My opinion of the Whole Foods brand has gone through three very distinct evolutionary stages. When I was a little boy growing up in Dallas, my mom used to take me shopping for groceries with her, and we would occasionally go to a local Whole Foods Market. Although my mom loved Whole Foods, I was not a fan. I much preferred traditional grocery stores like Albertson's or Tom Thumb. From what I remember, Whole Foods wigged me out a little bit. First of all, Whole Foods didn't have a toy aisle. What the hell was up with that? It was impossible for me to get my jollies in a grocery store without a toy aisle. I was stuck with mom squeezing the grapefruit and thumping the cantaloupe, and that was no fun. Thus, not having a toy aisle was a huge negative. Second of all, the store layout was weird. Not only was there no toy aisle, but there were no aisles at all. You had to follow a particular path around the store, and this felt very restricting to me. I didn't like it. Lastly, the folks that shopped there made me uncomfortable. Unlike customers at regular grocery stores, they looked a little dirty to me, like homeless folks who had just stopped at a public restroom for a brief, impromptu spritz. I remember a lot of tie dyes, long hair on heads and faces as well as in other places, leather sandals, sundresses, and a very distinct odor in the air. I realize now that they were just old hippies, but they freaked me out at the time all the same.
My impression of the Whole Foods brand didn't change much from the time that I stopped grocery shopping with my mom at around the age of ten until I was about twenty-four. When I was twenty-four, I moved to Clarksville, the neighborhood just west of Lamar and north of 6th Street. My closest grocery store was Whole Foods, and as a result I shopped there frequently out of convenience. While living in Clarksville, Whole Foods became a staple in my life. They sold high-quality, nutritious food, put on cool events and classes, and fostered a real sense community with the surrounding neighborhood. When shopping there, I'd see the same customers and helpful, courteous Whole Foods staff all the time. I thought it was awesome. It truly was an experience that I enjoyed as opposed to an obligatory errand that I had to run. I really bought into the Whole Foods brand. Although prices were pretty high, I didn't mind paying the premium for the quality, service, and experience since I had a pretty good job and a decent income. I could afford it... or so I thought.
My honeymoon with the Whole Foods brand did not last. As I continued to mature out of my undergrad college phase and my spending priorities shifted from simply food, booze, and partying to nicer clothes for work and play, occasional nice dinners, and a vacation here and there, it hit me that buying groceries at Whole Foods was a luxury that I could no longer afford if I wanted to enjoy those other things. After shopping there consistently for about a year, I suddenly didn't feel like I had such a great job nor that decent of an income. I had been spending over $500 per month on groceries alone at Whole Foods. It was outrageous. Thus, I found an alternative. I began dividing my trips to the grocery store among HEB, Randall's, and Central Market. Each store has its benefits: HEB has overall low prices in addition to a great little organic/natural section; Randall's offers a rewards club card that saves me about $10 to $20 every time I shop there; and finally Central Market offers a Whole Foods-like experience - i.e. quality organic/natural products, helpful staff, sense of community, etc. - at a more affordable price.
Consequently, now I'm not as big of a fan of Whole Foods. I still love the store, the concept, and the experience, but I hate the high prices. It's just too damn expensive, especially now that I'm in school and don't have a regular income. My Semos Fitness training biz could barely cover a week's worth of groceries over there. Furthermore, I hate the snobby attitude that some Whole Foods customers have. Snobby might be too strong of a word, but there's definitely an air of elitism among some Whole Foods customers, in my opinion. And I used to be one of them. When I used to shop at Whole Foods regularly, I felt like I would die if I had to eat unnatural, inorganic food products from a conventional grocery store like HEB or Randall's. Their food was dirty and would undoubtedly contaminate my body. I'm using hyperbole here of course, but still I was pretty bad. It was kind of pathetic. I'm annoying myself right now just thinking about it.
Heather listed the following characteristics of the Whole Foods brand:
- exceptional quality
- authentic
- experts on food
- trusted source
- passionate
- strong sense of community
- care for the environment
- deep respect for Team Members
I agree with all of these characteristics. And I appreciate that Whole Foods crafts their messaging around their core brand values as opposed to crafting their messaging based on what they think consumers want to hear. Hell, they appear to have an awesome corporate culture, and I'd love to work there. Nonetheless, I think that Heather's list is missing two characteristics of the Whole Foods brand that are unappealing to a lot of people: excessively high prices and semi-snobby customer culture.
Whole Foods Celebrities and Why They Annoy Me
Hayden Panettiere - She's one of the reasons why the show Heroes sucks now. She plays the role of the quintessential rebellious teen, crying and whining while defying her father and trying to be tough. It was cute at first I guess, but now it's just straight up annoying. I'm sick of them saving the cheerleader. I wish they'd just kill her off already. Let Sylar eat her brains. Decentigrate her with a nuke. Something!
Lauren Conrad - She's rich and famous because... uh... I don't know why she's famous. And that's REALLY annoying. Get a friggin' job! Stupid celebutante...
Hillary Duff - I don't know much about Hillary Duff. But she doesn't look like she used to because she's got huge fake teeth. She looks like a damn horse. And that's annoying.
Interesting, your anger with these "celebs" seems to rub off on one of the brand you historically really liked and identified with. This didn't start out an angry post but it ended up that way! - sdr
ReplyDeleteDidn't mean to come off as angry. They really just annoy me more than anything else.
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