Can Whole Food Serve Chicago South Side Soul Analysis

As I walked into Wawa, I could confidently tell you where everything is because the layouts of every Wawa in New Jersey are almost identical. There is a wall of refrigerators filled with soda to the right as you walk in, a side of the store towards the back reserved for making sandwiches, endless shelves of junk food by the registers at the front entrance and the refrigerators filled with soda, and an open freezer area in the middle of the store with some “healthier” foods. The amount of people inside took me completely by surprise as I opened the door because there was a lack of cars parked in the parking lot. I personally felt like I was in a grocery store rather than a Wawa. What I first noticed was the demographic of the customers in the Wawa. Almost all of the people in the store were either hispanic or african american. With people suffering from poverty and a lack of cars in the parking lot, I realized that many of these people walked to the store probably because they didn’t have cars. As I browsed through each aisle I found that Wawa had a nice selection of milk, fresh bread, and cereals that anyone can afford. As I attempted to search the store for any food filled with quality nutrients that wasn’t a dairy or wheat, the number of options weren’t to thrilling. Wawa’s fresh fruit consisted of about 5 red apples, 3 bananas,

Whole Foods Market’s first retail location was in Austin, Texas. Today there are 342 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The growth of this health conscious conglomerate happened over the years by strategic acquisitions of profitable independent stores throughout United States. Mackey’s idealism and respect is exhibited in his openness about the contributions of these retailers to the success of WFM, as the website provides an in depth summary of each acquisition and its contribution to promoting healthier food choices (Whole Foods Market History, 2014). After four years in Austin, Texas WFM branched out into the city of Houston when it purchased the Whole Foods Company, and shortly after, on the west coast, a new store was built in Palo Alto, California. Subsequently WFM began aggressive acquisitions over the next few years, which help to accelerate the growth rate of WFM in other geographical locations. In 2002 WFM opened in Canada and in 2004 through the acquisition of United Kingdom’s grocery chain Fresh & Wild, it opened seven stores. Holistic eating is a worldwide affair that WFM is taking advantage

Renee Brooks Catacalos and Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen wrote, “Suburban Foraging: Two Families Eat Only Local,” and found that, “Price comparisons revealed that no one store was cheaper across the board” (120). They wrote this piece to inform others of their journey and some details that weren’t originally on the market. One grocery store in particular,

Grocery shopping is more diversified and evolved than ever before. Individuals across the nation have access to everything from exotic products to unique delivery services. Often, specialty stores have limited locations whereas specialty services have a limited reach. However, two retailers have expanded to hundreds of locations while adhering to unexpected market positioning for previously untargeted market segments. Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s have become household names while also innovating beyond regional and national traditional chains. Despite comparable size in

In a poor Detroit community with majority of its people living under the poverty line, is organic, higher priced food really a necessity? After researching what kind of people shopped in his stores, Walter Robb, the CEO of the well known Whole Foods, began to realize that race and income were a huge dividing line between who purchased the healthy, organic, and more expensive produce vs who shopped in discount stores like Aldi’s. Compelled by this research, he set out in hopes to not only fix health issues but decline the race separation as well. As we see this “investigation” advance, readers will see the true colors of this company’s goals and the outcome of their social experiment. In “Can Whole Foods Change the Way Poor People Eat?”, author Tracie McMillan uses ethos, pathos, and logos to inform readers that healthy food has the ability to change lives and to show individuals that the company wants to cut out social racism without breaking the bank, but it might not be that easy for Whole Foods itself to fix.

Processes such as these can be attributed to the cosmopolitan nature of these stores drawing in wealthier demographics. According to Forbes magazine “Before either a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s location opens its doors, homes near the soon-to-be opened store appreciated at the same pace or slower than the typical home in the city. After these locations open, home near either store begin to appreciate faster than the average home in the city.” (Gudell).The correlation between home values and proximity to one of these locations is strong and positive, signifying a relationship between these two cohorts. Additionally, Whole Foods, among other similar brands, spreads their locations, as opposed to focusing on one popular area, which proves that they are either keen with finding areas on the verge of gentrification, or simply shows that having one of these chains in a neighborhood increases both property value and rate of

Food insecurity can be tied to historical trends of inequity throughout the country, especially in the Bay Area. Accessibility should not distract from the resident’s ability to pay for food, which is the problem due to overinflation of prices at certain stores (Short, 356). In order to combat this issue, activists formed farmers markets, but the organizers received backlash from corporate food processing companies (Drew, 322). This backlash from companies tie into the many impacts high-rise development has on the city, including job displacement, and housing availability (Hartman, 14). The appeal of the labor market in the Bay Area has caused displacement in prominent communities all over, especially in Oakland and San Francisco (Pratt, 33). One way the labor market does this is by outsourcing high-tech jobs overseas to cut costs and make a profit. labor arbitrage, a term which means searching for the “same skills at a different price.” (Ong, 160). The Bay Area labor market facilitates inequity and displacement for middle and lower class residents, which feeds food insecurity in

