The FTC won't give up its battle with Whole Foods (NYSE: WFMI) over the company's long-complete merger with Wild Oats Markets, but an agreement has been reached between Whole Foods and a small, local organic and natural foods' grocery, New Seasons Market. About six weeks ago in the New Seasons blog, popular CEO Brian Rohter highlighted an invasive subpoena received from Whole Foods' attorneys, claiming that his company's secrets are party to the FTC/Whole Foods dispute. The subpoena demanded a wide variety of documents, including all documents relating to competition with Whole Foods or Wild Oats; financial information, by store; market studies and strategic plans; and all plans for future stores, expansion and renovation. Local shoppers and business owners cried foul; the subpoena, many believed, was Whole Foods playing dirty pool.

Today, thanks to pressure from both the local and national community, Whole Foods came to an agreement with New Seasons whose terms weren't released, but in which the small Pacific Northwest chain will be required to release far less sensitive information. Rohter wrote that he was "pleased" with the outcome.

It could be that Whole Foods has far bigger fish to fry than whatever advantage it could have gained from New Seasons. The FTC recently asked a judge to order Whole Foods to bring back the Wild Oats signs, and to voluntarily halt whatever integration it still hasn't completed. What's more, rumors that the company is a takeover target could be distracting management as they (depending on these reports' truth) spin the rumor mill or wheel and deal with the potential acquirers. On the days' news, the stock was down 21 cents to $12.16, about four dollars higher than its five-year low, recorded just before Thanksgiving in November 2008.

In the continuing FTC battle with Whole Foods (NYSE: WFMI) over the company's merger with Wild Oats Markets (a merger, I might add, that's already complete; all of the stores in my region have been converted to Whole Foods markets for many months), there is a local casualty. This local casualty has not been forced out of business by the strength of the Whole Foods conglomerate, with, now, stores in every quadrant of the city -- no, it's thriving, popular with both customers and the quirky-and-excellent local purveyors of vegetables, cheeses, chickens. But New Seasons Market is facing unwelcome bullying from the organics food giant.

Yesterday in the New Seasons blog, popular CEO Brian Rohter points to the objectionable subpoena he's received from Whole Foods' attorneys, claiming that his company's secrets are party to the FTC/Whole Foods dispute. (A response from Whole Foods indicates that this request went out to 96 companies, stores and vendors, although those aren't detailed.) The subpoena demands a wide variety of documents, including all documents relating to competition with Whole Foods or Wild Oats; financial information, by store; market studies and strategic plans; and all plans for future stores, expansion and renovation. Rohter's attorneys have objected but tell him he could very well lose and be ordered to hand over the documents (at considerable cost to a small local grocery chain).

Rohter argues that, though Whole Foods insists only the attorneys and consultants will see the information "That's like trusting the fox to guard the henhouse – and we don't have any faith it's going to work like that. ... some of the people at Whole Foods have a history of less than stellar behavior when it comes to competing fairly." In a follow-up to a Whole Foods response at Portland Food and Drink, Rohter says, "And those "consultants"...? Once they've looked through our information they're not going to "unlearn" it. The very nature of their job means they carry things they've learned from one job to another. Will they ever work for Whole Foods again?"