I've been on the hamster wheel of career-ness for 20 years now (well, just over, but let's not get too picky when we're talking about decades here). I've done all the "right" things, and pursued my dreams. I've gotten a masters degree, interned for the right people, and held three dream jobs.
So with 20 years or so left in my professional career life, what's a girl to do?
I chose to take the planned ending of a job (I was out at noon on January 20, regardless of how I felt about it) as an opportunity to shake things up.
Here I am in a new city, trying out a new way of working. Location independent/digital nomad, that's me!
While I've toyed with this blog as a way to practice writing about non-space industry topics for a few years, I never had the bandwidth to commit to it. Now that I do, this is my space to talk about the local, small business food and beverage world, what it's like to eat out as allergy girl, exploring cool corners of the world on trips by myself and with family and friends, discovering a new city, and writing for work and for fun.
I'm a freelance editor and writer, event planner, logistics whiz, marketing consultant, and all around problem solver. Need help with a project? Let me know.
Want to talk the local food and beverage scene? I'm in.
Have stories to share? Grab a cup of coffee and let's talk.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Who Needs A Whole Foods Market?
Is Whole Foods losing its mojo?
Looks like, yeah.
According to that article, Whole Foods' sales declined 2.5 percent last year, and they're expecting to lose about the same amount this year. Considering that I've never seen a Whole Foods not crowded with people, I'm guessing that's a data point the company is now really worried about.
Whole Foods is rapidly building stores to try and attract customers. From that WaPo article:
The problem isn't more stores; it's where those stores are located. The chain is clustering stores in the same general location, so they're not adding customers, they're just making moving the existing customer base around.
I'll use my experience as an example. Over the last 13 years, I've lived in three different neighborhoods in northern Virginia. I was in walking distance of a Whole Foods (distinct stores) at two of those locations. The third location now has a store across the street.
I would frequently stop in yet another Whole Foods in DC, which was close to my doctors' offices and the GW campus.
So that's four stores in an area, with no more than eight miles between any of the stores. While I appreciated being able to walk there, when I wasn't in walking distance the drive was no longer than 10 minutes - not exactly a hardship.
I moved to Richmond about a month ago. There's one Whole Foods, and it isn't inside the Richmond city limits.
Granted, Richmond doesn't have as many people as the DC metro area. But with 16 stores for 6.1 million people - that's around one store for every 400,000 people or so. But the Richmond metro area has around 1.3 million people. That's one store for well over a million people.
And that's if people chose to drive (because, yes, that's the only way to get there) 10 or 20 miles to get to the store's location.
I have a feeling I won't, because there is a really nice Kroger much closer (and with less traffic) and a few miles down the road from there, there's a ginormous Wegmans. Plus, Richmond has a couple of other home-grown grocery stores and organic markets.
Lot's of people do just fine without access to a Whole Foods. But if Whole Foods wants to turn around their decline, they might want to try and get access to more of those people.
Looks like, yeah.
According to that article, Whole Foods' sales declined 2.5 percent last year, and they're expecting to lose about the same amount this year. Considering that I've never seen a Whole Foods not crowded with people, I'm guessing that's a data point the company is now really worried about.
Whole Foods is rapidly building stores to try and attract customers. From that WaPo article:
"Whole Foods’ challenges are wide-ranging, but one of its biggest hurdles
is attracting more customers. According to data from Kantar Retail’s
ShopperScape survey, the organic grocer had a 7 percent penetration rate
back in 2009 when it had some 273 stores. In other words, 7 percent of
respondents in Kantar’s customer survey said they shopped at Whole Foods
on a monthly basis. Since then, the chain has been on a breakneck march
to open more stores, its fleet now numbering more than 430 locations.
So what is its market penetration now, with all those added stores? Just
8 percent, according to Kantar. It’s practically unchanged."
The problem isn't more stores; it's where those stores are located. The chain is clustering stores in the same general location, so they're not adding customers, they're just making moving the existing customer base around.
I'll use my experience as an example. Over the last 13 years, I've lived in three different neighborhoods in northern Virginia. I was in walking distance of a Whole Foods (distinct stores) at two of those locations. The third location now has a store across the street.
I would frequently stop in yet another Whole Foods in DC, which was close to my doctors' offices and the GW campus.
So that's four stores in an area, with no more than eight miles between any of the stores. While I appreciated being able to walk there, when I wasn't in walking distance the drive was no longer than 10 minutes - not exactly a hardship.
I moved to Richmond about a month ago. There's one Whole Foods, and it isn't inside the Richmond city limits.
Granted, Richmond doesn't have as many people as the DC metro area. But with 16 stores for 6.1 million people - that's around one store for every 400,000 people or so. But the Richmond metro area has around 1.3 million people. That's one store for well over a million people.
And that's if people chose to drive (because, yes, that's the only way to get there) 10 or 20 miles to get to the store's location.
I have a feeling I won't, because there is a really nice Kroger much closer (and with less traffic) and a few miles down the road from there, there's a ginormous Wegmans. Plus, Richmond has a couple of other home-grown grocery stores and organic markets.
Lot's of people do just fine without access to a Whole Foods. But if Whole Foods wants to turn around their decline, they might want to try and get access to more of those people.
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