Looks like the organic supermarket known as “Whole Paycheck” is ready for a change that’ll be as healthy for your wallet as it is for your, well, health as Whole Foods is lowering prices.
But don’t grab your canvas bags just yet — or at least not your big ones — because there is a caveat: Less inventory of the products Whole Foods is known for could come with those new lower prices.
The price drop news comes as a response to Whole Foods’ ongoing dip in sales, which partly stems from other grocery stores offering more and more organic products to consumers.
Another factor is that Whole Foods operates out of 11 U.S. regions, which allows the company to provide up to 52,000 hyperlocal products and produce options in its stores.
While that is great for those local growers and companies on Whole Foods’ shelves, it does hinder some brands’ national reach, thus making for more expensive items.
One indicator that the chain could see a drop in inventory with its lower prices is the low-cost Whole Foods 365 stores, which first opened last year. Those offshoots offer around 7,000 items, compared to the tens of thousands found at the larger and more common Whole Foods.
While there’s no timetable as to when consumers could see a change on their receipt — or what they’ll eventually see on Whole Foods’ shelves — CEO John Mackey promises “tremendous savings.”
Mackey, by the way, called the “Whole Paycheck” nickname “fundamentally a myth” in a 2013 interview with the Los Angeles Times. But you may recall that just two years ago, a government investigation in New York found that Whole Foods had been overcharging for misweighed packaged foods since at least 2010.
The company seems to have rectified that issue with quality control training, and with new lower prices on the horizon, don’t worry, Whole Foods, our reusable bags are always at the ready.
