Natural Food Stores Mix

If you buy groceries at the big natural food stores, your options just
got a little slimmer. Whole Foods Market plans to buy its smaller
rival, Wild Oats. Julie Grant reports:

Transcript

If you buy groceries at the big natural food stores, your options just
got a little slimmer. Whole Foods Market plans to buy its smaller
rival, Wild Oats. Julie Grant reports:


Whole Foods and Wild Oats are the nation’s best-known names in organic
grocers. Many a mom and pop health food store has fallen over the
past decade as those big-players have moved into towns across the
country.


Between them, they’ve opened about 300 stores, providing one-stop
shopping for all the health-conscious consumers’ needs,
everything from fresh produce and seafood to ready-made meals to
cleaning supplies.


But as more people want to buy natural and organic foods, more
mainstream stores, from Safeway to Wal-Mart Super Centers, want some of the
action. Economists say natural foods stores have been losing market
share to those national grocery chains.


Whole Foods says buying Wild Oats will boost its presence in
Florida, the Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest.


For the Environment Report, I’m Julie Grant.

Related Links