Keep It Local

The Walmart Of Organic

2006-03-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

(from the family farmdefenders.org site) Whole Foods is the largest retail giant in the natural food sector in the U.S. with 168 stores nationwide (plus in Canada and Britain) and annual gross sales now exceeding $4.6 billion. In fact, Whole Foods has grown twice as fast the leading corporate grocer, Walmart, over the last four years. Started in a humble storefront at the corner of 8th and Rio Grande in Austin, TX back in 1978 by self-described “free market” libertarian and current CEO, John Mackay, Whole Foods grew parasitically throughout the 1990s by absorbing its competitors: Bread & Circus, Fresh Fields, Merchant of Vino, Mrs. Gooch's, Bread of Life, and Wellspring Markets. "If someone had been ruthless enough, or opportunistic enough -- or, really, just smart enough -- we could've been crushed," Mackay noted in a 2004 interview, "But I don't fear that anymore. We're not that vulnerable anymore. Our culture is too strong. Our locations are too good. And we know so much more than we used to...(more)

2005-08-19T01:22:00.000-07:00

Is our town becoming another 'Anywhere, U.S.A', where large corporate chain stores extract our money, limit our choices and take our jobs? Can we preserve the sense of place and unique character that our loyal community-oriented local businesses help provide?

The mission of this web site is to share perspectives and stimulate discussion:

concerning the imminent arrival of a large chain natural foods store in downtown Eugene;

about the struggle of local stores everywhere to survive the consolidation of retailing into enormous multi-national chains;

about the effect this '“corporatization'” has on our communities, culturally, socially, environmentally and economically.

The site is sponsored by Sundance Natural Foods, an independent natural foods retailer in Eugene, Oregon since 1971. We invite you to join the conversation by posting comments to the articles and submitting your thoughts by email to submit@keepitlocaleugene.org.

We hope that this site is a useful source of information and effective in highlighting the importance of community and local businesses in general. Thanks for visiting.

2005-08-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Table of Contents

All articles can be found by scrolling down from the home page or clicking on links here.

I. Editorial

Selling Out to Whole Foods? Local businesses deserve level playing field From an editorial by by local businessman and former city councilor Paul Nicholson

Quote: Where Are We?

II. Background Articles Concerning National Retailers and Whole Foods Market

a. Welcome to 'Whole-Mart' Investigative reporter Mark T. Harris compares Whole Foods and Wal-Mart

b. Studies Find Local Biz Creates Far More Local Economic Activity

c. Speech: The Impact of Chain Stores on Community, by Stacy Mitchell

Quote: Local Culture is a Practical Asset

d. Paul Hawken Says Whole Foods Dismantles Local Food Webs

e. What Other Cities Are Doing

III. In the News

a. Whole Foods Says It's Not a Threat

b. International: Big-Box Worries in Australia

c. Whole Foods Market Made $41.7 Million in Last 3 Months, Up 31%

Thanks for visiting. New articles will be posted here frequently, but see the left sidebar for information about subscribing and automatic notification of new content.

Quote: Where Are We?

2005-08-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

"Communities have to think about whether they want to lose their personality. If I were to blind fold you and drop you into an Olive Garden, you'd have no idea where you are."

-Don Burch, owner of an outdoor gear store in Louisville, Kentucky. From Keep Louisville Weird, as quoted by The Hometown Advantage: Reviving Locally Owned Business

Selling Out to Whole Foods?

2005-08-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Local businesses deserve a level playing field

From an editorial that appeared on June 16th, 2005 in the Eugene Weekly by local businessman and former city councilor Paul Nicholson. The full article can be read here.

Whole Foods Inc., an Austin, Texas-based juggernaut, recently revealed an interest in locating in downtown Eugene. Proponents claim the project won't involve a subsidy to Whole Foods Market. However, it does involve swapping city land for land that the Shedd Institute for the Arts owns and then building a parking structure...

The Chamber of Commerce propaganda machine is already in high gear, and the Register-Guard newspaper has predictably jumped on board in support. The Whole Foods Market development can be added to the long list of other ill-advised proposals R-G pundits have advocated in the past:

The Downtown Pedestrian Mall: Based on a model that had already failed in Kalamazoo, Mich., and New Bedford, Mass., it failed predictably.

