Whole Foods coming to London

[curlywurlyfi]

This piece in The Guardian (20 Aug) says that Barkers of Kensington, the House of Fraser store on High St Ken, will be closing its doors + transforming into a Whole Foods outlet (and a bit more Mail on Sunday, but that's another story).

Is this a good thing? I'm not familiar with the brand, but am very aware that London (and Kensington especially) is heaving with organic food shops already.

[camp_dick]

I'm not familiar with the brand, but am very aware that London (and Kensington especially) is heaving with organic food shops already.

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You're not familiar with Fresh & Wild?

Standard practise among American corporations entering the UK market is to identify the main players ('benchmarking') and to position themselves in direct competition. The strategy is to divert existing customers by offering a superior product/service, cheaper, and thereby to undermine the established rival business (which may be complacent or unprepared for a direct commercial challenge).

An example of this practise is the strategy adopted by Blockbuster video, which opened its first UK store in Walworth Road, a dozen doors down from Star Video, which was one of, if not the very first video lending library in the UK. Star responded with hand lettered signs saying "we've got more movies and we're cheaper than that big shop down the road" and has survived the onslaught, whereas most independently owned video rental operations in the UK have not.

[Felice]

Is this a good thing? I'm not familiar with the brand, but am very aware that London (and Kensington especially) is heaving with organic food shops already.

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I now live in Paris, but if there is one thing that I miss from back home it's my Whole Foods Market. They are not just another organic food shop and have great products. I'm sure things vary from place to place, but my local one even had the best sushi place in town making fresh sushi to-go, to order. They have all sorts of organic chicken, meat, wild fish and beautiful vegetables--some organic, some not, but they tell you which are and how they were grown. They had French butter, great yogurt, cheese, etc. Definitely the best supermarket I have ever shopped in.

[Clerkenwellian]

I'm not familiar with the brand, but am very aware that London (and Kensington especially) is heaving with organic food shops already.

←

You're not familiar with Fresh & Wild?

Standard practise among American corporations entering the UK market is to identify the main players ('benchmarking') and to position themselves in direct competition. The strategy is to divert existing customers by offering a superior product/service, cheaper, and thereby to undermine the established rival business (which may be complacent or unprepared for a direct commercial challenge).

An example of this practise is the strategy adopted by Blockbuster video, which opened its first UK store in Walworth Road, a dozen doors down from Star Video, which was one of, if not the very first video lending library in the UK. Star responded with hand lettered signs saying "we've got more movies and we're cheaper than that big shop down the road" and has survived the onslaught, whereas most independently owned video rental operations in the UK have not.

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Doesn't Whole Foods own Fresh & Wild?

[therese]

Is this a good thing? I'm not familiar with the brand, but am very aware that London (and Kensington especially) is heaving with organic food shops already.

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It depends on your reference point, really. In the U.S. Whole Foods offers a mix of organic and gourmet foods, fresh and packaged (the packaged stuff largely their house brands), as well as household goods like laundry powder and shampoo and pharmaceutical sorts of stuff (mostly along the herbal line). Better butcher than what's generally available in the U.S., but nothing special compared to what's available in London. Lots and lots and lots of prepared foods, so young singles a target demographic along with busy moms.

So it would be a convenient place to shop for all that sort of stuff at once, particularly if you don't mind paying more than usual for it: we call it Whole Wallet, or Whole Paycheck, as that's what you can anticipate spending to shop there.

There are two within a few miles of my home, but I only shop there as a last resort as I can get better food for less money elsewhere.

[Suzi Edwards]

I'm not familiar with the brand, but am very aware that London (and Kensington especially) is heaving with organic food shops already.

←

You're not familiar with Fresh & Wild?

Standard practise among American corporations entering the UK market is to identify the main players ('benchmarking') and to position themselves in direct competition. The strategy is to divert existing customers by offering a superior product/service, cheaper, and thereby to undermine the established rival business (which may be complacent or unprepared for a direct commercial challenge).

An example of this practise is the strategy adopted by Blockbuster video, which opened its first UK store in Walworth Road, a dozen doors down from Star Video, which was one of, if not the very first video lending library in the UK. Star responded with hand lettered signs saying "we've got more movies and we're cheaper than that big shop down the road" and has survived the onslaught, whereas most independently owned video rental operations in the UK have not.

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Doesn't Whole Foods own Fresh & Wild?

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They do. Purchased in 2004 for $38m so I'm not sure the "benchmarking" theory (although a recognised business practice) is in play here. It will be interesting to see if all of the Fresh and Wild stores are now rebranded. I believe WFM has been thinking very carefully about whether or not the US brand will work here.

[MobyP]

Wholefoods at its best is fantastic. At its worst, appallingly expensive, arrogant, with problematic food handling issues.

