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Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 6:44:14 PM   
Level


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quote:

Buy my food at Walmart? No thanks. Until recently, I had been to exactly one Walmart in my life, at the insistence of a friend I was visiting in Natchez, Mississippi, about 10 years ago. It was one of the sights, she said. Up and down the aisles we went, properly impressed by the endless rows and endless abundance. Not the produce section. I saw rows of prepackaged, plastic-trapped fruits and vegetables. I would never think of shopping there.

Not even if I could get environmentally correct food. Walmart’s move into organics was then getting under way, but it just seemed cynical—a way to grab market share while driving small stores and farmers out of business. Then, last year, the market for organic milk started to go down along with the economy, and dairy farmers in Vermont and other states, who had made big investments in organic certification, began losing contracts and selling their farms. A guaranteed large buyer of organic milk began to look more attractive. And friends started telling me I needed to look seriously at Walmart’s efforts to sell sustainably raised food.

~~~~

Walmart holding its own against Whole Foods? This called for a blind tasting.

I conspired with my contrarian friend James McWilliams, an agricultural historian at Texas State University at San Marcos and the author of the new Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly. He enlisted his friends at Fino, a restaurant in Austin that pays special attention to where the food it serves comes from, as co-conspirators. I would buy two complete sets of ingredients, one at Walmart and the other at Whole Foods. The chef would prepare them as simply as possible, and serve two versions of each course, side by side on the same plate, to a group of local food experts invited to judge.


http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/the-great-grocery-smackdown/7904/

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 7:17:48 PM   
TheHeretic


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Wal-Mart doing good things???  Level, are you trying to make people's heads explode or something?

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 8:30:39 PM   
juliaoceania


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I shop at Trader Joes. I do not shop at Walmart or Whole Paycheck

Here is one reason I do not shop at Whole Paycheck
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8322658&page=1

I am for healthcare reform... even if I dislike the current package being passed, the CEO of Whole Paycheck thumbed his nose at "liberals"... I say "fuck him and his company"


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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 8:31:00 PM   
CarrieO


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Interesting article, Level.  I don't shop at Wal-Mart (or Mall-Wart as I like to call it).  My reasons have less to do with their choice in foods and more to do with the way they treat employees not to mention the impact their super-stores have on local businesses.

Ask my mom about working for Sam's Club ( Wal-Mart's warehouse club store) and what happens regardless of the amount of years spent working for them.  She was one of the 11,200 part-time employees let go in order to, among other things, outsource it's in-store product demonstration as part of their plan to  build membership loyalty and attract new members. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/01/pondering-wal-marts-11-200-sams-club-job-cuts/34109/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/business/25walmart.html

Quoted from the article above....
quote:


David Tovar, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, said the layoffs were not a cost-cutting measure in response to a bad economy. He said that the 10,000 Sam’s Club employees who demonstrate products could apply for jobs with Shopper Events, which plans to hire roughly the same number of workers being laid off.


She was told she could reapply for the same job she had held for the past 10 years (as one of the top 5 demonstraters according to sales) but at a $3.50 per hour cut in her salary.  My mom is 72 years old and the town where she lives has no other jobs to offer someone her age.  Even the Mall-Wart up the street isn't hiring.  The local Kroger has people coveting their jobs like those who are town employees with a guaranteed pension and benefits. 

We have a Whole Foods set to open in my town by the fall and I don't plan on shopping there either.  I still go to the locally run health food store, who recently had to close it's second location because of compitition from another Whole Foods.  We already have a Gap, Bananna Republic, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, Bed, Bath and Beyond and a few other what I call "catalog stores"...I still prefer going to the local shops and spending my money there in order to keep the diversity that's still around.

I know my opinon on this isn't the popular one...no worries.  I understand people are struggling finanically and shopping at a big box super store is all many think they can afford. 
This is just my choice....and my 2 cents.  

Plus this.... http://www.utne.com/Environment/Localwashing-How-corporate-America-is-co-opting-local.aspx

*edited for clarification

< Message edited by CarrieO -- 3/19/2010 8:47:39 PM >


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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 8:41:47 PM   
DesFIP


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The nearest Whole Foods is an hour and a half from here. About 45 minutes to Walmart. Since we were there a few weeks ago looking for an inexpensive media center (didn't find anything worthwhile) I also did my grocery shopping there. The produce was okay. No fresh pasta however and the quality of the meats was uniformly lower than at my local grocery store.

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 8:51:48 PM   
ShaharThorne


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Now, the Walmart here in Austin (Sunset Valley) carries the fresh pasta but Bo prefers to make his own (still has the chef mentality).  I like this Walmart because it is on the bus route that goes by Bo's apartment.

Back home, I cannot count on having fresh pasta, but the veggies are fresh (they ran out of yellow squash), though I am suspenseful about the cantaloupes.  Location, location location is the key *waiting for the local farmer market to open up*  

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 8:55:34 PM   
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I won't buy my meat from Walmart, Kroger, or Meijer's because it's all got the magic solution in it.  I go to Dorothy Lane Market or the local farmer's market instead.

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 8:57:19 PM   
juliaoceania


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quote:

local farmer's market i


I go there once a week, but can't buy everything there


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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 9:07:18 PM   
littlewonder


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I shop at Walmart because well....it's cheap. We don't have a Whole Foods around here but I've shopped in other cities where there was one and it's outrageously expensive and I'm poor....so yeah...Walmart saves me money so that I can save my money for more important things like paying my bills.

