I stopped in at the Whole Foods (Houston St.) in Manhattan, a store I rarely shop at any more. It was a disaster area, definitely looking nothing like it did when it opened. And there the proffer is moving more and more towards ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook stuff, which doesn't interest me the least bit.
But the Whole Foods I regularly shop at (Gowanus) in Brooklyn, still seems just fine.
Perhaps each store is being adjusted for its demographic? The Brooklyn store is huge, with a big parking lot, and its customer base seems more and more family oriented, lots of parents, strollers, etc. People buying carts full of stuff (and don't get me started on the lazy bastards who can't seem to push their carts to the cart return area after unloading). The Manhattan stores tend to be used for less of a shopping expedition, more like what someone might be having for lunch or dinner.
