July 24, 2006
The Fetishism of Whole Foods
We've mentioned it briefly before, but several readers have written in to ask us to comment further, and we have to say that this is now officially fairly ridiculous. On Saturday the Post ran a whole feature article on the campaign of some Columbia Heights residents to bring a Whole Foods Market to the new Target/Best Buy development at 14th Street and Park NW — a plan that has been stalled over disagreements concerning dedicated parking for the grocer. The "movement" even has signifcant space over at ColumbiaHeightsNews.org.
Listen, we enjoy paying $14 for carryout curried chicken salad or $3.99 a lb. for organic bell peppers as much as the next guy. There's nothing like popping into a Whole Foods every so often to get your mouth watering and your wallet wondering how the hell you just spent $50 on ingredients for a single meal for two people. Whole Foods is a fantasy land of health and convenience, and we're sure glad they're here in the District. But that's just it. They're already here.
As we've felt compelled to point out in the past, the Logan Circle store is only 1.65 miles from the site of the proposed Columbia Heights market. Is the Parrano cheese situation in this city really so desperate? Of course it's not, and sadly, the Post article spells out all too clearly the class and race-based tensions underlying much of the thinking behind the people trying to coax the store into opening.
Just a few choice quotes:
"I've been a resident of the neighborhood since 2001 and have seen it improve greatly since I moved there," one homeowner wrote in an e-mail to Whole Foods. "The quality of the residents, as well as the quality of the restaurants and stores in the area are likewise on a steep upward trajectory."Wow. The quality of the residents is on an upward trajectory, eh? So like, if they'd just put in a Whole Foods, y'all would be totally validated that you're wealthy and special! Yes, it's great that Columbia Heights has come such a long way in terms of crime and economic development over the last five years. But pardon us if we let out a collective ewww at the thought that the people who have recently moved to Columbia Heights think of themselves as higher "quality" than the people who have lived there for 15 or 30 years.
Lauren Tobias, 29, a communications consultant who lives at 14th and Chapin streets, spoke glowingly about the prepared foods at Whole Foods and how young professionals want the convenience of picking up a quick, healthy dinner. Then she caught herself. "I don't want it to sound like I'm one of the new people and I need all these services," she said. "But a Whole Foods is just needed."Really? Goodness, we sure do wonder what people ever did before this SuperMeccaStore, though we suppose it's possible they actually cooked their own meals (gasp). In all seriousness, what on earth is behind this notion that Whole Foods will deliver us all to a higher plane of existence? Sure, it's a nice store, but it's no bargain, and they don't even carry most essential products. The brand new Giant in Columbia Heights, with its wide aisles, extensive ethnic food selection and spacious parking lot couldn't possibly be as inferior as the people in this story claim. We love Columbia Heights, and we'd certainly like to see any number of stores open up in that area if that's what residents really want. But focusing so much energy on getting a Whole Foods when there's one a quick bus ride away makes us wonder whether there's an emerging Whole Foods religious cult we haven't gotten any brochures about yet.
|
Well, I live a block from the proposed site and I'd much rather have something like Harris Teeter or Safeway to compete with Giant.
Whole Foods is over priced and doesn't have anything I can't get at Giant. I don't need to impress anyone by shopping at Whole Foods.
I agree completely. How hard is it to ride 10 blocks down to the Whole Foods?
That said, the Giant on 14 really is that bad.
Bestway on Mt. Pleasant Street rules for price and convenience.
Shushup, now. You'll scare them over to Balducci's!
Parrano shout out- hollah!
Not only is the new giant a pretty nice place to shop, but there will also be a new harris Teeter coming in at 17th and Kalorama! How far is too far for these people to walk for good groceries? If 1.65 miles is too far, fine, but the new HT will be easy walking for most of columbia heights (certainly the gentrified part of it).
I've said it once and I'll say it again. These people are just down right greedy for bix box chains. Love your soon to be Target, Best Buy, and nicest Giant in the city, but be sure to support your small, local businesses.
Wegmans, Wegmans, Wegmans
The Giant on 14th is bad, but Bestway rules? Aroo?
