It depends on where you live. I'd think there are the quirky local markets all over the country, although proximity to produce can be big deal in terms of price. Even so, a lot of produce and other items aren't always local.
I live near Berkeley. They actually two Whole Foods now. I almost never shop at them because I can't see the value. My preference is a local outlet called Berkeley Bowl, which was named because their original location was in a former bowling alley. They are a local institution. They have an extremely wide range of produce (conventional and organic), bulk items, a cheese counter, regular packaged goods, beer/wine, a bakery, etc. It's kind of like Whole Foods, although a lot less expensive and I feel far less pretentious.
The place I go to seems to get really great deals, even though they only have two markets and wouldn't seem to have the buying power of a lot of supermarkets. However, they also can buy odd-lot specials from wholesalers of limited quanties at special prices, and I don't think that's something that a lot of large retailers could handle. It's not necessarily local produce either. I see good prices on apples from Washington, strawberries from the Salinas Valley, oysters from British Columbia, imported produce from Mexico or Chile, etc. The oddest thing I'd seen was blueberries at a great price. They were labeled for export to Japan. I think it might have been a shipment that couldn't make it too Japan (nothing particular wrong with it), and they were willing to take it. I rather like the grab bag nature of random specials.
I just don't like the idea/assumption that amazon is blazing trails that one day we will buy EVERYTHING online and stores will be obsolete.
Plus the few times I've used amazon was to purchase college textbooks 10+ years ago and EVERY single time, I would get a call from a couple weeks later that card was compromised. It didn't matter if it was a credit card or bank card.
That does sound awesome! But the local places I've been to here are either harder to reach or less comprehensive than Whole Foods. The place that sells odd lot stuff has the packaged stuff but terrible produce.
I've read that the idea is that in the future we should be able to order things like produce online and it will be delivered right to our homes, and maybe even at a reduced cost, since this is part of what Amazon does.
I think it's an odd mix. I don't see how Whole Foods maintains its brand with Bezos at the helm. I go to Amazon for bargains; I don't view WF as a bargain brand. Of course, they're failing while being perceived as being Whole Paycheck, so maybe they need a complete reboot. I don't shop there. A few times with those prices cured me of that.
That does sound awesome! But the local places I've been to here are either harder to reach or less comprehensive than Whole Foods. The place that sells odd lot stuff has the packaged stuff but terrible produce.
I don't think the normal people are saying that. The techies maybe or the tinfoil hats. But most people are well aware that they can't get everything they want on Amazon. I don't know anyone normal who shops solely through Amazon even if they do a lot of their shopping online. Or even anyone who shops one stop shopping in general. I shop at chains like target or fredd Meyer but I certainly don't buy everything in those places unless they're the only game in town. Online shopping (and sears Roebuck before it) has diversified shopping, not put it in the hands of a few places.
My thought is they were trying to expand brick and mortar type places since a lot of what they own is related to digital aspect but who knows. They have their own brick and mortar places they are sorta piloting so I was thinking maybe they want to expand in that way.I'm not quite sure how they fit into Amazon's business model, but they have enough cash that even a total failure could be survived.
I get that Whole Foods may fit well into communities where they may be the best option. However, I live in an area where there are lots of alternatives that cost less, yet Whole Foods seems to do quite well anyways.
Have you ever shopped at a warehouse type store?? Buying in bulk or large packaging is by no means an Amazon only thing.Me too. That's why I was kind of surprised that they put so many restrictions/rules on buying their food items, with needing Amazon Prime and selling in bulk cases or 12-packs. As I mentioned in a previous post, I can get well over a $35 minimum by buying an assortment of items from Walmart & Target instead. And from a YouTube video I saw of Amazon's operations, they have computerized arms & robot machinery plucking out the items people buy and dropping them into boxes. So, it's not like they are spending an hourly wage on a human worker slowly pulling out 4 cans over a 12-pack of the same item.
I think it's an odd mix. I don't see how Whole Foods maintains its brand with Bezos at the helm. I go to Amazon for bargains; I don't view WF as a bargain brand. Of course, they're failing while being perceived as being Whole Paycheck, so maybe they need a complete reboot. I don't shop there. A few times with those prices cured me of that.
