Whole Foods To Sell 13 Stores

[Alpha8472]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Whole Foods Market (WFMI) said Friday it will sell 13 stores to resolve the Federal Trade Commission's challenge against the grocer over its $565 million purchase of Wild Oats Markets.

Whole Foods is putting 12 Wild Oats stores and one Whole Foods store up for sale. The stores are located in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Utah.

The company will also sell leases and assets for 19 Wild Oats stores that have already been closed.

Federal regulators had challenged Whole Foods' 2007 acquisition of Wild Oats, worrying the deal would create a natural-food monopoly.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... -ftc_N.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/innovati ... AL20090306

* 7133 N. Oracle Rd., Tucson, AZ
* 8688 E. Raintree Dr., Scottsdale, AZ
* 2584 Baseline Rd., Boulder, CO
* 1651 Broadway St., Boulder, CO
* 3180 New Center Pt., Colorado Springs, CO
* 5910 S. University Blvd., Littleton, CO
* 9229 N Sheridan Blvd., Westminster, CO
* 340 N. Main St., West Hartford, CT
* 4301 Main St., Kansas City, MO
* 1090 St. Francis Dr., Santa Fe, NM
* 7250 W. Lake Mead Blvd., Las Vegas, NV
* 19440 N.W. Cornell Rd., Hillsboro, OR
* 6930 S. Highland Dr., Salt Lake City, UT

I don't know who will end up buying these Whole Foods stores. Perhaps some independent owners will buy them.

I don't know why, but some people don't seem to like Whole Foods stores. Some see them as sort of a Walmart of organic supermarkets. They are really expensive, but they do offer organic products that you can't find at regular supermarkets. I have never been impressed by their decor. Most of their stores all look the same and are quite bland.

[lvkewlkid]

I was actually very surprised that they kept the Wild Oats store on West Lake Mead in Las Vegas and converted it into a Whole Foods because its so close to another one on West Charleston, now i'm not surprised that its closing, it really isn't needed to have 2 so close together...

[Alpha8472]

Whole Foods is supposed to sell the store. It will continue operate as a supermarket, but under new owners. I don't know who would operate it. I assume it will be another organic grocer, but it could be a regular chain store. Maybe, Vons might want it. However, if it becomes a regular supermarket, many of the organic loving customers will be lost.

[Brian Lutz]

The Santa Fe Wild Oats store on that list was originally a Safeway (I'm tempted to say it was a Marina, but I can't be entirely sure of that. I know it was some sort of 60s design, and had some sort of weird looking dinosaur-themed tile mosaic near one of the entrances.) I believe that they eventually tore that one down and built a new store on the same site.

You can see the Live Search bird's eye view of the store here.

I'm sure in Santa Fe they'll probably have no problem finding some hippies to run the place.

[Alpha8472]

The original acquisition in August of 2007, included 109 Wild Oats locations. Thirty-five of those, under the Henry’s and Sun Harvest banners, were sold immediately to Smart & Final. Whole Foods then closed several of the locations and had converted several others to the Whole Foods banner.

I would like to see how Smart & Final has changed the former Henry's and Sun Harvest stores. Smart & Final in my area is much smaller than a regular supermarket. It is sort of like a smaller limited selection grocery warehouse. The prices were not very good either.

Whole Foods also agreed to sell Wild Oats trademarks and other intellectual property associated with Wild Oats stores.

So in this case, the Wild Oats name might be coming back. Some other company could take over the name and start opening up Wild Oats stores.

[luckysaver]

The Wild Oats store in Pasadena, CA is being remodeled into a Fresh & Easy. This location once had the western regional offices for Wild Oats.

luckysaver