The Hilton Hotel and Convention Center: Cost us a lot of money, and hasn't saved downtown.

The Downtown Athletic Club: Diverting block grant money intended for the urban poor to an exercise club for the rich has not saved downtown.

The Downtown Clearcut: Shoppers didn't like the downtown mall any better without trees than with them.

The Pankow Project: Dispatched by the voters.

The Downtown Outlet Mall: The idea was abandoned after the discovery that the developers were con artists just released from prison.

The Riverfront Urban Renewal District: After 15 years and $3 million, we still haven't seen any of the 900 new high-tech jobs promised.

The Symantec Giveaway: Symantec left for Springfield the day after its tax abatement expired.

The Downtown Six-Lane Super Highway / Coburg Road / Ferry Street Bridge Project: Fortunately defeated by the voters.

The Downtown De-Mall: Why did we spend $50 million on the mall?

Some of these ideas might have worked if carried out as part of a comprehensive, long-term plan. But past councils and mayors have been buffaloed into one ad hoc tax-subsidized scheme after another on the false premise that any project is a good project so long as it benefits development and construction interests. Reinventing or reinterpreting city plans to accommodate every private project has made Eugene's downtown an undeniable under-performer. These schemes have cost tens of millions of tax dollars and resulted in a downtown without focus, character or charm.

The article continues in the Eugene Weekly here.

Welcome to 'Whole-Mart'

2005-08-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from an article by Mark T. Harris, published on July 4th 2005 and to appear in an upcomming issue of Dissent Magazine. See Mark-T-Harris.com

From Wal-Mart to Whole Foods Market, it's the same story as retail chains push public relations and profits over decent jobs. But for natural foods giant Whole Foods, getting in touch with their "inner Wal-Mart" also means sacrificing any real vision of that shibboleth of today's eco-activists—a sustainable future.

"Where in our mission statement do we talk about trying to be liberal, progressive, or universal?"

-John Mackey, CEO, Whole Foods Market, 1991
...
A closer look at Whole Foods business practices and founder John Mackey's ideas about business and society reveals a vision not all that different from a McDonald's or a Wal-Mart. In fact, the company's business model is more or less the standard stuff of Fortune 500 ambition.

Continue reading Welcome to Whole-Mart...

Studies Find Local Biz Creates Far More Local Economic Activity

2005-08-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

Independent businesses have been found to generate between 60% and 300% more local economic activity that chain retail stores do. This has been the finding of the following economic impact studies:

Andersonville Study of Retail Economics October 20, 2004

For every $100 in consumer spending with a local firm, $68 remains in the Chicago economy.

For every $100 in consumer spending with a chain firm, $43 remains in the Chicago economy.

For every square foot occupied by a local firm, local economic impact is $179.

For every square foot occupied by a chain firm, local economic impact is $105.

The Economic Impact of Locally Owned Businesses vs. Chains: A Case Study in Midcoast Maine (4pg PDF) by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and Friends of Midcoast Maine, September 2003

When residents of the Midcoast region spend $100 at a big box retailer, their purchase generates $14 in local spending by the retailer. That same $100 spent at a locally owned business generates $45 in local spending, or three times as much. Dollars spent at a local retailer support not only that store, but a variety of other local businesses, including local banks, accountants, printers, and internet service providers.

Economic Impact study in Austin, Texas 16pg PDF (2002, Civic Economics) A case study of the bookstore business, this report found that "spending $100 at Borders creates $13 worth of local economic activity, while spending $100 at the local stores generates $45 in local economic activity."

Summaries and links to these studies and many more on a variety of big-box store topics can be found at Hometown Advantage's Big Box Economic Impact Studies page.

Speech: The Impact of Chain Stores on Community

2005-08-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

The following are excerpts from a speech by Stacy Mitchell, delivered at the annual conference of the American Planning Association, April 2000. Stacy Mitchell is a researcher with the New Rules Project, a program of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis. The New Rules Project provides research and innovative policy solutions for building strong local economies and healthy communities. Mitchell is the author of The Home Town Advantage: How to Defend Your Main Street Against Chain Stores and Why It Matters. She advises communities nationwide on strategies for strengthening their homegrown economies and produces an e-mail newsletter that tracks grassroots efforts to curb the spread of corporate chains and revitalize locally owned businesses.