I shop at both of them because I buy completely different things from each. Bestway actually is decent from meat and produce, but have you ever seen a shallot there? Or rosemary? The Giant used to be supersketchy, but the new store is actually pretty good. Sure, lots of it's overpriced, overprocessed crap, but so's Bestway.
The only reason to shop at Whole Foods is the ready supply of antibiotic and hormone free meat. Fully half of the fruits & vegetables they sell there are "conventional" [read: not organic], my wife didn't know that until I told her and I suspect that many of the Yuppies clamoring for WF don't realize it either. Truthfully, with a little planning you can get meat of the same or better quality from local vendors with a little advance planning at Eastern Market or other local farmer's markets.
Personally I prefer local and sustainable food, Whole Foods is neither.
The brand new Giant in Columbia Heights, with its wide aisles, extensive ethnic food selection and spacious parking lot couldn't possibly be as inferior as the people in this story claim.
Sure, it's great, if you don't mind spending 15-20 minutes in a check-out line.
What's antibiotic and hormone free meat and why is it worth a 50% markup?
The Giant, while better than the one it replaced across the street, has atrocious customer service. I'm convinced they put the slowest cashiers in the express lanes on purpose.
Screw Whole Foods, though. Columbia Heights would be better served by a Trader Joe's. Much more affordable.
I have to disagree with people who think the Giant on Park Road is so bad. It's bigger, cleaner, newer and nicer than the one near my parents' house in Rockville. They stock all sorts of Latino products that most Giants don't (a wider variety than Bestway has in some cases). Their meat isn't suspect like Bestway's (I'm not buying any more chicken there). There's free parking, if you have a car. I like Bestway and the other Mt. Pleasant stores fine for a quick thing I need, but that Giant is about the best big urban grocery store I've ever seen.
The only really frustrating thing about it is how crowded it is all the time -- but that's a sign people use it, surely not a sign that it's such a hideous excuse for a grocery store that we need a Whole Foods across the street. But even the crowding is another argument against Whole Foods -- the Giant draws a diverse group of customers that reflects the wide range of incomes and backgrounds in Columbia Heights and Mt. Pleasant.
Personally, I hope they put a Marshalls or a Loehmans or something superdiscount in the Target complex, just to piss off all the people concerned about the "quality" of the residents in the area who measure their personal value by how much money they can spend on a local shopping trip.
How does republishing news from other sources count as like, interesting? Perhaps the passing judgment is what does it.
To echo dads, I have no problem with the selection at the CH Giant, but the check out lines are absolutely terrible. This discussion was rehashed endlessly on the Columbia Heights mailing list, where we learned that slow check out lines are a consequence of the lack of community involvement/gentrification/U.S. imperialism. In the meantime, I'll note that I've never had to wait more than 10 minutes at the Whole Foods on P street.
I should have said I would prefer at least a Whole Foods if there is no other grocery store option at that location.
Giant is great, but they can't figure out how to order pepperoni in the meat section. Get this: there are two slots (one for turkey and one for regular pep.). Some idiot keeps putting the Lil'smokey Joes in the pepperoni slots. I have moved the smokey joes at least 4 times (during the last week) and some idiot keeps putting them back in the wrong slots. I even moved it to a completely different shelf...
Come on guys...give my homemade pizza a break.
What's antibiotic and hormone free meat and why is it worth a 50% markup?
Unlike most meat you buy, it doesn't come from animals that have been shot up with antibiotics to keep them disease free in "factory farm" conditions, nor have they been speed fattened with Bovine Growth Hormone. There's no real evidence that either of those things are bad for you, but common sense tells me that the less meat I eat that's been treated with a bunch of BS, the better off I am and it definitely tastes better. The reason to pay more for it is so that your 7 year-old doesn't grow D-cups; there's some anectdotal evidence that suggests hormone treated meat may be related to early puberty in girls.
Pinaki, antibiotic and hormone-free meat is meat that comes from animals not fed antibiotics or hormones to increase their meat output. It is worth a 50% markup to those of us who get violently ill or have painful reactions to antibiotics and hormones in our steaks and chicken salds.
