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Menu
Greenlife changed the hot bar, and now its more expensive, and less tasty …. boooooooooo 🙁
Hey,
I have tremendously conflicting views on this buy out. Greenlife is/was a great store, but their meats sucked. Can’t tell you how many times I bought meat that went bad within 2 days of purchase. Their prepared food bar was also nothing special. And I agree that this is a blow to the events community for sure. With corporate money they can buy in larger quantity, hopefully bringing the prices down, but how much of that money will stay local? I heard they might no offer their 365 brand. How does that help keep the bill down?
FYI to WF, if you stop carrying Sami’s Bakery bread, I will NEVER shop there again. It is the best bread on the market for gluten sensitive or intolerant people, PERIOD. Perhaps they can buy in larger quantity and bring the price down.
The corporate/local debate will continue in this town for decades. What would the positive/negative impacts be if Google’s Fiber project landed in Asheville? Growth is inevitable, and can make or break the vibe here. I hope WF really understands and appreciates what Asheville has grown to be….
Ask yourself, who benefits most from this development? It’s pretty obvious to me that the local consumer does.
It’s good and all to talk about "community," "cool hippie vibes" and supporting local business, which personally I am all about as well, but healthy food and a healthy lifestyle shouldn’t be reserved only for those who can afford to pay $6 for a gallon of milk. Walking through Greenlife and scouring their prices has always been a completely insulting experience to me. I once paid nearly $50 for one little bag of groceries, got home and looked at everything I’d bought sitting on my countertop, and realized what a farce shopping there truly is.
I’ve always felt Greenlife was just a feel-good place to be seen buying groceries. Obviously, if anyone who shops there looked around, they would know that many of the same products exist at much cheaper prices elsewhere, and often sold BY LOCALS, such as Amazing Savings. The only thing I see that they have done better than any other grocer in town is more effectively sap the hard-earned dollars from people who are gullible enough to buy into their marketing.
No big deal. It’ll be like when Hank Hill got the co-op running great and then the hippies sold out. I believe the new name was Mega-Lo-Op.
I lived in asheville many years and worked at the pre 98 earth fare with many of the G.L. staff and management, my wife currently works for a body care distribution co that is supported by both E.F.,G..L. and W.F., I have worked for whole foods for the past few years as a buyer in the triangle area and know W.F. is diverse and a great place to work. the melding of G.L. into the mix will be awsome for those who want to experience it. G.L. will be the same as the lead folks there are, professional and have been around and know how to keep things right. W.F. is a giant company but varies greatly from store to store region to region…ahseville /G.L.will only be a great complement to the team.
The posts are all over the net. The rumors all over town. Every public forum being utilized for the gossip, threats of boycotts, anger over corporate takeovers and fear about what happens in our small community. And no one has suffered this total disregard of respect more than the Greenlife employees. It was a week of hell for us. The not knowing, the uncertainty about our jobs, the future of our livelihoods, the loss of our 6 years of work, philosophy, energy. We set out 6 years ago to create a place in this community that supported local farmers and vendors. In those 6 years, I have never, not once turned down a local vendor the opportunity for their product to be sold in our store. But in that same 6 years I’ve been forced to discontinue carrying local products on our shelves. Why? Because our consumers make the ultimate decision on what Greenlife sells. If the consumer buys it, it stays. If it doesn’t sell, it goes. As matter of ethics we tried 4 unsuccessful times to drop Burt’s Bees after they were acquired by Proctor & Gamble. Our customers flipped out even though we carry an alternative local product for every single item Burt’s has. Alongside local, we carry products owned by Proctor & Gamble, Heinz, Kraft, Hershey, and other huge corporations, much to our dismay, because our community demands it. It’s simple supply and demand. I am one of the original 15 Greenlifers that helped create a nationally recognized, independent natural food store in my town. I now work for a Fortune 500 company with free health care, profit sharing and 401k among other benefits. A corporation that has done amazing things to protect American farms, take natural foods to a mass market, has 28% of their profits coming from local foods, among many other positve things, and they want to learn from the employees at Greenlife Grocery how to take what we have done to the next level in their company? It’s kind of hard not to be a little flattered by that. Of those original 15 Greenlifers, all living and working in your community, not 1 is upset about this acquisition and that speaks volumes. All I ask of you, Asheville, is that you help us keep Greenlife local by continuing to support us and all our local vendors. The future of Greenlife and what happens next is entirely up to this community. And that is a fact we were given in those "secret meetings" on Thursday.