Developers often present new chain store developments as major additions to the local economy. They note the growth in retail sales and shopping options. They tally up the number of new jobs and the added tax revenue that the development will bring.

What is often overlooked is the other side of the balance sheet. Unlike new manufacturing facilities, which do create real economic growth, new retail stores simply shift consumer spending from one area of town to another. A new big box store can only be successful at the expense of existing businesses.

A study in Iowa, for example, found that new Wal-Mart stores derive on average of 84 percent of their sales from existing businesses within the community. Similar conclusions have been reached in studies of big box development in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New York, California, and Virginia.

What all of the studies find is that very little of the sales generated by a new retail store represent new retail spending. Instead these developments simply shift economic activity from one part of town to another. The end result is not economic development, but rather economic displacement.

From an economic perspective, there is much to suggest that chain stores may not be our best value. But perhaps more significant than any of the economic considerations are the qualitative benefits of local ownership. Locally owned businesses build strong communities. They provide a foundation for the web of connections and trust that Jane Jacobs believed so essential to a healthy neighborhood.

Continue reading Stacy Mitchell's speech...

Quote: Local Culture is a Practical Asset

2005-08-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

The loss of local cultures is, in part, a practical loss and an economic one. For one thing, such a culture contains, and conveys to succeeding generations, the history of the use of the place and the knowledge of how the place may be lived in and used. For another, the pattern of reminding implies affection for the place and respect for it, and so, finally, the local culture will carry the knowledge of how the place may be well and lovingly used, and moreover the implicit command to use it only well and lovingly. The only true and effective "operator's manual for spaceship earth" is not a book that any human will ever write; it is hundreds of thousands of local cultures.

-Wendell Berry "The Work of Local Culture" 1988 Iowa Humanities Lecture

Paul Hawken Says Whole Foods Dismantles Local Food Webs

2005-08-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Despite sentiments like those expressed in the company's recent press release celebrating "25 years of supporting local agriculture," long time author and organic enterpreneur Paul Hawken believes Whole Foods Market puts a variety of local natural foods providers out of business. This from an interview from February 2004 in Grist Magazine.

Whole Foods dismantles local food webs and doesn't foster what the organic movement is about. The organic and natural-food movement that I helped kick off in the late '60s was the beginning of recreating regional food webs. Local stores started all around the country and they began to source locally, and whatever they couldn't get locally they got regionally, and whatever they couldn't get regionally they got nationally. In terms of produce and bakery goods and other food items, there was a huge diversity of suppliers in the United States because there was a huge diversity of stores. Whole Foods went in and bought out the bigger, more successful stores and then rebranded them and did centralized purchasing for produce, which now comes from Chile and New Zealand and places like that. In the process, many local organic producers went out of business. Massive scale and centralization of power and capital is the antithesis of what we had in mind when we started the natural and organic-food business in the U.S.

Q: But does that totally discredit the positive things they are doing?

A: Good deeds don't erase bad outcomes. But let's talk about the positive things they are doing.

Q: Well, let's say they use recycled packaging and keep pesticides out of the soil. Isn't large-scale organic farming better than non-organic factory farms?

A: Yes, but still it's large-scale agribusiness.

Q: But they're better than Safeway.

A: They are guided by profit. So are small companies. So far so good. But when a company gets large and dominant, the same instincts to survive and prosper can become unintentionally harmful. The natural-food movement is being bought up by Phillip Morris and H.J. Heinz and Jimmy Dean. That dog won't hunt. It leads to a lowering of standards, and emphasis on price as opposed to cost. It leads to uniformity, power, concentration, and control. Luckily, there's a slow food movement in the U.S. and lots of things happening that counter that.

What Other Cities Are Doing

2005-08-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

Here's what some other cities and towns around the country are doing to encourage local businesses' survival in an increasingly corporate climate. A list of national organizations appears in the left sidebar of this site.

