Hole in the wallet sounds about right. I was in one Whole Foods store shopping for a brand of oil that I particularly liked, and asked what had happened to it because it was no longer on the shelf. The answer I was given by the department manager was that their supplier was no longer willing to allow them a 60% markup on the product by cutting their wholesale price, so of course it had to go.

Whole Foods is as predatory and destructive of their environment, in their own unique way, as Wal-Mart and other mega-corporations, squeezing their suppliers to the point of bankruptcy on one end and squeezing their customers with inflated prices on the other.

Hole in the wallet sounds about right. I was in one store shopping for a brand of oil that I particularly liked, and asked what had happened to it because it was no longer on the shelf. The answer I was given by the department manager was that their supplier was no longer willing to allow them a 60% markup on the product by cutting their wholesale price, so of course it had to go.

Whole Foods is as predatory and destructive of their environment, in their own unique way, as Wal-Mart and other mega-corporations, squeezing their suppliers to the point of bankruptcy on one end and squeezing their customers with inflated prices on the other.

Where I come from we call it "Whole Paycheck".

Supporting local farmers and eating local and in-season food are two of the most sustainable, healthy and politically powerful things you can do right now. Bon appetit!

(btw: Mackey won't be disciplined or fired, Derrick. He founded and owns the company.)

As a WFM employee, I'm not a bit naive about the corporation for which I work. I call it 'the Borg of Natural Foods' and tell people that resistance is futile.

It's futile because, amazingly to me, many of the customers I talk to have come a long way to shop there, and are waiting with bated breath for a WFM to open in their home town.

It doesn't surprise me at all to learn what sort of nastiness John Mackey was up to regarding Wild Oats. When a privately-owned natural foods store with a location in another part of the state opened a second store in a town near us, the WFM used WallMart tactics to put it under, including selling many popular items below wholesale cost.

I protested this to my supervisor and the store manager, and they were both deeply troubled by it, but it was a regional decision. I didn't even try to explain this 'great value' to the customers. I'd just say that I wasn't a big fan of capitalism, but I liked corporatism much less, and let them do the math.

Glad Macky got caught. He's so careful about his PR, the irony is sweet. He's a laughingstock, as he should be. It'll be fun to watch how much he'll spend to re-invent himself, like Firestone and Perrier.

Sheesh

Yes -- "Whole paycheck here in NJ, as well" --

I used to shop at WF once a week, spending more than $100 -- but the dissatisfactions have just grown so high that I now shop there about once every two weeks or less. In other words, I'm spending 50% of what I used to spend in their store and looking for ways to spend even less.

Just shopped there today and the "summer salads" -- all three of them which I wanted for quick meals -- potato/macaroni/cole slaw -- are inferior; aged tasting, especially with old carrots. THOUGH the dates indicate they could be sold three days from now. For the first time, I bought a piece of grilled salmon for my husband and did not think it was as fresh as usual. As a VEGAN, I've depended upon their supply of "Sesame Tofu" which is no longer a regular item for them.

The sample tables were loaded again today with salty chips and the flowers continue to smell like they have been held hostage in some trailer for weeks.

And many other problems with the store which suggest to me that I'm probably shopping in WF about twice as often as I should be!!

I am not sure why all want to vilify Whole Foods and McKay. I wholeheartedly agree that buying local foods, particularly when purchased directly from farms or at farmers markets is the best way to go. But, as much as I would love to see it flourish, this is a fringe, a small drop in the bucket of all the foods we purchase. We badly need alternatives to Safeways and other supermarkets. We need structures that can bring better, real foods to urban people. Whole Foods has been such attempt. Is their food expensive? Sure it is but a lot of people have a lot of money so why not spend it on food, if they wish so. Is it better than Safeway and the rest? Sure it is, even when a lot of arguments against it can be true.

They still do buy local or regional foods and thus support local farmers better than other chains. They started the Animal Compassion Foundation and work on developing animal welfare standards that could become a standards for the industry. By saying what they support they expose practices of the main food system. We need that badly.

I don't really understand why is there such negativity about their company? I know that people are dreaming about having all great fresh organic foods in the middle of Manhattan, 24 hours a day and not too expensive. Keep dreaming. Prices you pay at the farmer markets most likely cannot sustain farmers who must also do all the other tasks of the food chain, including marketing. A good start to changing our minds is to realize that a cheap food is damaging myth.

Are Whole Foods meet our hopes? Most likely not. But would we be better off without Whole Foods?

I am also not trying to defend McKay for what he did. Sure, we can put him in the same cell as Conrad Black and other corporate criminals. Let's keep his crimes at some proportions to what is going on in the corporate world.

I grew up on my grandfather's 70 acre farm in southeastern Pennsyvania. Almost everything we ate was grown, harvested and "put up" on that farm, including meat (chickens, goats, beef, guiney fowl, turkeys, geese), vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts, milk, eggs, butter - you name it, we raised or grew it. We had a cold water hand pump in the kitchen along with a wood stove, a springhouse down the hill behind the house to keep our perishable foods cool, a heating oil stove in the living room, electricity in a very limited way, no telephone, horses to plow and tend our fields, a kerosene lantern to light the barn when we did our milking, a wood pile, a two-hole latrene beside the house and a chamber pot in the bedroom. And you know what, it was great! About all my grandparents ever needed money for was for tools and the cloth and batting (when she didn't have goose down) for the quilts my grandmother made for all of us.

Now we are all being held hostage for everything we need by corporations whose ultimate goal (I know, I was a small-scale CEO before retirement, and even we had our little dreams of conquest) is to control the world for thier own profit. For our own sakes, we better find a way to want less, so we can afford to make choices that foil the plans of those who are succeeding in exploiting us us in the name of greed.