Reading many of these posts it’s almost as if the "Buy Local" all comes down to price. If a chain offers better prices we should just embrace them? Buy a token amount from local farmers and you’re in? What a crock! Chain profits go back to the chain and its shareholders. I’m not going to bash corporate America, but once you begin embracing these chains it’s all over. You become just like every other city that doesn’t give a damn. Unchain Asheville or tear the damn bumper stickers off your cars!
We’ll still shop our West Asheville Ingles, and occasionally Harris Teeter.
I like the cheese selection at Earthfare.
If you call a business that has more then one location a chain then you need to move to a small town in South America. Then maybe you can appreciate free enterprise that’s only found in the USA.
It’s generally a move in the wrong direction, IMHO. Greenlife was GREAT, is great. WF — while a necessary evil to balance the mainstream markets at one point -=-is now "Wholly" mainstream. We have TONS of great health food options in town –vegan/veg restaurants, most other restaurants veg friendly, Amazing Savings, French Broad, EarthFare, with 19 stores in the SE, has HQ here. LOTS of local farmers in farm market season. Even Ingles — a SMALL company compared to many national chains incl WalMart — really tries hard and has a LOT of organic foods in their aisles, wisely placed right amongst similar products so a smart shopper can COMPARE. Ingles as they tout right on the front is also American Owned….We don;t need to lower the bar for Whole Foods!! YEs – I travel a lot (touring musician) and I support Whole Foods when there is little choice, and indeed over WalMart and big chains, and indeed I buy as much organic/independent as I can in there to "Vote" for the right stuff. Also WF does have their in house brand as people have pointed out, Many of those items SUCK for ingredients, but most are fine–and encourage people on a budget to support natural or even organic.
Whole Foods fools people with their image — people ASSUME their produce is organic– FAR from it — they usually have a SMALL percent organic. Their hot/cold food bar is also mostly chemical/non organic foods. But they PROJECTR this ‘organic’ thing. GReenlife is HARDCORE in that aspect and has mostly ORGANIC, LOCAL produce. Watch for that, I hope it doesn’t change.
Besides – the CEO of Whole Foods has some pretty interestingly ANTI-green, anti progressive views, including being quite critical of global warming facts, and yes it’s the factual part he has issue with. While offering green goods for sale…. He was also strongly AGAINST the national health bill. I know the bill was FAR from perfect and I disagree with parts of it — but WOW — he is seen as Mr Progressive by WF fans, and he simply ISN’T . look up his views. Of course– that will ATTRACT some people but I want green/lefty/progressive/independent-business supporting Ashevillians to know what they are supporting.
I would take a small Greenlife community rich store over corporate Whole Foods any day. Sure prices might fall due to volume, but is that the best thing? really? If Whole Foods doesn’t support local farms and local events/businesses as glife has, there will be back lash for sure. Why are we in such a hurry to "Bigger" Asheville instead of keep "Bettering" Asheville? and where is the Glife support on Ashevegas?
I just wish they’d start making the Kale Yeah salad again!
Get a grip Asheville people!
Whole Foods is just another grocery chain that can be found in cities all over the USA. They are just another brand on the national grocery landscape like Kroger, Safeway and Publix.
Not much is unique, special or cool about Whole Foods Markets, they have good products, nice stores, and decent prices too on many items.
I love Greenlife, but I’m not going to freak out about this. In fact, I’m happy for Greenlife owners, they seem to be good people, and kudos to them for this development. The only folks who should be freaking out is Earthfare….
Jeff said, " . . .It’d almost be as sad as if Ashvegas or Mountain Xpress was being bought out by Gannett. "
Ashvegas WAS bought out by Gannett!
The word is out all around town like it’s a done deal, so it seems pretty definite if you go by word-of-mouth.
Oh, and I’ll take 10-15% markdowns on identical items and $12-$13/hr for cashiers any day over "cool hippie vibe" and smug consumer posing.
The special event community is Freaking The Fuck Out. And rightfully so. Greenlife has been the life blood sponsor of just about every cool event you have been to in the last few years. To see it go to this corporate biggerness is disturbing at the very least. Terrifying to those whom rely on it.
G Life was one of the coolest, most independent businesses in Asheville.
It’d almost be as sad as if Ashvegas or Mountain Xpress was being bought out by Gannett.
Local should matter at some point.
Oh. And G Whole Life are probably moving to the old Deal property up the road on Merrimon. Is that really 6 acres?
Its a chain, just like Mellow Mushroom and Doc Cheys . . . You deal with them, deal with whole foods
John Mackey is obsessed with WFM’s stock price.