Local Groups

The Corvallis Independent Business Alliance in Corvallis, Oregon "uses education, networking, political advocacy, and citizen involvement to help our community prosper and contribute to a diverse, healthy, and stable local economy."
The Sustainable Business Network of Portland uses networking to support local businesses and administers Portland's Think Local First campaign.
Salt Lake City established the Small Business Revolving Loan Fund to assist with the development of small businesses.
Keep Louisville Weird is a network of small businesses working to prevent the homoginization of Louisville, Kentucky.
Keep Austin Weird uses humor and outreach to support local businesses. Check out the backlash site Make Austin Normal.
Arizona Chain Reaction describes it's coalition as follows: "Our common goal is twofold: To educate the public about the significant sales tax revenues that fill the bank accounts of a community and state where local businesses thrive. It is sales tax revenue that creates the quality of life in our community. Secondly, local businesses create a unique atmosphere that set Arizona apart from anytown USA."
Community Supported Development is the name of Asheville, North Carolina's advocacy group for small businesses.

A list of associated local organizations can be found via the national group, Business Alliance for Local, Living Economies (BALLE).

Big-Box, Chain and Formula Business Restrictions

The term "formula business" is used in many of these discussions. A formula business is one that is required by contractual or other arrangement to maintain a standardized array of services or merchandise, and standardized architecture, uniforms, logos, decor, etc.

San Francisco's Formula Business Ordinance adds formula businesses to the list of uses that require neighborhood notification under city law. Residents will be notified whenever a formula retail business applies to open in their neighborhood. They will then have the option of requesting a public hearing and subjecting the applicant to a list of criteria. In addition, formula retailers are banned entirely from the four-block Hayes Valley business district and are automatically required to undergo a hearing and review in the Cole Valley neighborhood.

Cities that have passed ordinances to limit, restrict or discourage big-box, chain or formula retail and restaurants include the following:

In California: Arcata, Calistoga, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Coronado, Pacific Grove, San Juan Bautista, Sausalito, Solvang and San Francisco (see above)
In Washington: Bainbridge Island, and Port Townsend
Bristol, Rhode Island
Port Jefferson, New York
Sanibel, Florida
York, Maine

See this article from the New Rules Project for details on the above list of towns with official formula business restrictions.

These cities and towns are just some of the places where debates, struggles and campaigns are underway to prevent the displacement of local businesses. People around the country, and around the world, are concerned about the survival of small scale, sustainable and community supporting businesses.

Whole Foods Says It's Not a Threat

2005-08-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

We're not in the business of running someone out of town. If our great meat case makes people more aware of quality meats and makes more people look for that type of thing, that's great. We want people to eat well and enjoy eating. If that means that they're going to shop at Whole Foods, that's great. We're in the business of educating the consumer in that respect.

Those words from Ryan Puckett, spokesman for Whole Foods Market's Midwest region, in an August 2005 story about local and national food retailers in Oak Park, IL. Some local store owners interviewed for the region disagreed.

Last September Florida's Bradenton Herald asked Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association in Minnesota, about this issue.

"We wish they would colonize new areas," Cummins said. "I think they would benefit from being more sensitive to pre-existing businesses."

International: Big-Box Worries in Australia

2005-08-18T02:29:00.000-07:00

The Australian island state of Tasmania is the newest site of growing concern about the impact of big-box retailers on local business. "Big-Box Retail Worries," a story in the Sunday Tasmanian, reports the following:

A SIGNIFICANT jump in the magnitude of "big-box retailing" in northern Tasmania has created a stir in the retailing sector.

A proposal for a homemaker centre [a hardware store?] near the Launceston Airport has prompted a backlash from the Launceston City Council, chamber of commerce and the city retailing organisation Cityprom.
A joint delegation from the three organisations recently visited New Zealand to study the effects of big-box developments...

The chamber of commerce says most of the profits from big-box retailing go out of the state and much of the product is imported from overseas.

"Only 13 per cent of turnover remains in local economies," Chamber of Commerce executive officer Jo Archer said.

"If we are going to have big-box retail we need to have controls on the size and type," Cityprom executive officer Kerry Gay said. "It is the smaller independent retailers which give the city character."

The full story is available here.