[Suzi Edwards]

I've taken to getting a few bits and bobs from fresh and wild. I'm still trying to decide if this is profoundly unethical of me (unethical in terms of my boycott supermarkets, smash the state, power to the people principals) Any ideas?

[Clerkenwellian]

I've taken to getting a few bits and bobs from fresh and wild. I'm still trying to decide if this is profoundly unethical of me (unethical in terms of my boycott supermarkets, smash the state, power to the people principals) Any ideas?

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That depends whether you paid for them.

[Andy Lynes]

I visited Whole Foods in West Vancouver recently and was blown away by the sheer scale of the store and variety of products on sale. I'd never seen so much organic produce in one place before. I liked the design as well, not even a vague whiff of worthiness about it.

[camp_dick]

It will be interesting to see if all of the Fresh and Wild stores are now rebranded. I believe WFM has been thinking very carefully about whether or not the US brand will work here.

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I *assumed* they'd bought F&W to exploit the brand.

Wrong!

Isn't there some trade association of independent whole food retailers who can prevent them adopting a generic term as a trade marked brand in the UK?

Bring back Biba, I say. And shoplifting.

[MobyP]

They can be extravagant - both cornucopian and in cost. I can't see them upgrading Fresh and Wild - it would be too expensive. Better to have a cheaper cousin where they don't have to worry as much about flag-ship principles.

Suzi - unless you start your own allotment, marry a farmer, or start a sort of socialist bring-veggies-to-the-masses direct action group, yer corporately buggered. There's almost no escape.

[Clerkenwellian]

It will be interesting to see if all of the Fresh and Wild stores are now rebranded. I believe WFM has been thinking very carefully about whether or not the US brand will work here.

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I *assumed* they'd bought F&W to exploit the brand.

Wrong!

Isn't there some trade association of independent whole food retailers who can prevent them adopting a generic term as a trade marked brand in the UK?

Bring back Biba, I say. And shoplifting.

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They probably couldn't trademark "Whole Foods" in the UK for that reason - any registration would probably be denied by the trade mark office - but they could trademark their logo.

[Charlie O]

There was a profile of John Mackey - who, I learnt, is the boss of Whole Foods - in the Economist last month.

It mentions their expansion plans in a little detail as well as the perception that they could be the Wal-Mart of the health food sector.

[canucklehead]

I think that it is easy to brand them the bad guys just because they are big. But they pay their frontline people very well and allow them alot of autonomy. Stores are encouraged to source as much locally as possible. Seafood is sustainably fished and meat is organically and humanely raised.

They are bringing alot of the best ideas of sustainable and organic food culture to the mainstream. I think that there are some companies that actually do things well - and we should not so dogmatic about our approached to a sustainable planet.

Edited August 31, 2005 by canucklehead (log)

[John Whiting]

... and we should not so dogmatic about our approach to a sustainable planet.

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All very true, but organic food in London is likely to taste just like organic food in New York. I'm depressed by world-wide predictability.

[marlena spieler]

I now live in Paris, but if there is one thing that I miss from back home it's my Whole Foods Market. 

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if all goes according to plan, a little birdie told me that wholefoods will soon be opening up throughout europe, and i would imagine that paris would be up there in places that they would be looking at.

Marlena

[Raj Banerjee]

I was recently in New York and was staying just a couple of minutes walk from the Whole Foods in the Time Warner Centre. I have to say I loved the fact that such a market was available in the middle of NYC. The selection of foods was great, and the variety was awesome - the seafood, meat and poultry, veg, bakery, sushi bar etc etc...very nice indeed, not to mention convenient.

What having something like this for competition in the area (I live about 5mins walk from Barkers) will do, I really cant say, since most of my shopping is done from Waitrose and M&S (apart from when I can get down to Lidgates in Holland Park or am feeling flush enough to go La Pascalou on Fulham Road - I'm still a student, see!). In fact where do people who live around here go for alternatives to the supermarkets (and please don't hit back at me with Harrods!)?

But having something like Whole Foods nearby...I'm not lazy, and I would prefer being able to go to myriad smaller retailers who could all compete with each other, but the convenience of it for me, particularly since they are likely to stay open late (I'm a medical student, so crazy hours) and perhaps even open early, will be really nice, as is I'm afraid to admit, the fact that I can get it all under one roof...

I like schemes like Abel & Cole and Solstice, but as I am living on my own, and my schedule is unpredictable at best (med students still party!), I much prefer to shop from day to day than use these services.

Well, thats my tuppence worth.

Raj

[SBonner]

I visited Whole Foods in West Vancouver recently and was blown away by the sheer scale of the store and variety of products on sale. I'd never seen so much organic produce in one place before. I liked the design as well, not even a vague whiff of worthiness about it.