This New Yorker profile is a must read if you want to understand WFM’s business model.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/01/04/100104fa_fact_paumgarten
"They stay true to their roots pretty well." That is funny.
Well, since there is no official word, I can’t really come forward. But *IF* this true, nothing will change at Greenlife for a long while. WF *might* believe in what GL has created, and what they stand for. It might be that they want to learn from GL, possibly replicate that small locally fueled concept to other communities. More bringing the local food movement to more communities. Think positive people.
Lower prices on some items….their sales and specials will be more steeply discounted/affordable. By many accounts, Whole Foods’ store brand, 365, is a really good value in terms of price + quality. I found SLS-free body wash there for $3 in Cary not too long ago.
They’re a big corporation, so they have more resources at their disposal to put towards green/organic/sustainable initiatives. (They recently started recycling wine corks in certain areas – http://voices.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2009/03/wine_cork_recycling_and_a_bigg.html)
My question is how much of that would stay local? Greenlife is awesome for many reasons, not least of which is that the money spent there stays here.
(The below isn’t completely factchecked….a quick Google to back up what floated up from my brain when WF is mentioned…so I may not be 100% accurate here.)
There’s no shortage of criticism surrounding the ethics/ideas/political stance of their CEO, John Mackey. He wrote a wild op-ed about healthcare (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html), and has something of an illogical stance on climate change (http://firedoglake.com/2010/01/03/whole-foods-ceo-john-mackey-also-a-global-warming-denier/).
In particular, a new "wellness plan" that Whole Foods implemented earlier this year drew a ton of criticism for being fatphobic. See article here:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/whole-foods-ceo-john-mackey-wants-his-staff-slim-like-he-is/19334240/
Announcement coming Friday. The deal is done. WF buys GL Asheville and Chattanooga locations. Cheaper to buy an existing location than build a new one. Don’t expect noticeable changes anytime soon. Asheville store will be remodeled/rebuilt over time. The empty lot next to the store is part of the deal. Employees that want to stay on will be given the opportunity. Consumers will win out in the price war between EF & WF. Whole Foods is very very supportive of local farmers/producers. The last thing they want is to be viewed as they corporate giant taking over the little guy. Employees will have access to better wages, insurance, retirement plans, career opportunities etc.
I have shopped at WF in Miami and Durham – the Durham store is actually pretty small. I second the above post – both the Chapel Hill and the Durham store had amazing promotion of local farmers. I have some friends who have been working at the Durham store for years and think its a great experience. Yes it’s corporate but to be honest (and I am new to Asheville) the vibe seems pretty similar at both.
Prices will come down with WFM in town. yeah yeah yeah…whole paycheck…whatever…but Whole Foods’ volume alone allows them to have lower prices and margins on MANY similar items.
Whole Foods’ community involvement will be amazing. They have strict internal regulations in all teams around supporting local farmers. Plan on that being similar, or better, to what Greenlife has. Google their "5% Days" to see what I mean.
Don’t forget employment advantages. WFM team members are pretty highly paid and the benefits are superb (full health coverage and full premium paid with a $1500 FSA card for all deductibles).
Is WFM more corporate? Sure. But think of them as organic-foodie heaven as opposed to hippie heaven (and that’s not a knock on Greenlife…it was a post from above). Remember, WFM started as a store called "SaferWay" in Austin with John Mackey living in the kitchen above the store. They stay true to their roots pretty well.
Trying to confirm/deny this rumor with my former corporate buddies at WFM.
So far, nothing.
Whole Foods Markets are pretty much everywhere in the US these days and they are really nothing special. I find it laughable that people in AVL find this so important. Whole Foods is a good place to shop, just nothing to get excited about.
Whole Foods is about the same, cost wise. But they are not a good replacement for Green Life. Where am I going to go to pick up a Hippie Chick on a Friday night? Not Whole Foods. Geez Whole Foods needs a bigger location as well. Maybe they will just shut them down and sell the property for market share. OK, whatever that won’t work in Asheville. Now on the other hand if it was "Trader Joes" that would be the right fit for the location size, but that would only work in South Asheville.
I have seen many Whole Foods stores in different towns – and we should expect a very different atmosphere from them…definitely more corporate. This is perhaps concerning due to the Greenlife community presence, community center, and VERY strong support of our local farmers. I sure hope WNC farms find support from Whole Foods if thisbuy out happens. Keep supporting local Ag. – keep going to our amazing farmers markets!
Whole Foods stores are generally MUCH larger than the Greenlife store. The one on Merriman is tough to get in and out of now, I can’t imagine if it were a major chain store.