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 9:22:59 PM   
LafayetteLady


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The Walmarts in NJ aren't Super stores, they have limited food items, although they are slowly expanding. But no meat section or produce. Nearest one that does is over an hour away from me. No Whole Foods around her either. I do my regular shopping at the local Shop Rite once a month and might pick up a few odds and ends at the Pathmark.

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 9:44:16 PM   
intenze


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hate hate hate walmart...sometimes I am stuck shopping there though because there is so little in my town. I try to keep it at a minimum.

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 9:45:16 PM   
CarrieO


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quote:

ORIGINAL: thornhappy

I won't buy my meat from Walmart, Kroger, or Meijer's because it's all got the magic solution in it.  I go to Dorothy Lane Market or the local farmer's market instead.


We don't have Dorothy Lane Markets in Connecticut but I have been to one in Ohio.  It wasn't half bad, price-wise.  I've also heard some midwest A&P stores source locally too.

Nothing beats the local farmers market, though.  Except for growing it yourself.  

< Message edited by CarrieO -- 3/19/2010 9:54:03 PM >


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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 10:07:33 PM   
thornhappy


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I call it the yuppie market, kind of like the Harvest Ranch markets in San Diego...
quote:

ORIGINAL: CarrieO

quote:

ORIGINAL: thornhappy

I won't buy my meat from Walmart, Kroger, or Meijer's because it's all got the magic solution in it.  I go to Dorothy Lane Market or the local farmer's market instead.


We don't have Dorothy Lane Markets in Connecticut but I have been to one in Ohio.  It wasn't half bad, price-wise.  I've also heard some midwest A&P stores source locally too.

Nothing beats the local farmers market, though.  Except for growing it yourself.  

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 10:54:37 PM   
sunshinemiss


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quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

I shop at Trader Joes. I do not shop at Walmart or Whole Paycheck

Here is one reason I do not shop at Whole Paycheck
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8322658&page=1

I am for healthcare reform... even if I dislike the current package being passed, the CEO of Whole Paycheck thumbed his nose at "liberals"... I say "fuck him and his company"





Julia - I LOVE LOVE LOVE TRADER JOE'S. I used to go up to Boston and load up the trunk of my car with TJ's goods at least once a year. Then TJ's came to Philly just as I was leaving. *sigh*

And you can't beat a place that has their employees dressed in hawaiian shirts!

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/19/2010 11:21:15 PM   
UniqueRaven


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Actually, those of us who actually live in Austin don't shop at Whole Foods or Wal-Mart - we use Greenling.com for our local and organic foods - delivered right to your door. Local farms, fresh meats and dairy products, locally prepared specialty foods, green, and often heirloom varietal veggies - what's not to love?

Personally i also think Central Market in Austin does a better job than Whole Foods (yes, Whole Paycheck) or Wal-Mart (in the category of OmyGodinevershopthere). But that's just me.

< Message edited by UniqueRaven -- 3/19/2010 11:24:40 PM >


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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/20/2010 12:59:15 AM   
JonnieBoy


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Wal-Mart ? ... I didn't think profanities like that were even accepted here.

Pirate

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/20/2010 6:52:33 AM   
DomImus


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quote:

ORIGINAL: intenze
Hate hate hate walmart...sometimes I am stuck shopping there though because there is so little in my town. I try to keep it at a minimum.


I hate them, too. They are the last resort of last resorts for me. I detest the place.

I would shop at Whole Foods more often if there was one nearby simply because I liked the WSJ article John Mackey wrote about health care reform. We need more businessmen with good heads on their shoulders like him. Fuck the liberals and fuck the boycotting tree huggers.



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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/20/2010 7:06:51 AM   
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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

Wal-Mart doing good things???  Level, are you trying to make people's heads explode or something?


Hey Rich; I know, will wonders never cease??

quote:

Carrie:

I know my opinon on this isn't the popular one...no worries.


That does it, I'm putting you on block!

quote:

thorny:

I won't buy my meat from Walmart, Kroger, or Meijer's because it's all got the magic solution in it.


Yumm, magic.

quote:

littlewonder:

I shop at Walmart because well....it's cheap.


That's a big concern of mine, too. And close by.

quote:

Jonnie:

Wal-Mart ? ... I didn't think profanities like that were even accepted here.


Don't forget, I eat at McDonalds, too!

quote:

DomImus:

I liked the WSJ article John Mackey wrote about health care reform.


If that's the same one I read, I liked it too.

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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/20/2010 7:17:42 AM   
Aynne88


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quote:

in
quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

quote:

local farmer's market i


I go there once a week, but can't buy everything there



Both of these amazing places are with 2 miles of my house and the Man and I went shopping at both yesterday. Luckily the newer one, Farmer's Fare, is huge, and you can get everything you need there. Of course it's costlier, but what cost health?  They have a huge community love going on, with free daycare, free areas to grow your own garden, educational classes for kids and adults, all in a gorgeous pastoral setting with like minded people. Food at WalMart? Not in this lifetime. I want to see, touch, feel and smell what I eat. Preparing, eating and sharing food is one of life's most sensual pleasures, it sounds corny, but I feel that I can show my love for him this way and keep him healthy and happy.  

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockport-ME/Farmers-Fare/187643352488

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockport-ME/Fresh-Off-The-Farm/68226672863


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RE: Wal-Mart vs Whole Foods - 3/20/2010 8:21:10 AM   
purepleasure


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I grocery shopped at Walmart twice. I was not impressed with their quality of meats or produce, and the savings were not enough to warrant a permanent change. I regularly shop at Redner's.

< Message edited by purepleasure -- 3/20/2010 8:22:07 AM >


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