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I'm not a big fan of Whole Foods. I agree there is plenty of organic produce but when it comes to poultry, meat, or fish the selection is extremely limited. I find the elvel of service somewhat lacking and actual product knowledge of the clerks is thin. I'm still keen on supporting the family run shops and getting to know my purveyors and merchants by name. Call me old fashion but that's what food culture is all about.

Stephen

Vancouver

[battleofthebulge]

Hi Raj,

I also live in Ken and Chel, here are some of the non-supermarket places I shop at in the area (alas not many )

Luscious Organic, 240-242 Kensington High Street, just past the Commonwealth Institute

Nice range of smoothies and cookies and you can buy all sorts of organic provisions, from gazpacho to organic cotton loo roll (the best!).

HG Walter Organic Butcher, Paliser Road - right out of Barons Court tube and it's on the corner. Also has excellent range of cheeses, as well as superb barbecue thingies, ready made

http://www.urbanpath.com/london/butchers/hg-walter.htm

Chalmers and Gray Fishmongers, 67 Notting Hill Gate - though I have to say not very often as it is TERRIBLY expensive, and I often find very good fresh fish at the Waitrose at Gloucester Road tube. Of the supermarkets, I think Waitrose has the best organic meat - Tescos is dire

Looking forward to seeing the Whole Foods offering and hoping they don't charge over the odds like Fresh n RipOff do.

Sarah

[curlywurlyfi]

Fresh n RipOff

or 'Fresh & Wildly Expensive', as I call it

[Adam Balic]

I'm quite ignornat about these sort of things, so I was just wondering where this volume of orgaic goods will come from, in particular the meat?

It seems from comments here that in some respects WFs is quite well regared, in terms of quality of produce. It would be my observation that the organic meat (OK chicken) from the major UK supermarkets is flavourless guilt fodder. If WFs is going to provide better produce in volume (OK chickens), where will the magic them up from and will it benefit UK producers?

[Corinna Dunne]

In Saturday’s Telegraph:

Whole Foods Market, America's most aggressive and successful "natural" supermarket, is coming to Britain.

On June 6, the three-floor former Barker's department store in Kensington, west London, is set to be transformed into the company's signature hanging gardens of Babylon.

And the date, we are told, was chosen by Whole Foods' in-house feng shui consultant. At over 80,000 sq ft (the size of the new Wembley Stadium), there are promises of an eco-friendly design with “ambient lighting and mellow muzak” and up to 40 chefs on site all day preparing food.

The basement or 'Market Level' will have fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, and natural and organic personal care products. The 'Provisions Hall' on the ground-floor will stock groceries, dairy produce, beer and wine and house “a large, in-house bakery for breads, biscuits, cakes and pastries”. The first floor, 'Upstairs at the Market' is where you’ll find pizza, dim sum, sushi, a trattoria and a juice bar.

Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh are next on the list with Dublin as its target in Ireland. The plan is to open 30 – 40 UK high street stores at the rate of one a year.

Some misgivings…

Despite Whole Foods' much-trumpeted ethics and its professed commitment to small producers and organics, something about the four whopping outlets I visit in Manhattan makes me feel uneasy. In this I'm not alone. The New York Times journalist Michael Pollan wrote a scathing critique of Whole Foods in his recent book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, suggesting that its local, organic and artisanal food is just window-dressing to help sell an ordinary industrial product jetted in from all over the world.

and

Tesco has impishly trademarked the name "Tesco Wholefoods", while all supermarkets have been frantically sewing up UK organic contracts.

The Kensington store's initial promise was to buy local; the reality is that it can't fill the shelves this way. Its food, organic and otherwise, will now be "regionally" sourced, which means the length and breadth of the British Isles - and the Continent. Add to this certain American brands that have been flown over to make up the shortfall and you have a typically cosmopolitan food hall.

Click here for a bit more info in last year's piece in the Observer Food Monthly.

[tomweir]

It's hard not to feel conflicted about WF (or Whole Paycheck as we called it in NYC).

On the one hand you wish all supermarkets were like it, organic and high end produce, interesting choices in packaged and prepared food, good gourmet sections.

On the other, I personally think food shopping reaches it's pinnacle in French or Italian market towns where you shop for small amounts over a number of small retailers, whether stands in a market or small shops beside it.

And WholeFoods is the antithesis of that.

Options for competition developing shrink in the face of this kind of retailing. I hope that Fallon & Byrne's in Dublin keeps going for one, WF will make it look small and limited. One branch in NY has 57 staff for goodness sake.

There's an interesting article on them in Fast Company. In some ways they are a very innovative company.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/84/wholefoods.html

[offcentre]

I'm sure it will be a roaring success here. As long as the store looks nice and has all the right buzzwords stuck in your face it can't go wrong. People don't have the time to worry about where their organic produce is coming from and whether it's sourcing is to the detriment of local producers. Life is too bloody complicated to work out if your half pound of peas is directly contributing to global warming and putting old farmer brown down the road out of business.