If you can, raise your own food, or buy large quantities in season and can, freeze, dry or otherwise preserve it. If you can't, try to buy direct from local producers as much as possible. Rather than be held hostage by stores like Whole Foods or Wild Oats, ask your other local supermarkets to stock local foods and produce, or the "natural" or "organic" products you now have to buy at the specialty stores. In our area, even WalMart stocks local produce occassionally. Remember, the key to lower prices is vigorous competition. Businesses do notice when customers vote with thier feet and go elsewhere. It is the only real power you and I have in a world run by big business.

We also need to require producers and distributors of foods and goods of all types to show on the packaging where the product was grown and/or produced, and where all of the ingredients or materials in the product came from. I recently spent six months in Australia, and it seemed like almost all of the food products in grocery stores there said they were a "Product of Australia". But when I talked to some of the farmers, I was informed that many if not most of the products came from elsewhere, and perhaps were processed or packaged in Australia, which made them eligible, apparantly, to be called products of Australia. This should not be allowed to happen here. I for one would look first for products grown and processed locally; then I would look for products grown and processed in the U.S., and only if I could not find what I needed that was American in origin would I buy products grown or processed out of the country. Just as America needs to be energy independent, it also needs to be food independent. The more we buy products made or grown locally, direct (as much as possible) from the person who makes or grows them, the less we will have to rely on the mega-corporations or other countries for the essentials we need for a good life. And we will be supporting our own economy, locally, and nationally, making a better life possible for the people in our country who grow and make the things we need.

"Better still, if you do not like the term "boycott," consider yourself part of a movement."

Unless Americans in general start liking the word boycott then they should start liking big oil , big agra(GMOs),big media... because that's what they're going to get.

If you want to know how to like the word boycott then follow the French.

We use the local Co-op in Atlanta, Sevananda to but pretty much all our produce. They do not sell meat, only dairy and eggs, so we use Whole Foods only for meat as it is difficult to get organic/grass fed meats elsewhere. We also use Publx and Kroger who are carrying more and more organic and local foods. Live simply, so that others may simply live.

The so-called organically grown and whole foods chains are no different, really, than any other supermarket chain. Just more expensive.

Grow your own, buy local foods only.

Re 'Hole in the Wallet', I agree, but this is not unique to Whole Foods. At Trader Joe's a while ago I sought a longstanding item and was told by the manager (Captain? -whatever) "They wouldn't meet our price, so they're gone."
The good Trader also seems to intro private label items at one quality level and then edge them down over time, but that is another story!
In Whole Foods' favor, I recently needed to procure the makings for a Salade Nicoise for ten and found everything I needed at a good quality level, not great but good, in the one store .... for a mere $183!! Wine extra.

I haven't been to Whole Foods, but I have tried Wild Oats:
once. I didn't have to make a second visit to know that this enterprise was nothing but a glorified conventional food store; I suspect that Whole Foods is the same.
Those folks that are truly committed to sustainable organic farming and food, both providers and consumers, continue to patronize their local natural/organic food stores, where there is no evidence of big box shenanigans
regarding food sources and food advertising.

There are plenty of other health food stores to support out there. Regardless of what Whole Foods is currently doing, them and Wild Oats have helped support organic standards and spreading the word about keeping access to supplements.

So yes they might be a bit greedy atm but they still do a lot more for their local communities and your access to supplements via education than any conventional grocery stores.

Of course you can't go wrong with farmers markets as long as they are organic growers.

If you want to eat healthy you can get organic grains, legumes and produce. Don't buy expensive meats or proccessed foods, even proccessed health foods. I hear people complain about expensive food as they fill up their shopping cart with frozen foods, meat and other uneccessary foods. You can't go wrong with beans and rice. Not only will you be healthier but it is really, really cheap to eat that way.

Ronald White:

So true! Boycott is not a dirty word. However in order to make it effective, it shouldn't be done alone. We need a site where we can group together to make it work; affect real change.

WFM has morphed into a giant.
In 90 John Mackey spoke to the Co-Op America meeting and made the statement that his mission included shutting down all the co-ops in America. He is a libertarian capitalist at the very worst of that definition.
However, they do some good things at the local level (just yesterday the Santa Fe WFM sponsored a taste of the Santa Fe Farmers' Market event in their parking lot. The local and regional management are generous to our FM (I am on the Board of Directors). Our Farmers' Market is 40 this year and one of the best in the country (for a small city like Santa Fe that is saying a lot.) It is a true Farmers' Market, no reselling allowed and everything has to come from the 15 nothern counties of NM. We just broke ground on a LEED certified building so our vendors and clients can enjoy a year round market. Come vist for the local heritage roasted green and red chile and other varietals.
www.santafefarmersmarket.com
That being said my (and many other experts) opinion is that we should look at our food chain with a critical eye.
Our food choices should be stacked like this
Local Heritage and Organic
Local Heritage
Local
Organic
Heritage
Organic frozen
Remember, if it is organic from China, Chile or Chad is is washed in oil to get to you. When the food chain breaks (and it will) your local farmer will be the only bulwark between you and starvation. Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farm. For a small initial investment you get fresh produce at a discount much of the year. You help the farmer stay away from the banks and will always have an inside track on fresh local (usually organic and heritage) produce.
Most local farmers, if they are not organic, use very little chemicals to control pests, they can't afford them (mixed blessing.) They use an Integrated Pest Management System which includes a lot of manual labor.
According to the EPA, 90-95% of all pesticide residues are found in meat and dairy products. Conventional animal feed is among the most heavily sprayed crops. Toxins, Which include pesticides and drug residues, concentrate in animal fat. Only meats labeled Certified Organic are pesticide, herbicide and drug free. This is the same phenomenon we see in the top of the sea food chain.
Good eatin' everyone.
Remember, the farmer is the man (and woman) who feeds us all.