When I wrote the article about Whole Foods taking your whole paycheck, I talked about the high prices of organic food grocery shopping and how it was eating away at the budgets of families around America. With more and more Millennials focused on being cost conscious and stiff competition by a litany of other organic grocery stores, Whole Foods has responded with a newer small cheaper version of its parent stores. It will be called 365 by Whole Foods Market.
It’s not a surprise to me that the initial stores will be targeted in hipster markets. My guess is if you are traveling to the stores with only a unicycle, you might even get a complimentary bag of kale. Just kidding! The initial store is set to open in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles which was recently rated the number one hipster area in the United States.
When compared to smaller more personalized stores such as Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods has been seen as a much pricier option to the consumer. While growth was explosive in the beginning, overall sales have slumped as of late with the advent of stores such as Sprouts Farmer’s Market, Earthfare, Fresh Market, and many other regional stores across the country.
To get at this some 77 million personal Millennial (Generation Y) market, Whole Foods plans to use this brand to carry fewer items, lower prices, and garner a share of that part of the market especially in these growing urban micro neighborhoods. In a place such as Atlanta, think about the growth in places like Inman Park, Decatur, and Westside Atlanta.
Who knows if the new model will work or not, but it certainly tells you how powerful the market of Generation Y is on shifting the behaviors of providers even those as large and powerful as Whole Foods. The good news for Millennials (and other inner city dwellers) is that Whole Foods may no longer take your whole paycheck.
Written by:
Ted Jenkin
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Ted Jenkin is a frequent guest columnist for the Wall Street Journal and Headline News Weekend Express. He is the co-CEO of oXYGen Financial. You can follow him on LinkedIn @ www.linkedin.com/in/theceoadvisor or on Twitter @tedjenkin.