There haven’t been reasonable solutions. It’s rough to get markets to establish in low-income neighborhoods for basic financial reasons. Compounding matters, perverse zoning law and wrong sponsorship often limit or stop the large-scale profitable expansion grocery stores look for. In current years, some neighborhood activist has championed weekly farmer’s market, and gardens. For all the worth these local food ideas have, they’re pieced together solutions that can’t supply year-round dependable groceries to people with restricted time and proceeds.

Mari Gallagher states that “Whole Foods has potential to attract other quality retailers to Englewood, and at the same time support local grassroots efforts, and this would be good for the market, economic development, job creation and public health” (3). I strongly agree with her point because a new store construction will offer hundreds jobs for local people. In consequence, hundreds families in Englewood will have a better life. Mr. Walter Robb, Whole Foods’ CO-CEO promises “he would consider the community’s vision and offer competitive price” (1). If I were one of the Englewood residents, I would be thrilled for the opportunities that Whole Foods may bring to my

Author David L. Ulin was born in New York in 1961. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. His level of completed education shows the high level of knowledge he has on the writing. Ulin is editor of three anthologies and author of nine successful published books. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, AGNI, Columbia Journalism Review, Zyzzyva, and the National Public Radio. Ulin’s work is highly credible which makes his article persuasive. In his most recent article “Why going to 7-Eleven has become a political act” Ulin states that 57% of chain stores are minority-run. He provides a specific source which helps him built more

First, we will analysis supermarket ratios, and income disparities to defined lack of access between Jackson Heights and Bayside. Second, we will analysis poverty rates, unemployment rates, and income disparities to defined economic disparities. Third, we will compare violence ratios to defined neighborhood stability. Finally, we will compare percentages of racial and ethnic populations, healthy food intake ratios within Jackson Heights and Bayside to define the racial and ethnic

Many empirical studies done of the mapping of local grocery stores in areas of lower income opposed to areas of higher income. For example, this article shows a map of places of organic supermarkets and the proximity towards certain areas in Buffalo such as North Buffalo, the East side or even the South. Coop farming techniques, more local stores which, supply foods of higher quality.

Yet the census data does not do justice in many ways to the truly diverse nature of the community, as its residents claim ancestry “from all across Latin America and also from places as far flung as the Philippines, India, Korea, Cambodia, Somalia, Romania and Pakistan.”(Watters, 2013) Its businesses along Lawrence Avenue encapsulate the hustle of bustle of the neighborhood as residents and sojourners enjoy the plethora of ethnically diverse markets, groceries, and restaurants. Looming just behind the mostly “mom-and-pop” shop atmosphere of locally owned retailers however are the symbols which make any of America’s varied neighborhoods seem nearly ubiquitous: the golden arches and green and white coffee dispensers which make sure the local traveler remembers that primacy within American neoliberal society is capital, and that brand names such as McDonalds and Starbucks are here to stay, popping out and interspersed along the road like weeds within the

Marketed as ‘America’s healthiest grocery store’ the company has successfully grown to 408 stores across the world with sales of $14 billion in 2014 (Whole Foods Market, 2015). The firm is positioned as an upmarket grocery due to the emphasis on natural, organic origins, and as a result are able to charge a premium for their products. Through efficiently running its operations and stores, Whole Foods are able to maintain healthy 4.02% profit margins (Financial Times, 2015) and operating margins well above the American grocery store industry average at 6.58% (Bloomberg, 2015). Looking at 2015’s quarter 1 figures it is clear to see that Whole Foods have had a hugely successful year with sales of $4.7 billion, up 10% from the same period last year. Furthermore, they opened 9 new stores and have signed a further 11 new leases.

Whole Foods Market began in 1970 as a local supermarket. Over the past 31 years, Whole Foods Market has grown from a single store in Austin, Texas, to becoming one of the worldwide leaders in providing consumers with natural and organic foods. They have grown to over 300 stores in both North America and the United Kingdom. (Whole Foods Market, Inc., 2011) This report examines the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market has put into place. Also, it uses past financial data to provide an assessment of the condition of the company going forward. Those assessments include recommendations of future actions, along with concerns I have about the way the company is currently operating and some difficulties that may be on the way.