Whole Foods Made $41.7 Million in Last 3 Months, up 31%

2005-08-18T01:28:00.000-07:00

From a news summary in RetailMerchandizer.com on July 29th, 2005:

Whole Foods Market said Thursday that fiscal 3Q profit rose 31%, driven by higher sales and improved margins, to top Wall Street estimates, according to an Associated Press report.

Net income grew to $41.7 million from $31.8 million a year ago. Revenue rose 23% to $1.13 billion from $917.4 million last year...Analysts are currently forecasting 2005 sales of $4.65 billion, compared with the company's 2004 sales of $3.87 billion.

For 2006, the company expects sales to grow by 15% to 20%, and has set a goal of $10 billion in annual sales by 2010.

Conclusion

2005-08-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks for reading through to the end of the articles here. We hope it has been informative and inspiring. Please visit regularly for updates on Whole Foods in Eugene and the movement to preserve local businesses everywhere. If you'd like to receive notification of when new articles are posted here, see the links on left side bar.

Again, thanks for visiting!

Mitchell Speech Continued

2005-08-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Continued from previous page...

There are several reasons for this. The first is that independent stores tend to be located in humanly-scaled, pedestrian-oriented shopping districts, as opposed to the sprawling, isolated experience of a chain store parking lot.

The second reason is that local stores create a sense of place and community identity. They reflect the local culture. They give neighborhoods their distinct flavor. They are often a source of community pride and an attraction to visitors.

Chain stores, by contrast, are sapping communities of their character and individuality. Even the most famous American cities are losing their unique appeal. Kmart, Costco, and Home Depot are building in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue is home to Starbucks and The Gap. These same stores can be found on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Market Street in San Francisco, and thousands of other locations worldwide.

Furthermore, because they live in the places where they do business, local merchants tend to be far more committed to the community's well-being and long-term stability than distant corporations... The shift from local to absentee-owned stores means that business decisions are no longer made locally by members of the community.

This loss of local decision-making and the growing power of a small number of large corporations has implications for democracy. In 1952, Senator Hubert Humphrey asked, "Do we want an America where the economic market place is filled with a few Frankensteins and giants? Or do we want an America where there are thousands upon thousands of small entrepreneurs, independent businessmen, and landholders who can stand on their own feet and talk back to their Government or to anyone else?"

Many contend that public policy should have no role in shaping the retail economy. This is, after all, a free market.

But public policy is never neutral, and has, in fact, played a major role in the expansion of national chain stores. In many ways, public policy has undermined local retailers by giving large retail corporations unfair advantages.

The loss of independent businesses is not inevitable. Rather than undermining the local economy, many communities are taking a different approach. They have made sustaining humanly scaled, unique homegrown businesses a primary focus of planning and economic development decisions.

They are adopting a variety of land use rules that deter chain stores and foster local ownership. Many have restricted the physical size of new stores. Others allow new retail development only if it meets specific criteria defined by the community. Some have banned uniformity, by prohibiting "formula" businesses. Others have barred new retail development outside of the town∂s central business district. (Examples of these policies, including the full text of the local ordinance, can be found on the New Rules web site, created by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, at http://www.newrules.org.)

By designing policies that put community first, local businesses can once again become a key component in a dynamic retail economy and a vibrant community.

Welcome to 'Whole-Mart'

2005-08-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Excerpts from an article by Mark T. Harris, published on July 4th 2005 and to appear in an upcomming issue of Dissent Magazine. See Mark-T-Harris.com

"Where in our mission statement do we talk about trying to be liberal, progressive, or universal?"

-John Mackey, CEO, Whole Foods Market, 1991

On a trip to Portland, Oregon, last year, I had my first opportunity to visit the city's famed downtown Powell's Books one rainy winter afternoon. After all I had heard about the independent bookstore, I was struck by its rather unglamorous façade. The warehouse sized Powell's looks more like some washed-out old school book depository than the nation's purportedly single largest retail bookstore site. But a block away a quite different look captures your attention. The new Whole Foods Market greets Portland shoppers with its soft hued lighting, high ceilings, and carefully coiffed displays of choice desserts, breads, and organic foods. The overall effect is more like entering some modern cathedral to upscale consumption, one in which the dogma is not suffering but celebration (and plenty of tithing at the cash register). The casually dressed clerks add to the sense of Whole Foods as business as unusual. Mostly young, many of the employees convey a kind of "alternative" aura that says you'll never catch me working at Wal-Mart.

