Over the past few years, many different grocery retailers have tried to cash on the healthy & organic food market, giving Whole Foods a run for their money by opening stores under a different banner (name) with this different product mix than the rest of the chain. Most of these stores have since closed, but one remains open and enduring; Publix’s store called GreenWise. However, there’s a strange reason why it is doing alright in this economy.
When Publix opened its GreenWise store they decided it would be a great format to highlight healthy food choices and organic selections. However, like most of the general public, they figured “why not throw in expensive imports and high priced commodities, and then place these stores in extremely upscale neighborhoods?”
Now why would they determine that only wealthy people can afford to eat healthy? This only perpetuates the common belief that organic and healthy foods are expensive luxuries, a belief cultivated by Whole Foods over a decade ago.
Back in our old home town of Portland, Oregon, the chain called Nature’s Fresh Northwest (now a division of Whole Foods) opened five stores with a commitment to only selling organic and/or healthy foods. When they opened their sixth and largest store they decided, due to customer feedback and studies, they would need to add some conventional grocery products to their mix. It seems that customers were going to Nature’s to get a few items, but then going to a conventional grocery store to buy all their non-organic, non-healthy items like Pepsi, Doritos, or Bleach and Tide. This meant, according to their research, that most customers would simply forego the extra trip and thereby avoid buying the healthier fare at Nature’s, opting to buy all their groceries at a conventional store. Therefore, Nature’s added these items to their product mix, but smartly featured the healthier options at eye level in their stores.
Publix thought they’d hit the gold mine. The extremely rich, like those that live near its Maseratis, Florida store, are likely to buy high priced health food items as long as they can get specialty imported and luxury items. According to the Tampa Tribune, these patrons would typically have no problem paying $9.99 a pound for hand-picked olives and $36 for a bottle of vitamins.
Enter the economic downturn. 2009 was hard on everyone, including the filthy rich. Publix found that their once-loyal shoppers were heading to Trader Joe’s or even the Dollar Store in order to take advantage of bargains. Threatened with huge losses, the chain made a decision. It began adding more and more conventional grocery items to the GreenWise stores. One of the best sellers at Publix is its Southern-Style Fried Chicken, and so this very, very unhealthy product has now found a prominent spot at the front of the GreenWise deli. Whether or not customers believe the chicken is somehow healthier since it’s at a GreenWise store is yet to be determined.
So retailers are confused. They think of healthy foods and organics as expensive luxury items, cash cows from an upscale clientele trying to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions. When these customers stop paying high prices, the retailers suddenly back pedal and decide they can no longer just feature healthy items. It’s such failed, circular logic. And Publix, who opened under the concept of providing healthy and organic foods, has sold out miserably to this failed logic.
I should add that I first read of Publix decision to add fried chicken to the GreenWise stores in SuperMarket News. However SN, being extremely conservative, agreed with Publix that a store offering health & organic foods is not a viable option in a down economy. It’s not viable only because they add in so many high priced items! Arrgh!