did find a nice $5 or $6 bag of rj's natural licorice from new zealand recently. it's a soft chew, if that's what you're looking for.

[Heather]

I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you know how vile it is. Do it now.

Everything is underseasoned, except the tuna salad which is loaded with onions to the point of being very unpleasant. The sushi has taken a definite turn for the worse.

[JLK]

Yesterday, WF at Tenleytown: no lupini on the olive bar or anywhere else I looked.

[JLK]

Today's lunch: white bean soup from Whole Foods. It was fine. Nothing special. Oddly, it had very few intact beans so the soup seemed more like tomato/celery/onion soup with a few white beans. I have had better and worse. In the worse category: WF's corn and wild rice soup I picked up recently. I love rice and I love corn, but this soup was distasteful enough that I wondered if it had spoiled (the date on the container was weeks away) or was just screwed up - majorly - at some point during the cooking.

Time to start cooking for myself for lunch again once this wave of biz travel passes.

[cucas87]

I read today that Whole Foods will work with a Chicago-based charity to make loans to Chicago-area farmers.

(Note: the excerpt below is from the Chronicle of Philanthropy)

"Whole Foods Market, the Austin, Tex., grocery chain, is collaborating with Sustain, a Chicago nonprofit group, in offering loans to family farmers and artisanal producers as a way to boost the number of locally grown sources of organic foods to its Midwestern stores, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Whole Foods has pledged to lend up to $10-million to farmers across the country who want to expand their production or move into the organic foods niche. Sustain, which promotes organic and sustainable agriculture, will administer the loan program in the Midwest on behalf of Whole Foods.

Loans are limited to a maximum of $50,000, and interest rates in the program stand at about 5 percent to 9 percent, which the company says are lower than the rates commercial banks would charge small farmers. Loan life may range from a few months to 10 years."

[Al Dente]

I read today that Whole Foods will work with a Chicago-based charity to make loans to Chicago-area farmers.

The same thing is happening in the Mid Atlantic area.

[Anna Blume]

The same thing is happening in the Mid Atlantic area.

I applaud the company's decision to help small, independent farms even though the current practice of using the distribution center-model of traditional chain supermarkets prevents Whole Foods from restoring the kinds of Backdoor policies that once allowed such farmers to do business with individual stores.

However, I heard the farmers are being charged either 7 or 8 percent, to be paid back within the year.

One local farmer ended up putting what he planned to build on a credit card that gave him a better deal.

[Anna Blume]

On a more gracious note: For some time now, Whole Foods has been carrying ricotta, and eventually mozzarella from Blue Ridge Dairy, a local, independent dairy that sells at the FreshFarm Market, too.

Since I do most of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods except at the height of the growing season, I was browsing the dairy case near the cheese department in the Georgetown store this weekend. I noticed that the offerings from Blue Ridge have expanded to include their yogurt. What struck me, though, was the fact that the store raised the price.

Whole Foods used to charge one dollar less for ricotta than what the dairy asked directly from shoppers at the farmers's market. Now it asks 49 cents more. While most shoppers probably don't notice or wouldn't care, it's a nice gesture: an incentive for "deal-hunters" to bother to buy directly from the vender and maybe pick up a few other items at the market as long as they made the trip.

[Al Dente]

However, I heard the farmers are being charged either 7 or 8 percent, to be paid back within the year.

Actual, not "I heard", overview of the loan terms.

[brr]

London prepares for Whole Foods

interesting article!

[Anna Blume]

Actual, not "I heard", overview of the loan terms.

A.D.: I am protecting the identities of two people. Nonetheless, thank you for sharing the information.

[JLK]

Today I bought my favorite item on the cold food bar, quinoa a la ranchera. I put it in a medium sized soup cup because the little grains (and I know it's not really a grain; I'm using it like grain of sand ) Holy crap--it rang up as $6.50!! I'm probably better off letting the checker think it's soup.

[Heather]

However, I heard the farmers are being charged either 7 or 8 percent, to be paid back within the year.

One local farmer ended up putting what he planned to build on a credit card that gave him a better deal.

He got better than 7 or 8% on a credit card? Good for him. I note that the document Mike linked to says nothing about paying back within a year.

On a more personal note...nearly every product in Whole Foods contains sea salt (which I can't have right now). Very aggravating.

