Kensington High Street in London saw the opening this week of the largest of the Whole Foods stores, and the first to be located outside the U.S. The three-level store is expected to become a tourist destination (“Look, on your left, a massage station!”). A British retail analyst, quoted in an article in the International Business Times, said, “People will travel into London to visit this store.”
This is the first of a series of Whole Foods stores planned for Britain, but not everyone predicts success.
‘It’s a leap of faith, even though the market is theoretically favorable,’ said Robert Clark, an analyst at the Retail Knowledge Bank consulting group. . . . Whole Foods prices are likely to be above even those currently at the crest of the domestic market, like the current upmarket leader Waitrose, and may be beyond the reach of too many customers.
This sort of feedback is not new for Whole Foods, the Texas-based health food store chain that has grown to nearly 200 stores. An interview with company founder John Mackey, published in the Guardian earlier this year, had him quoting the naysayers.
They said our first store in Austin would not work. Then they said it would not work outside Austin, that it would not work outside Texas, that we would never succeed in California or Chicago or New York. People dismissed us as sort of a fad, just a bunch of weird food hippies. But we’ve proved them wrong everywhere we’ve gone, and we’ll carry on.
The articles covering the opening never fail to mention the glam factor of Whole Foods, how movie stars shop there—Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal. They also mention the cost, significantly more than most British retails charge for grocery items. Will “Whole Paycheck” make it in the UK? Will it manage to expand, as planned, to some 30 to 40 stores in Britain alone? (And yes, there are plans for the Continent as well.)
“I think they have a difficult job in front of them,” Clark said. “But I’ll be happy to eat my hat.”
With a side of Whole Foods’ organic salad greens, of course.
If Tesco can open in California and Arizona, Whole Foods is welcome in the UK. Is this what’s called ‘globalisation?’ I wonder which will succeed more successfully. Whole Food stores are beautiful and stock a lot of products and great produce… but how much should one really pay for this? And will organic lettuce really make one healthier? These are individual decisions. I’d rather spend some of my money on other things and in the UK it does become a choice of priorities.
I’m a Californian expat living in London (2 years and counting) and I’m equal parts thrilled and apprehensive about Whole Foods.
On one hand, I’m proud of the work I’ve done to find and purchase local, organic food in London and the support I show my local grocers and markets. There’s so little that we used to eat in CA that we can’t find or find a substitute for and so many great new foods and brands we’ve discovered that Whole Foods almost feels like cheating.
On the other hand, I almost weep when I visit Whole Foods when I’m back home and see everything I love all in one place. And there are some things we just haven’t been able to find passable substitutes for (blue corn tortilla chips!) that I’m anxious to see if they’re going to stock.
That said, we live across the city from Kensington, so our visits to WF will be infrequent adventures, not daily trips. I do wish them well, though!
First to be located outside US? If I am not mistaken there is a Whole Foods in Toronto. Which the last time I looked, was not in the US.
There is also a Whole Foods in BC (West Vancouver) …
…and WF’s website lists no fewer than 7 UK locations and 3 in Canada (Van, TO, Oakville).
Ombudsman! I demand to see the ombudsman!
I’m worried that the pending Whole Foods buy out of Wild Oats has been given the kabosh by the FTC and the dingy Wild Oats near me in Saugus, MA will never get to become a wonderful Whole Foods!
You’re right on the Canadian stores–all the press on the London store lauded it as the first Whole Foods on foreign soil. Should have checked myself. Thanks for pointing that out.
The other British locations are not technically Whole Foods stores. They are part of the Fresh & Wild chain that Whole Foods bought. They will be folded into WF as time goes by, but for the moment they are operating under their own name.