I am so mad that Whole Foods has bought out the Wild Oats chain. Sun Harvest in Austin and San Antonio is my favorite store to shop at for low cost produce. I shudder to think how much more Whole Foods Market will charge more for fresh wholesome produce at a much greater cost. I love to shop at Sun Harvest for other supplements with their own private brand labels. I also enjoyed the Henry's or Wild Oats branded food items. This will put a stop to shopping for produce for all the retirees and poor on a fixed income. Whole Foods is too greedy and high cost. I say boycott Whole Foods to send them the message that we do not like this overtaking a better store.

The fact that Whole Foods is a pro employee, employer, makes all the difference. When employees share in the success of a business the customers reap the benefits too!

The competitive spirit has always been and always will be the most wonderful thing in the World for the consumer! I can now buy Soy Milk, Rice Milk and many other Organic Food Items from other competitive resources thanks to our "Free Enterprise" system that exist mostly only here in America!

Please stop by my web sites to hear what I think of our Great Country! Go To: www.FredLeonard.com www.myspace.com/FredLeonardMusic www.cdbaby.com/FredLeonard to hear 3 songs of my Patriotic pride for The U.S.A.Thank God For America!
And Thank God For AOL also!
Fred Leonard

I am now wary of the invasion of the giants of the food industry who have fraudulently labeled their chemical missels as "organic". The FDA and the FTC look the other way while they concentrate on shurring down legitimate food supplement businesses.
Does anyone have a clue why this is happening?

Donna....
Whole Foods did not corporately take over Henry's, Wild Oats etc. They had bad business models and were shutting down their stores. Whole Foods is more capable of running these stores and saw that the need for these stores still existed therefore bought them from an already floundering market. They didn't do anything wrong. Also, you are going to pay for the choices you make with your food one way or another. A. buy less moderately priced wholesome food and stay healthy or B. buy cheap garbage and pay for it through medical bills.

I agree with your assessment of the situation. Wild Oats was a losing proposition. Too small, too high priced, too carelessly and arrogantly run. I am looking forward to seeing Whole Foods take on the challenge. We are all winners when grocery stores compete for organic and high quality business. I buy organic and quality wherever I find it.

Whole foods markets has taken up a huge burden of fixing run down stores and this should be pleasing to local customers where most of these stoes are located. I find most of the items in WFM stores competitively priced and sometimes cheaper than Wal-mart, Publix, etc.

I am thrilled. Whole Foods has superior product, more variety, better prices, and they treat their employees well.

I have been shopping at Whole Foods here in Gaithersburg MD for over 3 years now. It is a pleaseure to go to Whole Foods to shop, if other food store chains would take some lessons from Whole Foods about quality food and produce and what it means to offer customer service and mean it the grocery business would not be in the horrible condition that it currently is.

The Giant Food and Safeway stores have their place in the market they just need to open their eyes to what consumers want and need.

I plan on being a very loyal Whole Foods customer for many years to come.

My last trip to WF was disappointing. They are going downhill fast, soy this, soy that (didn't they get the memo about soy?), very little organics in the produce, just a big box of fancy processed foods is all I saw. Back to the co-op, which cannot be taken over by BigAg/WF. I guess most people don't know the difference between Food and Filler anymore

For the love of god! I can't stand people who think the only way to eat is "fresh, organic" food purchased from a purveyor that promises such. What a rip-off. You people have no clue what goes on at the source of production of those foods. The stores just tell you they sell organic stuff, and the labels are just as dishonest as a few high-profile cases over the last couple of years have demonstrated. You are far better off going to your local farmers' market and buying direct, cutting out the despicable middlemen, be they Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Shredded Wheat or Wal-Mart.

Simply put, trust noone.

I find Whole Foods refreshing. I visited my first one about 2 weeks ago and loved the store. My daughter is diabetic and at Whole Foods there are many more healthy choices for her and I to eat healthy. Yes it is a bit pricey but there were lots of choices. I had 2 store employees come up to me and ask me if I needed help! The music that was played in the store was very nice. Plus the cashier was helpful and informative. She told me that a bigger Whole Foods opened in Fairfax, VA. My next trip to the grocery store will be there.
Thanks to Whole Foods my daughter and myself can eat healthier!