Not a fan of it. I am so tired of all these mini monopolys.
I buy plenty of non-food items from Amazon with 100 percent satisfaction. I've been in Whole Foods exactly once, didn't buy anything. What I do think is that the traditional grocery store model is a sitting duck for some sort of disruption. The concept of going to the store/putting items in cart/taking items out of cart to check out/putting items in bags and back in cart to get them to the car/loading items in the car/unpacking car at home...it just seems pretty clunky when we do so many other things with a single mouse click. I totally understand folks who want to choose their own meat & produce, but for most packaged goods I'm guessing a lot of folks buy pretty much the same stuff over & over. I usually enjoy grocery shopping but I'm retired and have a lot of time on my hands. My adult DD hates grocery shopping and can't get out of there fast enough. Pretty sure she'd love to get most things delivered.
The stuff I get from Whole Foods is perfect for a delivery service - rice, veggie chips, cashew butter, etc. I buy produce, booze/wine, meat, most cheese/butter within walking distance - heck if I drank beer I could walk to a place that refills growlers (right word?). The closest proper grocery store is outside of my little enclave, requires driving and is called the "murder Kroger" so everyone in my neighborhood goes to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's (admittedly, we'd be their target demographic). Not having to DRIVE to acquire those will be pretty great. Nashville is pretty weird about how 2 neighborhoods can be lovely - and then the next one is literally the ghetto, so that's a pretty specific thing. The more I think about this, the more stoked I am. If you're owning stock in Amazon, just know that there are plenty of people (like me) who are going to see value in this possible offering. Now - if they could just get their drones to put my groceries away
I don't think that's all that unusual to have a really "nice" neighborhood blocks away from the "hood". That's pretty common in San Francisco. The Tenderloin is a seedy part of San Francisco with homeless, drug dealing, prostitution, etc. Just three blocks away is Nob Hill, which is one of more affluent parts of the city. And a couple of blocks towards downtown are the 4/5 star hotels around Union Square.
The strange thing about the place (Berkeley Bowl) I mentioned is that it's a combination of a local supermarket and a destination market for specialty items. People travel from miles to get there, and there's probably a Whole Foods closer to home. It's also in one of the less affluent areas in town, near the border with Oakland. They get a mix that includes people living from paycheck to paycheck, who otherwise would have been shopping at overpriced corner stores. It replaced a Safeway supermarket that suffered from low average purchases per customer. Safeway closed it down because it wasn't terribly profitable. The new market brought something to an area that was previously a food desert, and the amount of destination shoppers more than makes up for the low volume shoppers living in the neighborhood. The previous location was a block away, but it was more of a produce market than anything else. By taking over a larger space, they were able to provide a lot more items that would appeal to neighborhood shoppers.
I've lived other places and seen what you're describing, Nashville just takes it a step further We have a road, and not even a big one, that divides a nice neighborhood and subsidized housing - and not the nice kind.
The place you're describing sounds AMAZING! I meant to comment earlier, that'd be the kind of place I'd love! We just don't have such - its local butchers, fair trade coffee...and murder Krogers close to me. My folks have Aldi's in the town I grew up in and I think it's a weird neat place. I just think there is a ton of opportunity for Amazon here and I'm hoping to use it myself to make life a little easier.
ETA: if you want some small batch shine and a prostitute though, its super convenient If you have enough shine, that may seem like a good idea.
In San Francisco there's a public housing project right in the middle of an affluent neighborhood. It's really kind of bizarre. I think it was built years before housing prices went up, and before the cost of land would have been prohibitive.
As for Berkeley Bowl, here are a few descriptions of the two locations. There's even TripAdvisor reviews. The thing that separates it from other high end grocery and produce markets is their philosophy on pricing. There are higher end supermarket chains, but none of them have the same value pricing model.
San Francisco has a similar place called Rainbow Grocery. It's actually a co-op.
Never bought from amazon, there are several Whole Foods very close by, never shopped at one. So for me I really don't care.