Local residents hungry for a good and convenient supermarket greeted the news that Whole Foods, the nation’s largest organic and natural foods grocer, plans to open a store in the space previously occupied by A&P in the Kohl’s Port Chester shopping center, with great enthusiasm. When it opens in late 2013, this new store will be the third in Westchester; the White Plains store opened in 2004 and Yonkers in 2011.

By Paul Hicks

 

Local residents hungry for a good and convenient supermarket greeted the news that Whole Foods, the nation’s largest organic and natural foods grocer, plans to open a store in the space previously occupied by A&P in the Kohl’s Port Chester shopping center, with great enthusiasm. When it opens in late 2013, this new store will be the third in Westchester; the White Plains store opened in 2004 and Yonkers in 2011.

 

Seldom has a grocery chain generated as much press and public commentary (mostly pro, but a good deal con) as Whole Foods. It is hard to imagine people getting as passionate about supermarket companies like Safeway, Stop & Shop, or even Piggly Wiggly (a Southern and Midwestern chain).

 

As we get ready to welcome Whole Foods to the neighborhood, it is worth exploring what’s behind all the media attention. Part of it is due to the quirky guy, John Mackey, who co-founded and is still co-CEO of the company.  

 

Mackey and a former girlfriend started a natural foods store in Austin (still the corporate headquarters), that has grown in 34 years to a public company with more than 300 stores and 62,000 employees (called “team members”). Much of the growth came through mergers with relatively small regional grocers selling similar product lines.

 

Despite Whole Foods’ inclusion for many years in Fortune’s annual list of 100 best corporate employers, it is criticized by a number of people, according to Mackey, because “As a big company they think we’ve crossed over to the dark side.”

 

The company went public in 1993 and is now counted among the largest (Fortune 500) companies. It recently announced its highest-ever quarterly profit with sales at stores open more than a year up more than 9%. Clearly, they are benefitting from the national trend toward healthier eating despite the continuing economic problems and the frequent complaints about high prices.

 

A college dropout whose father was a professor at Rice University, Mackey is a vegetarian and an ardent capitalist who has been called a “right-wing hippie”. He receives only $1 a year in compensation, while salaries of all the company executives are capped at 19 times the average full-time employee’s salary, far below the executive compensation levels of many other large corporations.

 

A profile of Mackey in the January 4, 2010 issue of The New Yorker, pointed out the many divergent views and paradoxes of Whole Foods: “To some, Whole Foods is Whole Paycheck, an overpriced luxury for yuppie gastronomes and fussy label-readers. Or it is Holy Foods, the commercial embodiment of environmental and nutritional pieties.”

 

For most people, it is not possible to do one-stop shopping at Whole Foods, unless you are committed to buying eco-friendly products regardless of the cost and effectiveness. However, whether you are a vegan, locavore, or omnivore, many are drawn there because of the quality of their fresh produce, even if they do most of their shopping elsewhere.

 

Another attraction of Whole Foods is the opportunity to eat in the store before or after shopping. The salad bar and multiple soup choices are highlights, especially when they are serving Mom’s (not Mother’s) chicken soup. It is a superior alternative to McDonald’s for children and grandchildren, and I am told that their pizza slices are awesome.

 

Of course, on some days you can almost have a full meal by eating all the free food samples that are on offer. So, while you are waiting for the Port Chester store to open, take the whole family to Whole Foods in White Plains for a trial run and you will realize what a better location the Port Chester site will be.