First 365 by Whole Foods opens Wednesday

[klkla]

Title says it all.

Whole Food's new "Discount" format is opening in a couple days.

Here are some photos of the outside. To be honest it looks kind of tacky but I'll reserve judgement until I see it myself:
https://www.theeastsiderla.com/2016/05/ ... lver-lake/

Here are some concept drawings of the interior. I'll reserve judgement on that too:
https://www.theeastsiderla.com/2016/04/ ... 365-store/

[Alpha8472]

That looks like a Marina Safeway or a remodel that just looks like a Marina style storefront.

Whole Foods is very careful about planning their stores. When a Whole Foods opens, their stores are packed with rich people who can spend. These new stores will try to be like Trader Joe's stores. It is unknown whether they will be successful, because there are so many Trader Joe's stores already. Trader Joe's has a loyal following, but everything about this 365 store seems too bizarre. Why would you have checkouts in the middle of the store? That is not efficient. Where are the checkout lanes? What about shoplifting? If everyone pays in the middle of the store, how do you keep track of who has paid and who hasn't paid?

Whole Foods only knows how to price gouge. They don't know how to run a discount supermarket or how to price things reasonably. Will this store sell things such as Captain Crunch or Trix? Whole Foods does not understand the kind of people who shop at places like Aldi. What kind of a neighborhood is this? Perhaps Whole Foods is setting themselves up for failure.

[pseudo3d]

That looks like a Marina Safeway or a remodel that just looks like a Marina style storefront.

Whole Foods is very careful about planning their stores. When a Whole Foods opens, their stores are packed with rich people who can spend. These new stores will try to be like Trader Joe's stores. It is unknown whether they will be successful, because their are so many Trader Joe's stores already. Trader Joe's has a loyal following, but everything about this 365 store seems too bizarre. Why would you have checkouts in the middle of the store? That is not efficient. Where are the checkout lanes? What about shoplifting? If everyone pays in the middle of the store, how do you keep track of who had paid and who hasn't paid?

Whole Foods only knows how to price gouge. They don't know how to run a discount supermarket or how to price things reasonably. Will this store sell things such as Captain Crunch or Trix? Whole Foods does not understand the kind of people who shop at places like Aldi. What kind of a neighborhood is this? Perhaps Whole Foods is setting themselves up for failure.

Whole Foods is a one-trick pony but pulls that trick pretty well. They have a following, something The Fresh Market never really was able to get (or at least to that extent). Sure, the grocery market has changed as what Whole Foods has mainstreamed, but WFM is forgetting that people don't really come in for quinoa and organic kale, they come in because it's an upscale supermarket with fantastic perishable departments and a great environment. When you start stripping that out, you end up with a store that's a pale imitation of a WFM that can no longer stand by itself and has to compete in a crowded environment, because if you're going for "organics but on a budget", then Kroger probably can fill that void, plus it sells all the junk you're familiar with, like Diet Coke and Oreos.

[rwsandiego]

That looks like a Marina Safeway or a remodel that just looks like a Marina style storefront.

Whole Foods is very careful about planning their stores. When a Whole Foods opens, their stores are packed with rich people who can spend. These new stores will try to be like Trader Joe's stores. It is unknown whether they will be successful, because their are so many Trader Joe's stores already. Trader Joe's has a loyal following, but everything about this 365 store seems too bizarre. Why would you have checkouts in the middle of the store? That is not efficient. Where are the checkout lanes? What about shoplifting? If everyone pays in the middle of the store, how do you keep track of who had paid and who hasn't paid?

Whole Foods only knows how to price gouge. They don't know how to run a discount supermarket or how to price things reasonably. Will this store sell things such as Captain Crunch or Trix? Whole Foods does not understand the kind of people who shop at places like Aldi. What kind of a neighborhood is this? Perhaps Whole Foods is setting themselves up for failure.

The location was formerly a Ralphs and I believe an Alpha-Beta before that. They have modified the storefront in a way that resembles a Marina Safeway. The neighborhood (Echo Park and Silverlake) could and would support a Whole Foods Market. To put it into perspective, a nearby Save-a-Lot closed a few years ago and was replaced by Lassen's, a locally-owned WFM-like grocery store. The neighborhood is up in arms because they wanted and expected a "real" WFM, not the store WFM decided to build. I don't see this lasting very long.

[klkla]

The location was formerly a Ralphs and I believe an Alpha-Beta before that.

It was actually a Market Basket, then a Hughes Market, then Ralphs and now 365 by Whole Foods FWIW.

[rwsandiego]

The location was formerly a Ralphs and I believe an Alpha-Beta before that.

It was actually a Market Basket, then a Hughes Market, then Ralphs and now 365 by Whole Foods FWIW.

Yep, I was wrong. Not sure what I was thinking when I typed that. Thanks.

[storewanderer]

I will try to hold judgment until I actually see the store but I think Whole Foods is out of its element and this is a no win situation.

Upset the neighborhood that you gave them a "cheapened" version of Whole Foods.

Annoy customers in surrounding Whole Foods if they sell the same items at this "cheapened" version as the full price version but do it at lower prices here.

Or do you dedicate resources like a buying department, etc. to this "cheapened" version and have it sell lower quality products than the usual Whole Foods? If so then you upset the neighborhood again because not only does the store look cheap, feel cheap, sound cheap, but does not have the quality they have come to expect from Whole Foods. Plus you have your "eye off the ball" trying to run this downscale format while many competitors are picking customers off of the full price format Whole Foods which has been and will continue to be the company's primary source of profits.

Maybe they should have given the store a different name and avoided having anything inside that connected it to Whole Foods. Maybe a nice name like Ripe & Simple would have been fitting.

[veteran+]

I believe Whole Foods will have success with 365.

There will be some major tweaking to be sure.

I also believe Whole Foods should go private so they can do what they do best, without the critical influence the financial market has on them.

The big price error story has been so overblown by the media, "retail pundits" and the financial gurus that it could be interfering with their efforts.

Whole Foods is not for everyone. It was never designed or conceived for everyone. They have never tried to be for everyone.

Silver Lake is not getting a regular Whole Foods, perhaps because it is Not Beverly Hills. That could be the reason.

[pseudo3d]

One of the articles I read mentions that 365 doesn't even have service meat or seafood departments, instead having everything in "grab and go" packages. This absolutely raises a red flag in terms of success and longetivity.

[CalItalian]

Los Angeles Times has done a small price comparison between 365 and Whole Foods (and other retailers)
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-3 ... story.html

Additional story: http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/l ... story.html

Video inside store: http://www.foxla.com/news/local-news/144871787-story