That said, the 52, 53 and 54 busses run straight from Columbia Heights to 14 and P, you don't even have to walk very far when you get off the bus. We don't need a Whole Foods in CH.
A Value City would be sweet!
The meat does taste better- the fish is usually better, too. Though, still, I can't stomach the thought of $9/lb skirt steak. Organic or not, that's expensive for a cheap cut.
BTW- lots of the hormones and other baddies are fat soluable. So if you're buying lean, like tenderloin, it's not as big an issue.
Mark - Agreed, $9/lb skirt steak is a travesty. I didn't know that 411 about the fat solubility.
Since the new Giant opened up I've almost completely stopped going to Whole Foods/Fresh Fields. Giant added a lot of the organic and specialty items WF has and is a bit cheaper. Giant's lines are definately longer, but all the better for long-timers to mingle with the new 'high quality' residents and the newbies to get in touch with the old wise folks of DC :) I'd prefer a new bookstore like Olssons or a barbershop instead of a WF.
Thing is, Giant has tuned into the fact that more and more people want organic products. They now offer many organic choices, including hormone- and antiboitic-free chicken and beef. You don't need a Whole Paycheck for that.
The lines at the Giant don't bug me so much. Gives you more time to socialize with others, don't you think? And, given the outrageous behavior of some of the customers -- particularly the more up-tight ones (maybe the ones who want a Whole Foods), I can't say I'm much surprised that some of the employees get a 'tude in response. I would too -- doesn't justify it, but it certainly puts it in context.
Barbershop! ohpleaseohpleaseohplease...
I've had one too many close encounters with the barbershops of Mt. P who belive there isn't a haircut that can't be done with a #2 guard. I miss working by Walls barbershop on 15th...
Whole foods is pretty much a fraud. Like it was noted earlier most their food is not organic, but they sure charge prices like it is. Last time I was there the only organic veggies I found were salads. No fruits nothing. Also I wouldn't touch the meat their either. It may be antibiotic free and growth hormone free, but they still grow it like conventional cattle by feeding them corn and keeping them in small lots. You can find much better quality at the local farmers markets and some of the local organic stores for a better price than whole foods. Whole foods is just a Walmart for the well off. Leave the customers ignorant of what they are buying and roll in the dough.
Whole foods is pretty much a fraud. Like it was noted earlier most their food is not organic, but they sure charge prices like it is. Last time I was there the only organic veggies I found were salads. No fruits nothing. Also I wouldn't touch the meat their either. It may be antibiotic free and growth hormone free, but they still grow it like conventional cattle by feeding them corn and keeping them in small lots. You can find much better quality at the local farmers markets and some of the local organic stores for a better price than whole foods. Whole foods is just a Walmart for the well off. Leave the customers ignorant of what they are buying and roll in the dough.
I've been very disappointed with the CH Giant. As part of my work, I or one of my collegues goes shopping there everyday and we've had a lot of trouble reliably getting certain produce, fish, and meet there. Bell peppers are oft of poor quality, the salmon is not always available, and the selection of less popular cuts of beef is extremely limited.
The Whole Foods at 14th/P is the busiest in the entire mid-atlantic region. A new location in CH would draw customers from throughout the region and also would help in convincing the city to add Yellow Line metrorail service permantly though CH.
Rumor has it that a Yes! Organic Market is going to be opening on Georgia Avenue right next to the Petworth Metro station, so that is right on the Columbia Heights / Petworth border. It seems to me that is a better location than where they want the Whole Foods. It'll be easier to get to and hopefully help compete with Giant - which I love but it is always packed.
I used to like WF's grass-fed beef- it's lean, and flavorful when cooked med-rare. It's from Australia, which seems to speak volumes about relative cost. But the NY Strip, which used to be about $12 or $13/lb is now, something like $17/lb. Since I'm the kind of glutton that'll eat a pound in a sitting, it's off my list.
Hormones and many heavy metals are concentrated in fatty tissue, so eating lean has a couple of benefits. So far as fish, pelagic and non-farmed species, while expensive, are a healthier bet. Monterey aquarium has a great list of best bets based on health and sustainability.
