The Red, White, and Green

Photo via Flickr: Ilovemypit

Those still miffed with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey over his decidedly right-wing health care harangue last summer will not be pleased to read that their most effective epithet — Whole Paycheck — may no longer be valid. According to a recent study by JPMorgan Securities, the natural foods chain seems to be taking on Walmart’s “falling prices” M.O. (Which, ironically, are falling no more; Walmart’s food prices are up 2.3 percent since February.)

From CPG Matters, a monthly e-zine for the consumer packaged goods industry:

According to [JPMorgan], Whole Foods has dropped its prices on food by an average of 5 percent since December [2009]. Of course, even with lower prices, Whole Foods is still seen as being significantly higher priced (about 14 percent) than traditional grocery store rivals such as Harris Teeter, Kroger, and Safeway.

In a separate market basket analysis, Ryan Krueger, co-founder of Krueger & Catalano in Houston, concluded that Whole Foods is — in its way — price competitive.

Mr. Krueger told the Minyanville website, “I spent time with a store manager putting together a basket of everyday items — stuff like chips, bread, and peanut butter. We compared 10 average products to the closest big grocery chain and it was closer than you would think: $25 vs. $21. The unknown might be that the $21 basket came from Whole Foods, and its private labels….”

I, for one, am surprised by the Krueger & Catalano breakdown. I’ve known for some time now that it’s significantly less expensive to buy organic produce at Whole Foods than at my local big-chain supermarket (click here to see my comparison), but packaged foods like chips and peanut butter? That’s news to me.

Stay tuned for my own “market basket” analysis…

–Jennifer Grayson

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