What we really need is build self sufficient communities. Where essential to life can be produce on a local level and share with other residents. I love organic foods. But the only way to know they are truly organic is to grow them ourlseves. Since most places in our country as limited growing season we must build greenhouses that use alternative energy resources as well. This energy can be used for our homes and well as to grow food. The turth is eating organic foods will prevent many diseases. So medical cost and overall health will improve if we eeat properly? Cost of organic foods will become a real problem in the future based upon supply and demand. So unless you have a good income you can't afford to buy them. I like to turn fruits and vegetables into juice and drink it. Based upon current prices for fresh produce that is becoming harded to do. Every time energy cost goes up so does the price of food. So it's a no win situation. It's almost impossible for city people to grow their own food because of space and time requirements. Again self sufficient communities are the answer. I would appreciate comments. Regards

Whole Foods is a lovely store and other than to much soy, I like their products; however, they are way too expensive. There is definitely a "greed" factor involved and most people cannot afford to buy fod there. I am extremely disppointed that Whole Foods will now be taking over Henry's. I love that store and find their products fresh and more reasonably priced.Their store is clean and their employees friendly and helpful. Can't say that Whole Foods employees are helpful or friendly. Maybe it is just our local stores, but I have preferred Henry's and Trader Joe's over Whole Foods.
Sad in LA.

I was a Bread & Circus (in New England) customer before Whole Foods bought them. Now I'm forced to shop at Whole Foods. In terms of USA sourced Organics I feel Whole Foods is going down hill and is inferior to Bread & Circus. I like to buy frozen organic fruits and vegetables for convenience and year round availability, as well as fresh organics. To my dismay Whole Foods seems to carry a high ratio of conventional to Organic fresh items. Also to my dismay, Whole Foods is often not labeling the country of origin of their Frozen vegetables and sometimes fruits. As quite a number of the fozen items are labeled CHINA, I must assume that those that are not labeled are also from China, and Whole Foods happy to conceal the origin. I do not want to eat anything from China, organic or not, and from having lived in China, visited Chinese factories, and read about China I know that air, soil, and water pollution is endemic as is corruption. (Is Chinese Organic really Organic? Is it so called "Organic" but still contaminated with pollutants?) I feel Whole Foods is doing a diservice to it's customers by not always labeling the country food is actually grown in rather than where it's just processed or bagged in, and by not emphasizing local USA production. At Mom & Pop stores I've looked some brands of frozen organic items that Whole Foods does not carry, and regretably I'm seeing the same problem of "Grown in China". Whole Foods stores also are devoting a large percentage of their shelf space to what I would call expensive, gourmet, often unhealthy items, at the expense of empahsizin well screened, healthy, fairly priced, organic foods.

I feel just like the other lady from Austin. Sun Harvest has been a regular stop on my way home from a dance program I attend and I shop there because of their great prices on produce. Que lastima!! Whole Foods is a yuppy, overpriced store that sells food (even junk food) at highly exorbitant prices. I don't care about their employee practices. Their prices are outrageous.

I love shopping at Whole Foods. Yes, they are expensive. However, even when we can barely afford the rest of our bills, we prefer to go the organic route and Whole Foods definitely has the best selection! And, they make grocery shopping feel like a trip to Nordstroms! Friendly...Friendly...Friendly!

......face it Whole Foods knows the combination, works it and does it the only way it should be done in todays world..... Wild Oats, well, you 'reap what you sow'! - good by (we're not going to miss these people)

Jim

A "Wild Oats" store opened here in Tampa, FL. It is a beautiful store, very clean and well lit, the food, produce, groceries are nicely displayed. The majority of the staff has been very helpful and friendly. However, in the half dozen times that I and a close friend have traveled the 30 plus miles round trip to the store; we have had to return on numerous ocassions foods , cheeses, butters, and meats that were either spoiled, moldy, or not edible. Example, I purchased a roll of imported Irish sweet butter, it was covered with green mold. Organic chicken was purchased and returned because it reeked, spoiled. I purchased two containers of Marscapone cheese, two different brands, one container was frozen solid and the cheese itself was saturated with ice crystals. Yes, the prices are considerably higher,the quality considerably lower. I am disappointed with the WO store and will not be returning soon.

