One of the tenets of Whole Foods’ infamous Declaration of Interdependence is: “Success in fulfilling our vision is measured by customer satisfaction, team member happiness and excellence, return on capital investment, improvement in the state of the environment and local and larger community support.” Never has a statement been truer. That last part especially rings true when I watch this mission-driven juggernaut achieve its vision and financial objectives as it moves into some of the toughest markets and neighborhoods in the country.
Whole Foods is looking for its next wave of growth by opening up over 1,000 “smaller and urban” stores in markets it would have never considered 10 years ago. By going smaller in markets such as Brooklyn and Boise BZ NaN%, and bigger in previously unimaginable urban areas, such as Downtown Detroit and Englewood, a gritty Chicago neighborhood, Whole Foods is delivering on its bigger promise of becoming accessible to the masses, helping America get healthier and hopefully integrating its purpose into the lives of those who never knew that Whole Foods was a brand for them.
Slowly but surely, the gloss of the premium, yuppie, organic choice for upscale clientele is coming off, and what is emerging is a retail powerhouse that hopes to become ubiquitous with delivering on the increased and collective health consciousness and democratization across all demographics. From the “44% of its population living below the poverty-line” Englewood to Lincoln, Nebraska, Whole Foods is changing the way America shops and eats.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Forbes