Screw Whole Foods; we need a Hooters.
Jeez, you'd think Whole Foods was the nazi party or something. Yes, I'm sure they're all SOOO evil and horrible. What a bunch of complainers y’all are.
That said, you may or may not be right about them needing to be there. I don't know. But why does a grocery story that sells a different kind of product have to be so evil? If you don't want $9/lb steak, then don't buy it. I buy a select few things at WF (definitely not $9/lb steak), and those things are reasonably priced, and since they are "specialty" items that WF tends to specialize in, they are actually cheaper than the Giant (if and when I can even find them at a Giant). Many of them I can't get anywhere else period.
I still economize by buying a lot of stuff at other stores, but I have to tell you that when I am waiting in line for an hour (I'm not making that up either, an hour) at Giant, I feel much better about paying a little more to have a store that at least respects me enough to hire an appropriate number of checkout people.
Anyway, quit your whining. Beyond the question of whether it's the best store for that location, there must be better things to do than calling WF evil, even if it is so in style to point out how evil a successful store is. As if the shareholders of Giant are the epitome of altruism.
"Fetishism" captures the Whole Foods phenomenon perfectly. I live in the neighborhood too, and I'm a veteran of the Old Scary Giant on 14th, so maybe I'm more forgiving than most, but jesus, people, there's a huge shiny new grocery store RIGHT THE HELL THERE, people. And don't forget the Mt.Pleasant farmers' market. Let the record show that all CH residents are NOT such affluent fetishists...what a buncha whining caucasoid pansy poo-heads...
I can't believe people are complaining about the 14th street Giant. Drop by my Giant -- the one on 9th street -- and witness grocery shopping at the edge of civilization. It's a thousand times worse (and yes, I've shopped at both).
Thank God I have a car so I can go to the Harris Teeter in Pentagon City and not have to deal with "Soviet" grocery stores, overpriced mini-marts, or hordes of hipsters pushing those stupid little metal carts. Plus, Harris Teeter has self-check out so I am out the door and on my way without having to deal with some moronic sales clerk.
Published on Thursday, June 29, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
Whole Foods CEO Mackey Endorses Cato Book – No More Corporate Crime Prosecutions
by Russell Mokhiber
Most people who shop at Whole Foods are liberal yuppies.
They have enough money to spend $9 on a pound of cherries.
They believe that shopping for groceries at Whole Foods instead of Safeway or Food Lion or Giant or Wal-Mart is the politically correct thing to do.
They probably believe that the President and CEO of Whole Foods is a liberal like themselves.
They of course would be wrong.
John Mackey is instead a libertarian with right-wing tendencies.
Mackey says that Milton Friedman is his hero.
He’s a devotee of Ayn Rand.
He’s opposed to national health insurance.
He’s a union buster.
And he has recently endorsed a book published by the libertarian Cato Institute whose author concludes that no corporation should ever be prosecuted for crimes – no matter the corporation, no matter the crime.
The book – Trapped: When Acting Ethically is Against the Law – is written by Georgetown University Professor John Hasnas.
“John Hasnas shows that new laws and regulations too often force CEOs to choose between acting legally and acting ethically,” Mackey says in a blurb on the back cover.
Unlike most books on white collar crime, which tend to rehash bland academic theories or cut corporate crimes of years past and paste them with dogmatic rants, Trapped is actually a compelling read with an original idea sprinkled here and there.
Hasnas’ big idea is that the whole system of prosecuting corporate crime is undermining the liberal principles built into traditional criminal law and designed to protect individuals against the power of the state.
The result is that corporations are forced to turn on their own employees to save their own corporate hide.
Hasnas is a hard line libertarian. He worked for a time as lawyer for the politically aggressive, right-wing, and privately-held Koch Industries – one of the nation’s largest oil companies.
And instead of concluding that we should fix the criminal justice system so that corporations and federal prosecutors can no longer gang up on individual employees – he concludes in his book that corporations should never be criminally prosecuted – ever.