As an employee of Wild Oats I think it is awesome that Wholefoods bought Wild Oats. I worked for Whole Foods for four years and it is the best company I have ever worked for. I have worked for Aetna, Bellsouth, AOL, and the Marines. The fact is they know how to treat their employees ..... The executives at the top of Whole Foods don't take any where as large of a paycheck than other companies which leads to better pay and benefits for all employees. They empower their people to express their opinions and to learn and grow as people. They also give quarterly moral surveys and leadership surveys to evaluate the leaders from bottom up.All you people whining about large corporate takeovers of Whole Foods is ridiculous. We all need jobs and they offer great jobs with better than average pay for the people at the bottom. That leads to much happier people which leads to better customer service and a more positive environment all togethor. When you take out the middle man and choose co-ops and farmers markets you are also taking away alot of jobs. Whole Foods is a place where people can go that don't have time for co-ops and farmers markets.Maybe they do carry alot of stuff that isn't truly healthy but the worst ingredients in Whole Foods are still better than 99% of anything you will find in a conventional store or restaurant for that matter. And I must say taht most of the people taht compain about prices are not the ones who should be complaining. From my empirical experience the only ones who complain for the most part are the ones that have tons of money anyways. Yes it is ironic but very true. And if you know how to shop wisely it isnt that much more expensive to shop at Whole Foods. If you are a person that buys prepackaged food then maybe you havent done your research on how to truly eat healthy or just ignoring it anyways. If you buy your grains and such in bulk and spend a little extra time each day away from the reality TV shows you might have time to cook a healthier meal that is not prepackaged and expensive. And for the uneducated critics that don't understand the organic and holistic lifestyle and think it is a rip off...well you have been brainwashed by the FDA and their fabricated reports. The reason that the "healthy" lifestyle is becoming so popular is because pharmaceuticals are very toxic and dangerous. Also the FDA, pharmaceutical companies, and most health care practitioners only want to keep you alive long enough to come back for more expensive visits to buy more drugs....."just say no" means prescription drugs also. If people learn to heal themselves of most illnesses and disorders then all of those listed above lose money(FDA, greedy doctors, and evil pharmaceutical companies. So therefore they fabricate alot of reports against herbs and supplements. Most of the tests they perform in the FDA are biased against the holistic health industry. I have been in this industry for five years now and was exposed to the lifestlye at a young age. I have met at least a dozen people who have cured themselves of cancer through food, supplements and meditation. I have also met 100's of people who have cured or stopped a disorder, virus, or a disease by the use of food, herbs, and supplements. So the proof is in the pudding my critic friends. The idea of Holistic and organic is just taking things back to the way god made them and using the things that god intended us to use....not all this chemical shortcut crap created by man to cut costs of production and make their pockets fatter at the risk of consumers health.Herbs, vitamins and supplements heal.....prescription drugs only supress symptoms and the toxins from the prescription drugs cause another problem which will only be found after several people have died from it. And even then the FDA just pulls it from the shelf very quietly and doesnt warn anyone till it is too late. If anyone thinks taht Pharmaceutical companies care about you as a person.....lol....call them and ask...see what kind of response you get.....either a hitler lie or hung up on.
So to summarize....Whole Foods buying Wild Oats is going to bring much better working conditions to thousands of people who live the lifestyle and work in it as well. It also creates a stronger force against evil companies such as Walmart who think they can successfully carry organic foods, vitamins and supplements. Those companies will never be able to hire people who care about it enough to educate their customers when they have questions. I guarantee you can't walk into a Walmart and ask a produce clerk how to cook kale or a leek and get an answer....if they even carry kale or know what a leek is. SO I must say that things just got alot better for alot of people....nothing but postive progression.