OK, I admit it: When I saw the “breaking news” this morning about Whole Foods coming to town I got a little excited. A few years back, when I lived in Atlanta — a place that didn’t have to beg Whole Foods to open stores, I was a regular-enough shopper. (They really do have some good eats.) But, once I read past the headline my excitement turned into disgust.
Here’s why:
South Park? Are we sure South Park needs one more grocery store, because I thought they were all ready full-up. In a time when you don’t have to explain what a food desert is, it’s really annoying that yet another grocery store is being established in an area that doesn’t need one.
Also, your company people came right out and said, in The Charlotte Observer article about your new store, the company is putting the store in South Park because its food is pricey. This is no surprise … but the balls! Really. You are telling a whole, diverse city that you’re only interested in serving people who won’t look at your price tags because your products are more expensive than most. That smacks of vanity, materialism, consumerism and screams status symbol. Those things do not equal healthy food in my mind. Good quality food should not be a status symbol.
So, fuck you Whole Foods. I’ve lived without you since I moved to the Queen City and I’ll continue living without you. I’d rather spend a year in my organic garden than drive 15 minutes to your new store.
The Healthy Home Market in South End, Trader Joe‘s in University City, WalMart in Denver … those are the shops for me. See, it’s not the commute to your store that matters to me, nor is it the fact that you’re a corporation, it’s your attitude I can’t stand. I’ll drive for good, healthy food and great customer service, but I won’t drive for a status symbol in a world aching for equality.
Other food news:
- Brace yourselves for higher food prices as companies pass the costs along — The Wall Street Journal
- Young Chinese farmers sowing seeds for organic revolution — The Washington Post
- Scientists Find Bisphenol A In U.S. Food — Chemical and Engineering News
- Man out to prove potatoes aren’t junk food eats nothing but potatoes for two months — Grist
- 9 Everyday Products You Didn’t Know Had Animal Ingredients — Treehugger
The connection between geography and obesity. Or, why does the South have so many food deserts? (Answer: Status.)
Rhiannon “Rhi” Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing’s CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2010.
A store like Whole Foods is not going to open a location in the ghetto. The store is there to make a profit, plain and simple, there is no shame in that. A lot of research goes in to finding the right location for a grocery store so if Whole Foods felt South Park wasn’t a good location, they wouldn’t open one there. But isn’t it nice that you have the choice to shop elsewhere and voice your dissatisfaction with Whole Foods’ attitude by taking your grocery dollars to Trader Joe’s or Walmart? Yay for free markets!
See the right-wing zombies shuffle around a WF thinking they’re being highfalutin!… Dumb-ass Republican SouthPark corpse munchers who think they’re fit winners in a meritocracy- no thanks! If they want to buy overpriced meat and grocery items where they won’t have to come in contact with certain people (they’ve already re-segregated the CLT schools and about to close a bunch of other schools that aren’t the preferred Charlotte shade of lily-white) then at least we know not where to shop! Perhaps they don’t know or care about the creep behind WF. Perhaps they think shopping at a place like WF makes them better people than many of them in fact are. No thanks, UnWhole Foods- don’t need the greenwash.
WF is opening the first CLT store in South Park because that is the safe location. We could all see that decision coming from a mile away. But once they’re in the CLT market, they’re likely to open another store, and maybe take a little risk with it.
You’re right, South Park doesn’t need it, but once they’re here I wouldn’t be surprised to see the original, much more exciting plan for the Elizabeth WF and mixed-use development around it happen one day.
I can tell you now Whole Foods is looking into future Charlotte locations (Lake Norman, Ballantyne area), SouthPark is just the beginning.
Why would Whole Foods want to open in poor or working-class neighborhoods? They sell $5 chocolate bars, bulk grains, wine, and imported cheeses. My poor relatives wouldn’t know what to do with any of it and would head straight to the junk food line, then complain because the salsa made from actual tomatoes and chips with flax seeds cost more than Doritos.