[Anna Blume]

The P St. store keeps getting negative comments here, though I was really pleased when I returned to the location for the first time in months. The variety in the bulk section is good. The unsweetened dried mango slices that Trader Joe's runs out of all the time were there and since you can pick and choose what you bag, the quality is superior. At $11 a pound, the price is better, too, since TJ charges $4 or $5 for 4 oz.

[giant shrimp]

The P St. store keeps getting negative comments here.

in the spirit of accentuating the positive, p street is the place to go for tibetan goji berries. plain, they are an acquired taste but will make you feel pure. they are also available dipped.

[Anna Blume]

I need chicken wings, tips and all, which I used to count on finding at a lower price than trimmed Buffalo Wings at Whole Foods. $1.59 or $1.69--bettter on sale--vs. $2.19 or more.

The last time I was planning on making stock, a team member in the Meat Department of the Glover Park/Georgetown store told me they never carried them.

Does anyone know if this is across the board at all the WF stores in town?

[deangold]

I need chicken wings, tips and all, which I used to count on finding at a lower price than trimmed Buffalo Wings at Whole Foods. $1.59 or $1.69--bettter on sale--vs. $2.19 or more.

The last time I was planning on making stock, a team member in the Meat Department of the Glover Park/Georgetown store told me they never carried them.

Does anyone know if this is across the board at all the WF stores in town?

I don't ever recall carrying them while I was at WFM. They could probabbly special order a 50# case for you...

I got the world's worst dates there, for a lot of money too. We needed ppitted dates and every package ahd many dates with pits, and the dates were dried out. The ones I got next door from Brookville, cheaper and also all naturral, were much better.

[xcanuck]

I got the world's worst dates there, for a lot of money too.

Does Kay know about this??

Sorry Dean - I read that line and the first thing that popped into my head was a vision of you hitting on the checkout gals!!

As for untrimmed chicken wings, wouldn't the Asian markets be the place to go for that stuff? I'm sure they're plenty fresh and dirt cheap.

[porcupine]

I need chicken wings, tips and all, which I used to count on finding at a lower price than trimmed Buffalo Wings at Whole Foods. $1.59 or $1.69--bettter on sale--vs. $2.19 or more.

The last time I was planning on making stock, a team member in the Meat Department of the Glover Park/Georgetown store told me they never carried them.

Does anyone know if this is across the board at all the WF stores in town?

They seem to be available around Thanksgiving time at Bethesda, Rockville, and Kentlands. Any other time of year I have to special order (usually necks and backs). Rockville won't sell me less than 10 pounds; Bethesda was willing to sell as little as five.

[jparrott]

There are pretty much always necks and backs packaged in the fresh meat case in the WF Fair Lakes. I clean them out whenever I'm there and going straight home. $0.99/lb.

[Anna Blume]

Thanks, everyone for responses!

I'm really more interested in finding wings to supplement legs, unless someone knows where really good birds cost a lot less than parts as was the case back when I was taking dance lessons in the Lansburgh Building and buying silk ribbon and Italian cotton on G Street. I've purchased intact wings at the WF store in Tenleytown for years without placing special orders, and often on sale.

I was also thinking of Asian markets, and I'll have to head out to Rockville again one of these days. When replenishing supplies, I usually pick up seafood, sausage and pork. Here's where we could have a lively discussion and perhaps a new thread: I am not at all concerned about freshness or quality of poultry, just about the way the birds have been raised.

Michael Pollan exposed myths about the superiority of free-range birds in Omnivore's Dilemma, noting that the designation applies even when the birds live more or less cooped up in a huge building, spending only a short period at the end of their lives outside. Please feel free to correct me if my synopsis is wrong; I don't own a copy of the book.

Still, given grim tales about chicken farms, I trust Bell & Evans at WFMI more than Perdue, for example. From time to time, I'll shell out more money for organic chickens which I used to buy exclusively. Rumor has it WF is moving in the direction of supplying only organic birds, but we all know that the label "organic" is slippery and I'd rather have someone with a firmer grasp of the facts provide more concrete information.

If someone knows if the principle of humane slaughter in Kosher law also applies to the way Empire's chickens live well before their deaths, enlighten me. There are plenty of supermarkets filled with Empire's birds these days and maybe there are wings, too. I've purchased capon and ducks at Eastern Market before, and could head down there, but prefer to walk for the exercise and not to make too many trips.