News : Whole Foods to Acquire Wild Oats

Per the 2-21-07 Wall Street Journal Online, Whole Foods will acquire Wild Oats.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117209195523715275.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

(Registration required)

Any comments? More consolidation in the grocery industry.

It has always surprised me how poorly Wild Oats seemed to do. I don't shop at Whole Foods much, but it always struck me as a nice place to visit, in stark contrast to my experiences with Wild Oats.

There is a Wild Oats quite close to me now, and I sure hope they convert to a Whole Foods rather than close the location.

There's one of each fairly close to each other in Evanston, but I'll admit I only went to Wild Oats for things Whole Foods didn't carry - certain flour, certain beer, a few bulk items (good syrup) etc. I never bought meat, or staples (6 bucks for a dozen eggs, I can not afford) there.

It will most certainly close, unless WF thinks the town can support two of them, with one right across from a Jewel. Too much wishful thinking to hope for an independent to move in to such a competitve space. I'm sure a condo developer already has plans drawn up.

There certainly wasn't any competitve pricing going on between the two, so as a consumer, the only real effect is that our Whole Foods is going to be even more crowded.

Another take on the purchase:

http://www.morningnewsbeat.com/#A25157

Whole Foods, which I'm not particularly enamored with, has certainly been the big bully in the category, at least as it pertains to my neighborhood in Evanston. Shortly after they came to town, they bought out and closed down the excellent independent, Oak Street Market. There was a Fresh Fields nearby; Whole Foods purchased that chain and closed the FF store. So now they're buying Wild Oats, and probably shutting down the Evanston location (which I vastly prefer to WF)???

Well, at least it'll mean more business for J. D. Mills.

JD Mills Health Foods
635 Chicago Ave
Evanston

I'm sorry but not surprised. There used to be a Wild Oats near where I live, but it was so poorly managed and they made so many bad decisions that it closed. It was no surprise, but I was still sorry, because at least out here in the northwest suburbs, Wild Oats was much cheaper than Whole Foods and had great products. I regularly bought fish and meat, as well as organic vegetables and vitamins, all of which were about 1/4 less than what they cost at WF. However, I agree that WF is much more attractive, as well as being intelligently run and positioned. But I'm still sorry to see competition vanish as one big fish swallows all the smaller fish. I always think about the people whose dreams were wrapped up in those "small fish."

We can hope that, as WF grows, its prices are moderated by purchasing in even larger quantities. I'm not counting on it, but I am hoping.

nr706 wrote: So now they're buying Wild Oats, and probably shutting down the Evanston location (which I vastly prefer to WF)???

Wow! We must be shopping at two different locations. My experiences at the Evanston Wild Oats have been an extreme excercise in patience.
I occasionally stop in to take advantage of their 3 bottles of wine for $20 special. The problem is, no one working in the store appears to be over 15. On countless occasions I have waited at the register while the only employee of legal age is located - usually summoned from the fish department or something.
I would also stop in for coffee and a muffin in the morning. It seems lately the self-serve coffee containers are usually empty as a result of neglect. Additionally, the muffin recipe has changed. No longer are the muffins (my favorites being carrot and zucchini) large and moist. In fact, they are now small and dry.
Don't even get me started on the sad state of their salad bar and deli. Upon a few visits shortly after the store opened in the morning, I discovered the salad bar had not yet been set up. Not that it mattered. It was/is one of the most pathetic displays of bland, stale ingredients.
I admit it is sad Whole Foods is becoming a category killer in the same way Home Depot has. However, Wild Oats will not be missed by me. I say good riddance.

Sounds like we shop at Wild Oats for different reasons. I go there primarily for the bulk foods, sometimes the veggies, meats and fish, maybe dairy and other things (hummus, tahini, miso, tabbouleh, olives, seeds for sprouting). But I've never been there to eat in, and most of my wine comes from Binny's - I've never found Wild Oats' wines to be that great a deal. In general, I like the funky vibe of Wild Oats - Whole Foods comes across to me as much more corporate, with less sense of humor. Maybe I'm just remembering Wild Oats' previous incarnation as People's Market.

Your mileage may vary.

nr706 wrote:Sounds like we shop at Wild Oats for different reasons. Your mileage may vary.

Everytime I look at anyone else's groceries, I decide that I could NEVER buy that assortment of goods.

That is why people shop at so many different food stores.

Disappointing for sure, but not terribly surprising as WH wants to be the Wal-Mart of organic grocers.

The funny thing is that the Evanston location just went through a remodel and branding change from Peoples Market to Wild Oats. When my wife and I stopped there to pick up a couple of things last week we noticed that Wild Oats had new logos everywhere... thus, they would have had to undergo *another* big branding change. That's just silly.

That said, we noticed a marked decline in service once Peoples Market became Wild Oats as others have. In contrast when we lived in Denver, we preferred Wild Oats - the stores are much larger and nicer out that-a-way.

Wild Oats changed the branding from People's Market at least a couple of years ago. I loved the communist hints throughout the old store - the logo of a Soviet poster-style worker holding a tomato, and the gigantic star in the front of the store. We used to say 'let's go to the Commie market'.

When they changed over, they went upscale, removed all traces of funkiness and raised the prices, and on some things like meat and diary, to near staggering levels. And I agree, it's near impossible to buy a alcohol there unless you wait while the kids go try to find the one old guy in the fish department. The (also renovated around that time) Jewel across the street always has an 'older' person working the register by the liquor department.

I really miss Oak Street Market, it was full of staff who really wanted to work there, and it showed.

kiplog wrote:Wild Oats changed the branding from People's Market at least a couple of years ago. I loved the communist hints throughout the old store - the logo of a Soviet poster-style worker holding a tomato, and the gigantic star in the front of the store. We used to say 'let's go to the Commie market'.

I thought that I was the only one that caught that, My wife had no idea what I was talking about until I explained it to her.

The People's Market had the same type of "feel" of some of the Co-op Markets around the country.

In Tuesday's news:

FTC Will Try to Block Whole Foods, Wild Oats Merger

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home