Whole Foods may be pricier than your average grocery store, but many people feel it’s worth the extra money. The store is full of organic, natural food, such as fresh produce, fancy health snacks, and a large selection of ready-made foods that make for a great lunch. Plus, the fact that they are now owned by Amazon, and that Amazon Prime users can get 10 percent off their purchase, definitely isn’t a bad thing! (Because, really, who isn’t an Amazon Prime member at this point?)
People can make fun of Whole Foods all they want — and they definitely do — but at the end of the day, it’s a pretty solid grocery store that has the advantage of having a huge selection of healthy foods.
Still, that doesn’t mean that the company doesn’t do some shady things once in a while.
Like any other big company out there, Whole Foods has had their fair share of controversies and scandals, like when they decided to partner with Yellow Fever eatery, an Asian restaurant with what many feel is a racist name.
And remember their asparagus water?
It was literally water with three stalks of asparagus in it, going for $6. While their latest stint isn’t quite as attention-grabbing, we still feel like it needs to be talked about.
Whole Foods is doing something pretty sneaky: They are quietly getting rid of Whole Foods 365 stores and converting them into regular Whole Foods stores.
Whole Foods 365 only had 12 locations, and weren’t quite as well-known as the regular Whole Foods.
According to Yahoo Finance, they’re keeping the stores open, just changing them to be regular Whole Foods stores.
The first 365 store was opened in May 2016 and was supposed to be a smaller, less expensive version of Whole Foods.
According to Business Insider, the 365 stores focused more on prepared foods, and they were cheaper to build and operate.
That’s a good thing for the consumer!
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But when Amazon bought Whole Foods in August 2017, the idea for more 365 stores was halted.
Yahoo Finance says that before the Amazon deal, CEO John Mackey told investors they had 22 stores under development — only nine have opened since then.
The change is going to happen quickly. In fact, some of the 365 stores have already been converted into a regular Whole Foods.
So why are they getting rid of the 365 stores now?
Mackey says that they wanted to move away from the cheaper stores because of the price drop at the regular Whole Foods stores. Basically, it sounds like they just don’t want to offer a cheaper store when they’ve already made other products less expensive.
That is not great for consumers.
In an internal email reviewed by Business Insider, Mackey wrote,
“As we have been consistently lowering prices in our core Whole Foods Market stores over the past year, the price distinction between the two brands has become less relevant. As the company continues to focus on lowering prices over time, we believe that the price gap will further diminish.”
Hopefully this means that prices at Whole Foods will get lower, meaning the 365 stores just aren’t necessary. Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst at Supermarket Guru, told Yahoo Finance, “Amazon is focused on making Whole Foods for the general population not just an upscale more healthy minded population.”
He referred to the 365 stores, saying, “So, it really didn’t have a place to fit in what I think is the plan that Amazon has.”
Does 365 sound familiar even if you haven’t seen one of the stores? That’s because it’s Whole Foods’ in-house brand.
365 generally offers lower prices, as it is basically Whole Foods’ label on certain items.
Don’t worry, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
Some shoppers are confused by why Amazon thinks it’s a good idea to get rid of these stores. We don’t really blame them!
Amazon has dropped Whole Foods 365, a discount version of the retailer. As an organic & premium grocer, Whole Foods targets an affluent & urban demographic. I am confused by Amazon's strategy in the first place. Wondering what #marketresearch led to that decision #SSB5200G https://t.co/YvvrcBWKM5
— Marketing2019 (@MKTG2019) February 27, 2019
A few users are angry. We get that, too!
Some are just confused.
There weren’t enough 365 stores for everyone to know about them!
I had never even heard of a store called 365??? I had to read the whole article to understand!
— ...andthen (@mariekejoneil) February 26, 2019
Some are okay with it… if Whole Foods continues to lower their prices.
If not, the decision is just unfair to customers.
ugh. So long as Whole Foods continues the trend towards lower prices I might allow it, but I’ll def miss 365.
— mitch™ (@mitchdotcom) February 26, 2019
But this person doesn’t seem to mind! So hey, maybe it won’t be that bad.
At the end of the day, it just stinks to see that Whole Foods is getting rid of their cheaper stores without really giving them much of a chance.
We hope this means they’ll continue lowering prices at their regular stores, but only time will tell.