But where Wal-Mart has come under deserved scrutiny from labor, community, and women's activists for its exploitative "big box" business model and miserly wages, Whole Foods, the world's largest natural foods retailer, enjoys a reputation as a progressive trendsetter at the forefront of a "green lifestyle revolution" in American life. But then a slogan like "Whole Foods, Whole Planet, Whole People" does tend to conjure up more ennobling vistas of planetary progress than, "We Sell for Less."
...
A closer look at Whole Foods business practices and founder John Mackey's ideas about business and society reveals a vision not all that different from a McDonald's or a Wal-Mart. In fact, the company's business model is more or less the standard stuff of Fortune 500 ambition.

This is a vision of mega-chain retailing that involves swallowing up or driving out of business smaller retail competitors. It's a business model that objectively complements the long-term industrialization of organics (i.e., large-scale corporate farms) over small family farms. It's also a "progressive" business vision in which concerns about social responsibility do not necessarily apply where company suppliers are concerned. Subsidiaries of cigarette manufacturers (e.g., Altria, owner of Kraft's organic products) and low-wage exploiters of Hispanic workers (e.g. California Bottling Co. Inc., makers of Whole Foods private label water) are apparently welcome contributors to this particular corporate version of "the sustainable future." Environmental rhetoric aside, none of this should come as a surprise. Mackey's dream of a natural foods empire is one that became possible in the late 1980s with venture capital provided by financiers Oak Investment Partners, Criterion Venture Capital Partners, and First Interstate Capital Corp., all firms with track records as profiteers in weapons manufacturing, as The Texas Observer first reported in 1991. Yet marketing for socially responsible business can create the impression that there is such a thing as a clearly demarcated progressive business sector, reforming capitalism one sustainable mission statement at a time, and then there is the rest of business. But businessmen like the Whole Foods founder probably understand better than the liberal public that the ethical line in the sand between a Wal-Mart, McDonald's, or Whole Foods is mostly just that—sand.

In fact, the apparent boundaries separating such firms tend to wash away at the first wave of inquiry to reveal the web of connections between businesses and subsidiaries and the common ground of their respective business models. For the record, Mackey has not hesitated to defend McDonald's as a contributor to the public good, despite the junk food and minimum-wage jobs it sells to children and young adults. Nor does he have any problem with Wal-Mart, despite its atrocious labor record or the way it drives competitors out of business and drives suppliers overseas in pursuit of rock-bottom costs.
...
When I recently spoke to [Paul] Hawken, he described the natural foods business today as dominated by a "scale-up-and-sell-out" crowd of entrepreneurs. "Everybody wants to sell out to somebody who's publicly traded and wants to consolidate earnings and sales and show 14 percent growth rates," says Hawken. "The industry has become one dominated by people who are trying to create large businesses." The consequences are measurable in the steady consolidation of the natural foods economy that's occurred in recent years. "Whole Foods stores are excellent, well-designed, and abundantly stocked," says Hawken. "But in retail one by one they've bought out the biggest competitor in town.

Purchasing has become increasingly consolidated, which means they then need vendors who can satisfy all the stores, or the western states and so forth. That narrows down the vendors a lot." Since the early 1990s, Whole Foods has bought out such competitors as Bread & Circus, Fresh Fields, Bread of Life, Merchant of Vino, Nature's Heartland, Food for Thought, Harry's Farmers Market, Mrs.Gooch's Natural Foods Markets, and more recently British-based Fresh & Wild, representing dozens of store operations. There have also been buy-outs of a number of single-site neighborhood stores, such as the once thriving Oak Street Market in Evanston, Illinois, among others.
...
A city consumer guide greeted the arrival of the first Whole Foods in Portland,Oregon with the obliging observation that finally downtowners had a supermarket where they were invited to "treat the body like a temple." An atmosphere of such pleasance was promised, the guide's writer gleefully declared, that not only consumer taste buds would shout thank you, but consumer souls as well. It's a good bet that small morsel of marketing fluff was fed to the editors by the Portland public relations-lobbying firm, Conklin Fiskum & McCormick, which Whole Foods hired to promote its arrival in Oregon. Ironically, Conklin Fiskum & McCormick played a key role in 2002 in defeating an Oregon ballot measure that would have required mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods.