No matter the crime.
No matter the corporation.
Hasnas wants to do away with corporate criminal liability.
If there is a crime committed by someone within the corporation, criminally prosecute the individual, he says.
But a corporation can’t commit a crime and should not be criminally prosecuted.
Ever.
We wanted to know: does Whole Foods’ CEO Mackey agree – corporations should never be criminally prosecuted?
No matter the crime?
No matter the corporation?
Does the libertarian John Mackey support the big business funded Cato Institute and its right wing ideology with cash – or just with quotes?
Whole Foods spokesperson Kate Lowery did not return numerous calls and e-mails seeking comment.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.
For a complete transcript of the Interview with John Hasnas, see 20 Corporate Crime Reporter 27(12), July 5, 2006, print edition only.
Wholefoods may be a rip-off, but at least I don't have to sort through the expired dairy to get to the good stuff and if the store is open the fish counter is open, and most important, the employees are not snotty jerks who act like they're too good to answer a question.
I buy everything I can local and organic at the farmers market, get the white-trash staples like Mayo and katsup at the Costco. But, if I need a grocery store in the 'hood, I'm happy to pay double at the Wholefoods rather than endure the attitude of the Giant Staff (and management).
Its not about "quality" residents, we've always had that. Its about treating all shoppers w/ respect and Giant's staff can't do that and Wholefoods can (and I'm pretty sure they staff is coming from the same demographic, so I suspect the problem is the management's problem).
Or, maybe its the Cato influence. But, whatever it is, if WF can deliver excellent service, quality merchandize, and the variety I want. Bring on the libertarian. This liberal would rather shop libertarian with respect for customers than liberal w/o (and btw, there ain't nuthin' liberal about Giant -- sucky, soviet service does not equal liberal).
BTW, not really relevant, but some reading might be interested - the Best DC Grocery on the 1500 block of U St NW is under new management and - though not 100% figured out yet - taking a dramatic swing for the better.
Still really small, but now non-frightening produce and meat, and (my personal experience,) the clerks seem much less likely to turn from loving and barehanded tending to their foot sores to handle your produce for you.
What is this "I didn't know it wasn't organic, Whole Foods is trying to trick us" crap? I've found it pretty easy to tell which products are what, because I, y'know, read. Can nobody else see the little blue/red "conventional"/"organic" labels they have on the produce displays at Whole Foods? Unless the claim is that they are mislabeling?
I second the TJ's vote--I hear they are opening one near the Foggy Bottom stop--but when one opened in my neighborhood in Chicago a few years ago the 'hood had this EXACT conversation, for a good month. There's no getting around the guilt of the gentrifying for being gentrifiers.
wegmans beats anything whole foods can dish out
http://www.wegmans.com/
oh, and that prick SoCoHeights is delusional. staff at whole foods is much snobbier than the minimum wage workes of giant.
The Mackey quote is:
"Ethical behavior is critical in business. John Hasnas shows that new laws and regulations too often force CEOs to choose between acting legally and acting ethically. This is a book for business people, policymakers, and everyone who has a stake in successful and ethical business enterprises."
Looks like Mackey comes down on the side of ethics. Could be an interesting debate -- I think maybe his point is if you must act to maximize shareholder value you may not be able to act ethically.
And, in lookin into the health insurance issue, I think I discovered the secret of the good service: From 2003 "Fast Company" profile of Mackey:
"Every store was divided into about eight functional teams: You were hired to the seafood team, or the prepared-foods team, or the cashier/front-end team. But you didn't just get hired. You got hired provisionally. After four weeks of work, the team you had joined voted whether to keep you; you needed a two-thirds yes vote to join the staff permanently. Additional pay (beyond base wages) was linked to the teams, so people were careful about who got their votes. Thirteen times a year, Whole Foods calculated the performance of the people on each team in every store. How productive had the team been against goals? Teams that did well shared in the profits -- up to $1.50 or $2.00 extra an hour was paid right back to team members, every other paycheck. So people didn't want buddies on their teams; they wanted workers -- people who were going to make them some money."
