Was your local Whole Foods busy today?

I walked through the East Village Whole Foods this afternoon just to see if it was crowded. It was not, at all. Not for a Sunday afternoon. I didn't buy anything, of course. Anybody else check out their local Whole Foods? I'm thinking we need to distribute Mackey's Op-Ed in front of their doors.

How could he possibly object to the distribution of his own Op-Ed in front of his own stores? :evilgrin:

We can do as we please.

I'm not even sure if we have a Whole Foods around here (Philly area) but, if we did, It's most likely in it's own lot or in a mall.

Maybe a few months ago?

it's too soon to see the effects of a boycott. What the CEO said has not been that widely publicized, IMHO. I'd say give it a couple of weeks for the boycott to get going.
I have always preferred Trader Joe's to Whole Foods. Good to know there are alternatives.

Late morning and the parking lot was pretty empty. More telling would be if the large store (north Cherry Creek) was slow, but I didn't have a reason to go by there.

I have thought about distributing the editorial with some blogger comment about the boycott... You couldn't do it on their property, of course....

I wonder if that's true. Here in NYC the store entrances are right on the public sidewalk, so I don't see a problem. But can they kick you out of the parking lot for distributing lit? Not sure.

as soliciting... I think private business can kick you off property pretty easily and the larger one near me hires cops for security, so it would be pretty easy to enforce. As long as you didn't obstruct traffic, you might be able to hand fliers out to cars entering the parking lots, but that would probably get "iffy" as well. Having protesters on the sidewalks with signs would probably be the only way to do so that they couldn't really fight.

They go out of their way to remain open to political free speech all across the spectrum.

They will insist, however, that you not interfere with or impede people who are entering the store.

If you want to REALLY cover yourself, only try to speak with people who are on their way OUT of the store.

Of course, they will have already spent money inside the store.

But that doesn't mean they can't return what they've bought for a refund.

It's next door to the PetSmart where I usually buy my dog food. I didn't go in, but the lot was pretty empty for a Sunday afternoon. It's usually pretty crowded. No idea if the recent events had anything to do with it.

:hi:

:hi: :hi: :hi:

I did shop elsewhere and spent about 40% less for substantially more stuff. Guess this was one of those blessing-in-disguise deals. I did reply to WF's CYA email telling them so. Even if they jettison Mackey (despite their attempts to demur, he presented himself in the uniform of the CEO of WF and definitely was speaking for them), I don't know if it will be enough to blow the stink off and win back the customers they've offended.

Our WF (Sarasota, FL) caters to a lot of college students and old hippy types, but also a large contingent of über-wealthy yuppies, the latter of which I suppose will continue to shop there. My daughter was recently in TX, however, and was shocked to see the home base drew more from the lower end of the economic spectrum. Not sure how they could all afford the jacked-up prices, and led her to wonder how corporate could see that so close to home and still take a position that he's free to promote crap that works against the "community" they purport to care about.