When Whole Foods Comes to Town, The Little Guys Do Fine

Some people are hard to satisfy – in one breath praising Whole Foods for their ability to mainstream organics and healthier food, in the other complaining about high prices and Whole Food’s effect on smaller local competition as if they were the next WalMart. Fair enough, if I were a small organic retailer in some place like Milwaukee I would certainly have concerns about the arrival of a gigantic fancy new Whole Foods store.
Nonetheless, at least in the Milwaukee example and according to this article, smaler retailers and co-ops are taking it all in stride. The smaller businesses say that they are seeing increased competition to sell organics and quality in general, so the arrival of Whole Foods is merely part of a trend they have been preparing for for quite some time. Secondly, smaller businesses may have greater ability to source locally and “raise the bar’ above what Whole Foods can do, becoming better stores an even more discerning public. Read the comments for more interesting perspectives.