Sunday, June 24, 2007

Whole Foods roundup

Back from vacation. Time to catch up on the Whole Foods beat:
  • I hope you enjoyed the Observer article "Fighting for 1st Whole Foods" on June 9. In it, a UNCC marketing professor agreed with me that the SouthPark location makes more sense for Whole Foods's first foray into Charlotte, but was more hopeful about letter-writing campaigns than I was. A Whole Foods spokesman said the company plans to answer every email. So let's hear it: Who emailed Whole Foods? If not, why not? Did you get a reply? What did they say? Comments please!
  • Meanwhile, let's hope that when Whole Foods does come to Elizabeth, they adopt the single-line, bank-style (registration required) of check-out "queue management." "By 7 p.m. on a weeknight, the lines at each of the four Whole Foods stores in Manhattan can be 50 deep, but they zip along faster than most lines with 10 shoppers," the New York Times reports. We may be more gracious than some New Yorkers when it comes to waiting in line, but that doesn't mean we have to like it. If only our own Harris Teeter had room for such an improvement.

7 comments:

Beth Haenni said...

I have heard from literally hundreds of people who have emailed Whole Foods, and NO ONE has heard back from them. Hopefully, their on-site customer service would be better!

Anonymous said...

John:

What you want in the way of check out is the OPTICAL self-scan check-out lanes. Unlike the flaky by-weight self-check out units at Teeter and elsewhere, the Whole foods units have an optical post-scan belt that makes sure you don't sneak something out you didn't scan.

Oh, and Whole Foods NEVER replies to "bring a store here" campaigns.

John McBride said...

The optical self-scan sounds good. I hope I see one in a Whole Foods in my neighborhood soon. As far as not replying, a Whole Foods official was quoted in the Charlotte Observer as saying they planned to respond to every email. If they don't do it, they shouldn't say they will.

Anonymous said...

Whole Foods is currently looking at another site in the Midtown/Elizabeth area. They have ended all discussions with Grubb Development at this point. Grubb is in negotations with another "boutique gourment" grocery store.

John McBride said...

Please anonymous, more details! Do you know what other sites are being looked at? Do you know who Grubb is negotiating with?

Anonymous said...

I emailed Whole Foods also and never got a response. Bad PR..what's Fresh Market up to these days?

Anonymous said...

Whole Foods is officially passing on the Midtown/Elizabeth trade area. They were so upset with the way Grubb handled everything that they are moving on to other trade areas. Fresh Market is deep in negotiations with Grubb on Elizabeth Avenue