During my daily peruse through the news I noticed an article about the Whole Foods Market in Kensington, London, reporting losses of £9.9 million in it’s first year of trading! I have never been there but it’s somewhere I have wanted to visit since they opened, kind of like a pilgrimage I must make one day!
I thought to myself, well, there’s the credit crunch and food price increases, it’s hardly surprising that all sectors of the food and drink industries are suffering. But then I saw another article, a rebuttal from the Soil Association, stating a slow down in the growth of the organic market, but a rise none the less. Although also suffering from the credit crunch, organic farmers are in fact better off than their commercial counterparts who have to pay more for artificial feeds, fertilisers and pesticides.
So I re-read the first article - if the organic market is still on the increase, there must be another reason why the Whole foods market in Kensington is in such trouble. Apparently more than 500 people are employed in the Kensington store, while the company is shelling out for three floors of retail space in what is probably the most expensive part of London. With such high costs, they’re going to need huge sales to turn a profit and stay afloat!
Regardless of healthy predictions for the organic market, people are still tightening their belts and I think any price increases at all will easily turn people away right now. Well, would it? If you saw your absolute favourite brand increase in price, what would you do? Has it already happened? Let me know how you’re finding these food price increases.
Sources
Whole lot of pain for Whole Foods
Organic market not hit by credit crunch, Soil Association says
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