Amazon buys Whole Foods

[Anna N]

 So I logged on to Amazon.ca this rainy morning and discovered that I can now order Whole Foods pantry items. No fresh food yet but I’m holding out hope. Not that Amazon or Whole Foods would necessarily be my grocer of choice but I definitely need some competition to the present home delivery service that I have!  

[ElsieD]

I stopped in at Whole Foods yesterday and it seemed to me that the store is still the same before Amazon bought it. Organic apples were still $4.99 a pound.  However, they had these new-to-me grapes called Moon Drops for sale and i bought some.  They're delicious.  I also bought some Bob's Red Mill Ivory Wheat Flour.  I have never seen ivory/white wheat flour for sale here so was happy to get my hands on some.  Fellow Canadians may be interested in knowing that i called Robin Hood and when I asked abiut white whole wheat flour i was huffily told that they had no plans to make any.

Edited October 11, 2017 by ElsieD
Added picture (log)

[Toliver]

"Whole Foods Is Launching the Self-Serve Mac and Cheese Bar of Your Dreams"

Quote

The Whole Foods Market Union Station location in Denver is set to open on Nov. 15, and it will be home to Whole Foods' very first self-serve station meant to make every mac-and-cheese-lover's dreams come true. And it won't just include your typical elbows and cheddar mac 'n' cheese, either. The mac and cheese bar options will include pulled pork BBQ mac and cheese, roasted tomato mac and cheese, and even a vegan mac and cheese...

 

Do we have any eG'ers in that area who can take one for the team? 

[rotuts]

its interesting ( to me ) 

 

that retailers are trying to fight back using lease restrictions 

 

amazon whole food restrictions

 

that might prevent lockers @ WF , selling electronics and what noe.

 

Good luck to them !

 

the Horse has already left the barn .

 

[IndyRob]

the horse the trojans had

 

did not leave

 

but it came

 

bearing gifts

 

but they did not keep the real estate.

 

it burned.

 

useless to everyone

 

because of the neighbors

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

13 hours ago, rotuts said:

its interesting ( to me ) 

 

that retailers are trying to fight back using lease restrictions 

 

amazon whole food restrictions

 

that might prevent lockers @ WF , selling electronics and what noe.

 

Good luck to them !

 

the Horse has already left the barn .

 

 

A lesson with which I was inculcated early in my youth:

 

My guardian was from a patrician family and did very well in real estate...up until the depression when he went bankrupt.  Once he showed what he thought was a most desirable location to a confectionary magnate.  The client observed there were no other candy stores in the area and explained he only wanted to locate where there was competition.

 

I am not a gambling sort, otherwise I'd say my bet's on Bezos.

 

[rotuts]

@JoNorvelleWalker 

 

yep   there are a lot of things JB does that I think are questionable

 

but innovating he is.  and WF  needs a lot of it to get me back in their stores.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Well, I just had an email from amazon that they are discontinuing Amazon Fresh in my area.  They regret the inconvenience.  So much for the theory that buying Whole Foods will expand their service area.

 

[Toliver]

14 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Well, I just had an email from amazon that they are discontinuing Amazon Fresh in my area.  They regret the inconvenience.  So much for the theory that buying Whole Foods will expand their service area.

 

My uneducated guess is that they're suspending (or just ending) Amazon Fresh and will eventually replace it with a new Whole Foods-centered delivery service.

[Anna N]

14 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Well, I just had an email from amazon that they are discontinuing Amazon Fresh in my area.  They regret the inconvenience.  So much for the theory that buying Whole Foods will expand their service area.

 

I know how upset I would be if I had access to the service and it was suddenly withdrawn. My sympathies.

[rotuts]

I agree :

 

Amazon is going to use WF for many things :

 

local delivery

 

local ' cook it yourself '  from our 4 + options

 

I have no idea id WF has a presence in Canada

 

but if it does

 

and one is within a certain radius

 

things will be happening

 

at some point

 

BTW :

 

Ive followed BlueApron

 

as a New Market idea

 

and the intricacies they have had to deal with 

 

Im guessing they are not doing so well

 

that's a neutral statement 

 

https://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AAPRN&ei=Qa78WcCoMZK2e7uuh_gD

 

I cap PBS Vids

 

BA seems to no longer be able to sponsor

 

no matter

 

two local   NE similar affairs 

 

have jumped right in.

