The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle has an in-depth look at Wegmans’ organic research farm in upstate New York. "The farm’s mission … is to provide locally grown
fruits, vegetables and honey to nearby Wegmans stores and, eventually,
to serve as an educational model for local growers, employees and
consumers who want to learn about organic food production," the […]

Continue reading “Wegmans Launches Organic Research Farm in NY” »

Whole Foods, confounding regulators who argued the retailer would do otherwise, announced it was lowering prices at Wild Oats stores in the Rocky Mountain region.
While this might be seen as a way to calm anxious customers (or thumb its nose at regulators), it is also informed by something else: competition. On that score, Whole Foods […]

Continue reading “Supermarket Wars Part Deux” »

I’m surfacing from my self-imposed Internet vow-of-silence to take note that a judge has ruled in Whole Foods favor (WSJ $) and allowed its acquisition of Wild Oats to proceed. On its face, this supports the position that I’ve articulated before — that Whole Foods does indeed face competition from others besides Wild Oats and […]

Continue reading “Naturally, Whole Foods Wins” »

The FTC, in making its case that Whole Foods would quash competition by buying Wild Oats, relied on Boulder, Colorado, as an example. That town, ground zero for the natural and organic foods business, is also the headquarters of Wild Oats. And in Boulder, Wild Oats had planned to open a flagship store in […]

Continue reading “One More Hole in FTC Case on Whole Foods” »