Whole Foods Wants to Shake Their "Whole Paycheck" Reputation

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It's getting real in Whole Foods, but not so much in the parking lot but inside their stores as they work to shed their rep as being a "pricey" grocery store chain. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the company whose chain of just over 300 stores nationwide are often referred to as "Whole Paycheck."

While Whole Foods has either or both unabashedly and unwittingly courted the contemporary version of the yuppie, the chain is now opening in smaller, less urban areas, and working to appeal to those shoppers. The company refers to these newer stores as being in "secondary markets," and those stores are doing well; Whole Foods says they are looking into opening more such stores. (Oh, but sorry, Silver Lakers, you're not one of those markets.)

Okay, but what are they doing to make us think they are out of most of our budgets? From the WSJ:

To counter its reputation for being expensive, Whole Foods is offering more price promotions and discounts in all of its stores, and lately it has held many of its grocery prices flat despite its own costs rising. The idea is for customers to feel that while there may be certain product prices that are going up, they are finding plenty of good deals to make up for that, said executives, who call the strategy "price perception."

Yep, good old fashioned psychology.

The chain has also been emphasizing bang-for-your-buck in other ways, too. They offer "value" tours of their stores where employees help you shop on a budget. A number of stories have cropped up in blogs in the past few weeks about families taking a "30-Day Thrifty Challenge," in which they feed their families for a month on what the USDA indicates is a poverty-level dollar amount but shop only at Whole Foods.

On the Whole Foods blog, they have a consistent stream of budget-conscious posts, highlighting ways to shop and eat frugally using their stores, like "Go-to Meals Using Kitchen Staples" and the more overt "Budget-Boosters: Trim Your Food Waste."

Still, as the WSJ points out, their "core customer" still spends "on average, nearly three times more than new customers."

Competition is a big factor for how Whole Foods moves forward, with SoCal-based Trader Joe's expanding their market (they're headed to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas soon) and other bargain-focused chains working to do store remodels and put the spotlight on fresh produce.

So is Whole Foods gettin' real enough for you in the value department?

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By Lindsay William-Ross in Food on February 15, 2012 10:00 AM

Comments [rss]

TODOS SOMOS PUTOS

The collision of the little $ 30 bag of organic goji berries and the EBT card....

Once I wasn't paying attention and bought a 6 pack of little yogurts. It wasn't until I got home that I realized a $ 36 charge on my receipt for "cultured dairy something something." It was the yogurts; each one rang at over $ 5.

Dick

I shop at 4 places, in order of expenditures: (1) Walmart; (2) Whole Foods; (3) Giant/Kroger; (4) little Asian markets. My food/supplies budget is $500 per month for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 male teens). We eat healthier than almost anyone except health-conscious billionaires: plenty of seafood and other proteins, greens and fresh veggies, fruits, yogurts, whole grain breads, beans, etc.

Whole Foods is cheaper for quality eggs, milk, yogurt, bulk beans and dried fruits, wines, packaged/fry exotic foods, seafood and produce promotional items. Walmart is *way* better for household supplies, condiments (pickled jars), soft drinks (yeah, teens have some and they're in our cocktail drinks), juices... Tip: never *ever* buy seafood and most animal proteins at Walmart: absolutely disgusting all the time.

The other grocery chains like Giant and Kroger are good for promotional 'end-cap' items such as Barilla pasta and canned tomatoes (look for low sodium). The occasional ice-cream treat also.

The bottom line is not only would I have to raise my grocery budget if Whole Foods wasn't here, we'd eat a lot less well. And that's the real truth. Forget all the 'haters' out there!

Todd Bianco

Unless I'm looking for a specialty food that I can't get anywhere else, I avoid Whole Foods like the plague. The West Hollywood location's parking lot is like a cluster f%&@google-f1c7ce630bfae7330a9110a0ee2aec59:disqus
that is impossible to get in or out of. There doesn't seem to be any "slow time" all day long. If it's that busy all the time, I'm assuming there is no shortage of people willing to spend the extra money to get the "Whole Paycheck" experience.

That said, I've shopped at a couple of the lovely Whole Foods stores in Manhattan and enjoyed it. The concept seems like a better fit there because people shop for food (often prepared food) on a daily basis. In LA, we tend to stock up for a couple weeks because most people have a car to load up with groceries and kitchens and refrigerators big enough to hold tons of food. Sticker shock is reduced when you only buy a few things every other day or a dinner-to-go, not a large basket crammed full with all sorts of food and non-food items.

hN9S9

I use to go for their Wednesday 50% off salad bar.

Paul

Whole food has pretty good fresh seafood prices, that's pretty much all I ever go there for when I'm not feeling like driving to the Chinese/Korean stores.

bo_burger

Not only are they not in Sliver Lake, there are no Whole Foods east of WeHo until you get to Glendale.

PicoPhreako69

1) Whole Foods Wants to Shake Their "Whole Paycheck" Reputation.
Not. Gonna . Happen.

2) So is Whole Foods gettin' real enough for you in the value department?

Nope.

sygyzy

Why does Whole Foods care if they are deemed as pricey? There are enough rich people willing to pay the price to go there. I don't shop at WH often but when I do, I am mentally prepared to spend more and in the case of hard-to-find ingredients, I am OK with it. It's not like poor people don't have options (Vons, Ralphs, Albertsons, etc).