"Nonexecutive employees hold 94% of company stock options. And just last year, the National Leadership Team took the health-insurance options to employees for a vote. (Whole Foods pays 100% of the cost for full-timers.)"
Of course, in fairness this http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/09.03.98/wholefoods1-9835.html provides a bit different view.
But, I'd say, we can at least count on one thing. If it makes business sense to but a Wholefoods in CH, Mackey will do it. If not, we ain't getting one just b/c we think we have "improved" enought as a neighborhood to deserve it.
There's a Starbucks on every corner, enough Safeways in the district to have nicknames, and yet it's your learned editorial position that one crowded Whole Foods, accessible by 14th street bus, is enough? And that one grocery store is enough for Columbia Heights? Because Adams morgan will have two? That walking 3.3 miles round trip is reasonable to get firm tofu that Giant apparently can't stock? Or that a weekly farmers market is a substitute for a grocery store?
Did they ask dcist before putting in a target? There's already one in PG plaza. A best buy? There are overpriced electronics just three miles away. Or do these stores meet your approval for the indigenous residents of columbia heights?
Go read the new york times piece on whole foods that includes an (albeit anecdotal) price comparison, then ask yourself if you've studied your receipts. Maybe you can post your $50 recipe?
The new Giant is not up to the task of supporting the community when they have 400 new condos (kenyon, highland; add 300 for allegro at the old Giant site) at their doorstep. And don't forget the seniors. At the new Giant, I've seen (many) batteries leaking acid in their packaging. Lines are long, the cashiers are sullen and many too young to sell alcohol without calling in the manager. I see the store's cashier lines snaking down the aisles and wonder, what will this store look like in a year, and how long will I wait in that line?
I'm not yet unhappy enough with the Giant to walk ten minutes to the bus stop, wait ten minutes for the bus, ride the bus ten minutes to get to whole foods, then reverse the whole process again carrying whole foods "luxury" groceries on a bus full of people who work a lot harder than I do for less money, just because Whole Foods is a corporation I'd like to support that sells better food. I suspect those asserting that it's acceptable to walk three miles or take an hour of transit time for a grocery run probably don't.
Let those trying to get whole foods in columbia heights try. They are well-intentioned, and whole foods doesn't need you to tell them whether people (the gentrifiers or the long-time residents) are likely to shop there. When a reporter tries to tell a story of gentrification, I wonder how well you would fare.
Initiative is rare. Support it when it comes along.
Oh, and 17th and Kalorama? 1.1 miles from me, or .6 miles of walking and a bus that runs every 15 minutes. Each way. Not much of a solution, but hooray for adams morgan!
OK as a 15 year resident (which I still consider a fairly new resident of DC) have shopped at Giants, Safeways, and various assorted non-chain and Whole Foods stores throughout the realm of DC (although mostly in the Adams Morgan/Dupont area). Yes there are areas where the new CH Giant could improve but the length of the lines is not nearly as bad as many of the other stores in DC I have been too. To people who think the lines there are intolerable, you should try the 17th Street Safeway and then compare the new CH Giant to that. As a resident of CH, I am glad that I have a Whole Foods one neighborhood away. To campaign for another one I think is a futile flight of fancy that is just a waste of everyone's time. Lets face it, it is a fairly niche store that I will bet has never had, nor ever will, 2 stores within a 2 mile radius (inner city or suburban). Give it up now.
"What is this "I didn't know it wasn't organic, Whole Foods is trying to trick us" crap? I've found it pretty easy to tell which products are what, because I, y'know, read. Can nobody else see the little blue/red "conventional"/"organic" labels they have on the produce displays at Whole Foods? Unless the claim is that they are mislabeling?"
They don't necessarily mislabel, but the produce section section has organic and conventional mixed together and often they are not labeled accurately.
I don't think they are intentionally trying to trick people, but they do market themselves as being natural and organic which they are not. In contrast Harris Teeters meerly markets itself as an upscale grocery.
Whole Foods strength is in marketing and location. It's like the Starbucks phenomenom. They make their money from high markups and heavily trafficed locations. All style, no substance.