We shopped at Whole Paycheck sometimes when we lived in Baltimore. One of the reasons for this was that, even though expensive, it was one place where you could get good quality produce, as well as the sort of vegetarian foods that i like.
Out here in California, though, good produce can be found just about everywhere at very reasonable prices. Here in San Diego, we have excellent Mexican (Northgate) and Chinese (99 Ranch) supermarkets, and both carry a good range of fresh fruit and vegetables at lovely low prices. There are also plenty of places to buy tofurkey and other vege products. I don’t think we’ve stepped inside Whole Paycheck since we arrived in SoCal.
People in many places have no alternative to Wal-Mart, but Whole Foods is generally in areas where there are plenty of choices. The Whole Foods I (used to) go to is just around the corner from a Trader Joe’s. I’ll walk that extra block for most of what I need, go to local markets for produce, get my Flaxseed at health food stores and get my Stevia online from now on.
I can’t avoid every right-wing store or service, but if I know about it, I’ll seek out alternatives whenver possible. I used to go to Century Evanston ALL the time to see movies, but ever since I found out that the CEO donated to Yes on Prop 8, I haven’t been back since. As an avid moviegoer (saw over 170 movies in the theater last year) that’s at least a few hundred dollars they didn’t get from me.
But beyond your own personal satisfaction at sticking it to a CEO with bigoted views, what good does that do? To the best of my knowledge, the Century theater chain doesn’t have a “No Gays Allowed” (just as Whole Foods doesn’t have a “No Obama-Voters Allowed”) policy for potential employees or customers. If that were the case, I’d go along too but it isn’t. It’s the CEO’s money and he can do whatever he wants with it provided it’s legal. That includes donating to anti-gay groups or spouting off whatever deranged opinion he has in editorials. In this case, you’re basically boycotting a business because you think the owner is an asshole. You’re certainly free to do that but I think boycotts are more effective if they’re aimed at stopping a specific corporate or institutional policy you believe is odious.
LOL This will not even enter into my decision-making regarding where I shop for food in the future. I even would go so far as to say it is statistically probable that I will shop at Whole Foods again.
Wow…when a liberal saying a non-liberal should stop speaking become anti-free speech? Liberals should have free speech because what they say is the truth. Non-liberals shouldn’t because what they say is a lie. I thought everybody knew that.
The great thing about liberal capitalism is that you can do what you think is right. If you’re sure that boycotting them is the right thing to do, go right ahead! If you think boycotts are idiotic, well, you get to watch the “idiots” spend more money and burn more gasoline to get to more convenient but ideologically pure stores.
Politics aside, this seems like a pretty clear business savvy FAIL.
The combination of angering the liberals with a stance like this, and moving from the gourmet toward the hard-core nutritional products (something I recently read elsewhere that WF is planning to do) seems like a very bad move. The people who would buy bulgur out of bulk bins are the ones most opposed to these ideas. The people who stopped in for some two-bite brownies will be disappointed at the merchandise change.
Hmm, the editorial itself it pretty tame. Perhaps beyond overstating the 90/100 split by a decade and a half, are there any of Mr. Mackey’s 8 suggestions which someone would like to pinpoint as particularly odious? The majority strike me as fairly tame common sense measures; which couldn’t or shouldn’t be integrated into a universal health care plan?
Yes, whole foods is publicly traded. And while his salary has been low, his compensation package has been pretty substantial.
So far their stock price seems to have weathered this - but if they do end up with a substantial boycott against their brand (and I think he really did damage his brand), he’ll be lucky if he still has a job - and if he avoids a shareholder lawsuit. His handling of the Wild Oats takeover was not good.
And he certainly has a right to voice his opinion, but his customers have a right not to shop at the store while he is in charge, and the Board has the right to can him if that were to happen.
Who’s telling anyone to shut up? Since when are boycotts undemocratic? Why isn’t a free market free? Since when was it un-American for me to choose where and how I spent my money?
I don’t even go to Whole Foods in the first place, because a) there isn’t one anywhere near my house and b) even if there was, it’s too expensive in comparison to Trader Joe’s, of which there are a few in my area. So it really makes no difference to me.
NDP, because I feel like it, and because I’m lucky enough to have a lot of choices. Why would I give my money to a Libertarian asshole (definitely on the same planet as the right wingers, Planet Asshole, but not as bad because they’re powerless and will never gain power)? Now that I know about it. I can’t take back the money I’ve spent there, but I sure as hell don’t plan to give them any more.
In my case, this isn’t going to happen. I haven’t owned a car since 1990, by choice. For me it’s just a matter of walking a couple of extra blocks.
I wasn’t trying to pick a fight with you on this issue. We just seem to have different personal thresholds for when you should boycott a business.
Incidentally, corporate boycotts can work the over way too. There are a fair amount of right-wingers who like Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream but refuse to buy it due to their support for environmental and liberal causes.
On another note, I’m beginning to think this thread is better suited for the Pit.
Wow, so this guy is the ultra-rich owner of a nationwide chain of stores that cater to the sort of person whose desire to feel superior to others manifests itself through buying a nine-dollar box of spaghetti…and he’s a right-winger?
Next you’ll be telling me Hot Topic isn’t run by a co-op of crazy but lovable anarchist free-thinkers.
ETA: People like this guy are why I stopped identifying with the Libertarian party. It’s pretty much become the haven for anti-tax wingnuts and disgruntled Republicans that people used to mock it for being.
I’m glad now I can’t afford to shop there anymore, mostly because of health and health insurance issues.
And again with the mantra about our wicked, wicked, habits. Quotha the CEO:
I wish this were the Pit so I could use appropriate language, but I"m getting more than a little tired of this. The French drink more than we do and they smoke more. They eat entrails and innards–the very fattest but also most vitamin rich type of meat–and they’ve got public health insurance for everyone. At a lower per-capita cost to boot. My wife and I are practically smoke, fat, and alcohol free, but we cannot get insurance on the market. We are considered uninsurable.
I think I can say I will never set foot in a Whole Foods again without violating the rules here.
I’ve been reading this thread all along, wondering if MPSIMS is really the right place for it. At this point, the discussion seems to be getting heated enough that the Pit seems like a better idea so y’all can say what you really think. Stop by GFactor’s thread on what does and doesn’t belong in the Pit while you’re there, 'kay?