Why Shop Locally

2005-07-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

Excerpted from "Eugene, Oregon, Inc." - an editorial by Gavin McComas, proprietor of Sundance Natural Foods.

The following list attempts to summarize some of the reasons not to encourage or facilitate WFM incursion into Eugene:

WFMs size, buying power and centralized management have the six local stores at a major competitive disadvantage.

Chain stores lend uniformity to a town. When every town has its Borders Books, Home Depot, Staples, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Mcdonalds, and Papa Johns Pizza, the character, personality and sense of place will have been lost.

Product selection becomes limited and prices usually rise when one corporation monopolizes the market place or category of goods

Money leaves the community for corporate headquarters and into the pockets of the stockholders. Outside interests vested in their own welfare have less regard for our community than their own cash flow.

Jobs are lost when large chain retailers displace smaller stores, or force them to downsize

Large chains are able to support losses in some stores because of the big profits in their other stores. Thus chain stores can wait out the demise of the local independents. This isnt genuine competition' it is the kind of thing from which that anti-trust laws used to protect us, before the corporations lobbied them out of existence in the name of so-called free enterprise, now known as survival of the most powerful.

The culture of the chain store isnt native to the particular community, so the uniqueness of individual towns is lost. Each community becomes just another mall for siting chain stores and formula restaurants.

As a destination rather than a neighborhood store, Whole Foods Market encourages driving further to buy groceries.

Because of its large size WFM cant offer the intimate, homey shopping experience that smaller local stores can provide.

Eugene is already being well served by the six neighborhood natural foods stores as well as by the Eugene-based PC Market of Choice chain. We don't need a chain natural foods store that would dominate or eliminate local businesses.

See also "10 Reasons Why Vermont's Homegrown Economy Matters" by Stacy Mitchell. Mitchell is a prominent leader of the worldwide movement to protect local businesses. One of her speeches is excerpted on our site here.

10 Reasons Why Vermont's Homegrown Economy Matters

2005-07-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

From Stacy Mitchell's report "10 Reasons Why Vermont's Homegrown Economy Matters And 50 Proven Ways to Revive It." Page numbers refer to that report. The full text can be downloaded as a 71 page PDF here or viewed in HTML here. An interview with Mitchell is excerpted on this site here. An interview with Mitchell appears here.

1. Local Character and Prosperity

In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage. (p. 3)

2. Community Well-Being

Locally owned businesses build strong communities by sustaining vibrant town centers, linking neighbors in a web of economic and social relationships, and contributing to local causes. (p. 3)

3. Local Decision-Making

Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions. (p. 3)

4. Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy

Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, enriching the whole community. (p. 4)

5. Job and Wages

Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do. (p. 5)

6. Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship fuels AmericaÂs economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out oflow-wagee jobs and into the middle class. (p. 7)

7. Public Benefits and Costs

Local stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services relative to big box stores and strip shopping malls. (p. 7)

8. Environmental Sustainability

Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centersÂwhich in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution. (p. 8)

9. Competition

A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term. (p. 9)

10. Product Diversity

A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices. (p. 9)

For links to the full report, see the top of this article.

Eugene, Oregon, Inc.

2005-07-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

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The vested interests that want WFM in Eugene point to the thriving Pearl District in Portland as having been transformed by the WFM recently established there. This giant chain store would, the vested interests argue, swoop into Eugene and “rescue” us as well. There are a few problems with this argument. First, Portland is a large city with urban sensibilities that aren’t present in Eugene. Second, the Pearl District had already attracted new independent shops and restaurants and gentrification was already happening by the time WFM showed up. Third, it seems unlikely that people would stroll around town before grocery shopping and after words the food needs to be taken home to the fridge and freezer.