 

" Happy Cooking ! "

 

      Jacques Pepin

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

 Whole Foods definitely has a presence in Canada. There is one that is a hop skip and a jump from my local Humane Society so I am very familiar with it. 

[rotuts]

@Anna N 

 

I of course have no idea of Amazons priorities 

 

re: USA or Canada

 

but re: food of any kind

 

its going to come from WF

 

in some way or another.

[chromedome]

36 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 Whole Foods definitely has a presence in Canada. There is one that is a hop skip and a jump from my local Humane Society so I am very familiar with it. 

Well...they have a presence in Vancouver and Toronto. That's not entirely the same thing.

[ElsieD]

13 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Well...they have a presence in Vancouver and Toronto. That's not entirely the same thing.

 

And Ottawa.

[Anna N]

6 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

And Ottawa.

Here they are.

 

 Certainly they are in large urban areas but that should not be much of a surprise. 

Edited November 3, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, Anna N said:

I know how upset I would be if I had access to the service and it was suddenly withdrawn. My sympathies.

 

Thank you, Anna.  I was/am annoyed, or more like feeling a sense of loss.  A friend commented this afternoon that I did not use Fresh all that often.  Which is true, but I could get ingredients I cannot find in walking distance.  Plus I was really relying on it for this winter.  Some years we have enough snow that I cannot get to the local store.

 

[chromedome]

16 hours ago, Anna N said:

Here they are.

 

 Certainly they are in large urban areas but that should not be much of a surprise. 

 

No, not a surprise. Though it does leave most of the country well outside any reasonable definition of "local delivery area."

[Anna N]

56 minutes ago, chromedome said:

No, not a surprise. Though it does leave most of the country well outside any reasonable definition of "local delivery area."

 But that goes for so much of our country. Imagine if you were living in Nunavut. 

[chromedome]

Well, Nunavut is a whole other story to be sure. I have friends up in Whitehorse, and they pay pretty steep prices for groceries. 

 

I'm sure Amazon/Whole Foods will expand over the next few years, at least to the other million-person urban areas (Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton). Won't be a factor for the rest of us anytime soon, though I can't complain...we at least have IKEA as close as Halifax now.

(I was trying to come up with something funny using the acronym, to the effect that coverage in Canada was currently A/WFul, but it just didn't seem worth the effort)

[kayb]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

 But that goes for so much of our country. Imagine if you were living in Nunavut. 

 

Nunavut, heck. Jonesboro is a small city of 80,000, and we just got Uber last summer.

[blue_dolphin]

Every time I visit Amazon, I see a button encouraging me to try Amazon Fresh but it has never been available.   They'll deliver to locations a few miles to the east of me and also a few miles to the NW but not here. Since there's a Whole Foods just 2 miles from my house, I thought that might change, but no dice.   I don't need grocery delivery in general, but I would have liked the ability to get occasional treats from Santa Monica Seafood without driving down there.

[Anna N]

One can either live in an over-populated urban area with all its perks and its traffic congestion, air pollution, high crime rate and meal/food delivery services, or in places like Nunavut and compete with polar bears for your daily rations, or you can compromise and live in the vast remaining parts of both the USA and Canada and do without both the perks and the problems of the alternative.  

[rotuts]

J.B. has made many mistakes 

 

trying to squeeze authors for their books is one of them.

 

but he seems to have learned from some of his mistakes.

 

he likes to tinker and then see what happens

 

Amazon understands  ' Dry Goods '  :  books and stuff that can sit on a shelf

 

then be sent to you.

 

Prior to the WF purchase , they had no experience with  " perishable '

 

that's your food  , frozen or not.

 

they will make something of this

 

eventually  

 

after all

 

BlueApron  tried

 

and now this :

 

https://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AAPRN&ei=le79Wej3LoXpmAGL5KGIAw

 

food to your home , sliced and diced , or the things you need

 

is not detergent , with a button.

 

Amazon has its strengths 

 

and many weaknesses.

 

but in my view :

 

Amazon will work out of WF

 

and try to establish others

 

there is a bit of back lash about the others   

 

No No No , not in my Maul !

 

more or less.

 

interesting times ahead for

 

Food : Click and Return on your computer.

 

for those that can afford it.

 

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

Indeed :

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-fresh/amazon-to-end-fresh-grocery-delivery-service-in-some-areas-idUSKBN1D302N