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| Is the high-end image of Whole Foods ... |
One
such example was when the Chicago White Sox last month announced they were
going to have an official import beer to be served at the ballpark – that being
Modelo Especial.
THERE
ARE THOSE people who think that Mexican brand is some sort of exotic, high-end
label. Particularly when they start playing with the lime and salt.
Although
it turns out the corporate interest that owns the company that produces Modelo
also is the one that several years ago bought out Anheuser-Busch. As in
Budweiser.
Which
may be why Modelo is one brand of Mexican beer I don’t consume. Actually, I
just think the taste is unexceptional. Not even particularly lousy. Just kind
of pointless. Much like I’d describe Budweiser beer products.
But
the money that gets spent on both winds up in the same corporate wallet. I find
that to be funny, particularly if there’s someone out there who thinks that
drinking Modelo-brand cerveza somehow
makes them a more discriminate consumer than someone who quenches their thirst
with Bud Light.
THIS
SAME REACTION is what I’m feeling Monday upon reading the reports about Whole
Foods quite possibly being for sale, and one potential buyer being Albertson’s.
The Boise, Idaho-based company owns supermarkets all over the country, and they operate them under various brand names meant to create the impression of locally-based companies.
In
the Chicago-area, Albertson’s is the corporate entity that gives us Jewel and
Osco.
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| ,,, destined to become a part of 'da Jewels?' |
As
in “We’re goin’ to da Jewel’s,” that would like for us all to think of itself
as the quintessential Chicago food shopping experience – particularly now that
Dominick’s is ancient history.
ALTHOUGH I SUSPECT most of us merely rant and rage about our neighborhood Jewel’s store being dirty or depressing or poorly stocked or whatever complaint we feel like making. I shop there because it’s close by; I literally used to live one block from one of their stores.
To
people, it won’t matter what the quality is; we’ll want to believe there has to
be something better somewhere else. In fact, I think that’s a large part of why
Whole Foods (and Trader Joe’s, as well) achieve some success in the Chicago
area.
You
go in there and see allegedly high-end foodstuffs – even though many of them
are merely more expensive versions of what it is you can buy at “da Jewels.”
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| Will 'Krogering' become a national concept? |
Now,
it seems Albertson’s is considering placing a bid to buy out Whole Foods. Whole
Foods and Jewel could become sister stores. For all those people who are
willing to indulge themselves (and clean out their wallets) by spending more
for organic produce and other pseudo-sophisticated products, I can’t help but
wonder how they’ll react to having to consider themselves as shopping at a
Jewel partnership.
BECAUSE
I CERTAINLY doubt that this means Jewel would go “high-end.” Although I have
noticed some Jewel stores in select communities have gone out of their way to
remodel themselves and create the impression that they’re carrying fancier food
products so as to compete with the high-end supermarkets such as Whole Foods.
Personally,
I wonder what happens if the day comes when all supermarkets wind up finding
themselves under one entity and we get generic grocery stories from which to
buy our edible products.
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| Will we all someday experience Piggly Wiggly sensation? |
We’ll all wind up eating the same thing – and probably wind up paying more for it. Maybe it would even turn out that we’d take interest in which conglomerate winds up winning out as the dominant supermarket. Are we all destined to “go Krogering” for our food – regardless of where we live?
If
that’s the case, I vote for the Piggly-Wiggly to prevail. I think it would
serve the culinary snobs right to have to shop in one of their stores.
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