As a large “destination” supermarket, Whole Foods Market will need to draw customers from all over town – thus encouraging more driving. Our, selection of neighborhood natural foods stores, especially our current downtown store, the Kiva, would be threatened with extinction. The loss of neighborhood goods and services contributes not only to the environmental problem of necessitating more driving, but also lessens the degree to which we can connect with our neighbors on a regular basis.

Some people may think Whole Foods Market is a good match for Eugene because, thanks to a well-funded public relations program, they have developed a reputation for being a “progressive,” “green,” “socially conscious,” “community-friendly” business. Yet, while it may be true that WFM uses progressive management techniques, projects a hip image and has a casually dressed, Libertarian vegetarian C.E.O., in the final analysis Whole Foods Market is essentially a powerful chain bent on conquering the world of natural foods retailing. They do this not only by brilliant self-promotion, but also by operating as efficiently as possible. They centralize as many corporate functions as possible, from management and advertising, to accounting and legal departments. They are big enough to negotiate powerfully with suppliers, consolidate warehousing and to even purchase farms and manufacturers so that they can control price and availability to other stores. They buy out, put out, or marginalize the competition. They are so large and so profitable that a particular outlet can lose money for years and thus outlast any independent local competitors.

Whole Foods Market wants to come to Eugene because we already have a thriving natural foods customer base served by six independent neighborhood stores. As has consistently been their strategy from the beginning, WFM feeds on the customer base of local stores- thus their expansion strategy is predatory. The idea that they are coming to Eugene to rescue and revitalize downtown is simply their public relations people working with local vested interests to sell the city on the idea that they deserve special treatment. Whole Foods Market is a corporation the intrinsic mission of which is to maximize profits to shareholders. What they do and say must ultimately serve that mission.

The following list attempts to summarize some of the reasons we should not encourage or facilitate WFM incursion into Eugene:

WFM’s size, buying power and centralized management have the six independent local stores at a major competitive disadvantage.

Chain stores lend uniformity to a town. When every town has its Borders Books, Home Depot, Staples, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Macdonald’s, and Papa John’s Pizza, the character, personality and sense of place will be lost.

Product selection becomes limited and prices usually rise when one corporation monopolizes the market place or category of goods

Money leaves the community for corporate headquarters and into the pockets of the stockholders. Outside interests vested in their own welfare have less regard for our community than their own cash flow.

Jobs are lost when large chain retailers displace smaller stores, or force
them to downsize

Large chains are able to support losses in some stores because of the big profits in their other stores. Thus chain stores can wait out the demise of the local independents. This isn’t genuine competition – it is the kind of thing from which that anti-trust laws used to protect us, before the corporations lobbied them out of existence in the name of so-called “free enterprise,” now known as survival of the most powerful.

The “culture” of the chain store isn’t native to the particular community, so the uniqueness of individual towns is lost. Each community becomes just another mall for chain stores and formula restaurants.

As a “destination” rather than a neighborhood store, Whole Foods Market would encourage driving further to buy groceries.

Because of its large size WFM can’t offer the intimate, homey shopping experience that smaller local stores can provide.

Eugene is already being well served by the six neighborhood natural foods stores as well as by the Eugene-based PC Market of Choice chain. We don’t need a chain natural foods store that would dominate or eliminate local businesses.

Americans seem to have become resigned to the apparently inevitable dissolution of town centers, independent small businesses and neighborhood grocery stores. So when the world’s largest natural foods retailer proposes an enormous grocery on the edge of downtown Eugene, hardly anyone blinks. Our situation may be likened to the parable, which environmentalists often relate, of the frog in hot water. If you place a frog in a pan of boiling water, it will immediately jump out and save itself. But if you place a frog in a pan of cool water and slowly bring it to a boil, the frog doesn’t react to the gradual change and dies. Will we one day hear ourselves reminisce about the good old days when there were quaint independent local bookstores, shoe stores, florists, camera shops, coffee shops, cafes, and natural foods stores that were fun, familiar, cozy places where we would socialize with neighbors and the staff? These small interactions in these unique local businesses give us a sense of connectedness, belonging and sense of place that cannot be found in chains stores.

Let us do what we can to retain Eugene’s character, integrity and sense of place by considering the social, cultural and environmental as well as the economic effects of new developments. Please share your views on this topic with city officials.