Fantastic food blogger (and sometimes Ashvegas restaurant reviewer) She Who Eats (come back, She!) asks the provocative question. Click over to answer her. A snippet:
I’d like to know what you think about the new Greenlife/Whole Foods hybrid situation. There was a time when Greenlife was my home away from home. The cashiers always liked my outfits, the key lime pie was the best in town, and the clientele were my peeps. But lately. The snazzy new salad bar looks snazzy enough, but they’ve also raised the price by $1 per pound. Last night, most of the wines “on special” were over $13, and I became confused about where everything is made. Let’s say you’re a chicken pot pie. If you are labeled “Whole Foods,” does that mean you were made at the Greenlife in Asheville? Or were you shipped from someplace? Confusion, mass confusion!
17 Comments
The hotbar at GreenLife has moved the signs that tell you what each item is and the ingredients to a height that I cannot see at all anymore. I am in a wheelchair. I have asked them on at least 6 occassions to change this so that people in wheelchairs and children as well can see these descriptions. I have been told they'd fix it, but it's been several months so I don't hold out much hope. I've also been told I can ask someone to read these signs to me. How much interest would you have in the HotBar if you had to find someone to read each name and the ingredients in each dish to you? Earthfare's hotbar is far better anyway…too bad though since GreenLife is in my neighborhood and more convenient for me.
Whoever you are, a critic or a supporter of Greenlife…it is a Whole Foods now. It is going to keep treating it's employees like disposable napkins and keep selling the customers products that are cheap generic lies.
This is one of the biggest corporations, they are in it ONLY for the money. Believe what you want about Whole Foods, but until you've been on the inside of the company and see the immoral and downright sliminess that they shovel down employees and customers throats every day, you won't understand. The difference is that the workers know and the customers just either don't care or assume that everything they're being fed is the truth…i never would have found a non organic bell pepper from ISRAEL! there the other day if it were still Greenlife.
As far as the staff is concerned, yes there are some workers there that are not the best at customer service. That is not a blanket statement that can cover everyone. Speaking from years of experience, i feel that the customers who shop at Greenlife (not all, but an overwhelming amount of them) are extremely rude and selfish when they interact with an employee. This is unacceptable human behavior. When you enter a business why not try treating the people who are there to help you with some respect and love and you may see some in return. It is hard trying to make a bunch of out of touch wealthy jerks with low blood sugar who continually demean you happy and be cheerful while doing it. STOP TAKING IT OUT ON THE WORKERS…in almost every case, they don't know what the hell is happening or where things come from or if it's organic etc…because they are not informed or even answered properly if they do inquire to WF about something…they are being kept in the dark intentionally…
Bottom line is what ever you thought of Greenlife it was not a corporation, the owner of Asheville's Greenlife was a good man who had a local dream, much of the food was local, organic, and made on site, employees were happy, community vibe was excellent.
Whole Foods is a mega corporation, their number one priority is profit (i heard it in a training session) they have cut numerous local products and are shipping in more than half of the prepared foods now (things not made organically, using canola oil instead of olive or whatever in almost everything premade (read the labels) The "lower prices" are just new WF brand products added to the shelves so that we will buy their low quality crap and pass the slightly more expensive and more honest and healthier labels.
I could say a lot more, but if you are a customer of Greenlife/Whole Foods I urge you to ask questions specifically to someone from Whole Foods and strongly consider shopping elsewhere if you are really interested in supporting the local community and economy. If you are a nasty rude man or woman who enjoys making others feel smaller than yourself and you enjoy blindly spending and supporting the types of moneymaking greenwashing companies who are destroying our society then the doors are open…step right in,..you probably belong there.
Leigh, French Broad Food Coop has locally milled flour.
Tofutown, right on. I find Earth Fare to be a big greenwash concerned with local and even organic only when it is easy.
Regarding the staff in Greenlife, I've usually felt more love from them than is expressed here. I also tend to show up on off-peak times which may account for some of that. In speaking with one employee one day, I learned that Whole Foods has been allowing the size of the staff to shrink by attrition. Loss of employee discounts drove some away, and denial of raises has made others look elsewhere. When folks leave, their work gets put on other employees without adding hours or wages. Whole Foods gets to count this as a "productivity increase" while service declines. Long story short, the Greenlife name remains but that's about it.
When I moved to Asheville four years ago the main reason I bought a house near down town was so I could walk to Greenlife for groceries, afternoon Latte and cookie, and to see friends and socialize. I was not liking the changes they were making when WF took over but when they took out the brochures of bodyworkers from the vestibule, I stopped going there and now shop at Ingles which is near my house or go to EarthFare in WAVL. Too bad, what a big loss for what makes Asheville a great place to live.
Just for the record Earth Fare is not locally owned. For the past few years it has been owned by a private equity firm based in Cambridge, MA
http://www.monitorclipper.com
SWE, you plucked the words from my mouth!
When the WholeTakeover was announced, I was optimistic. Sounded like they were committed to sustaining Greenlife's vision and not shaking things up too much.
Since Greenlife opened 5 or 6 years ago, I've shopped there between 2-4 times a week. I like the convenient location, the smaller size and the selection. It was a fun place to get my food.
In the last two weeks, here are just some of the many changes I've noticed for the worse:
~ No more locally milled flour in the bulk bins. WF generic organic brand only. Anybody know where I can find locally milled flour now?
~ No more HNG eggs. Supply issue or intentional, I have no idea
~ It feels like the entire produce section has shifted away from being hyperlocal, but it could just be the season.
~ The selection of local meat is more limited. They brought in Petaluma. Don't get me started.
~ The grab-n-go seciton, as SWE mentioned, makes it hard to distinguish what was made fresh on site and what was shipped in.
~ The other night, the meat counter guy said that they were planning on demolishing the rotisserie and that responsibility of the roasted chickens was moving out of meat and over to deli/prepared foods. I actually exclaimed out loud, "WHAT? They just BUILT that rotisserie." He obviously hadn't been there long, because he didn't know what I was talking about. I mentioned it to the guy at the checkout, and he responded "Well, the guys who built it got paid for it, right?"
That's. Not. The. Point.
~ The 5% Days….who knows if this is a good thing or not. What it does mean is that fewer nonprofits will have the opportunity to benefit, since WF doesn't do it every month, and there's undoubtedly some corporatized way of applying which is going to make it not worth the little guy's time anyway.
~Harvey moved from the Coffee Bar area to the Checkout. It was his choice, and I'm glad he still works there, but he was really what made it worth it for me to get my coffee in the morning.
~There's been a gradual exodus of staff, which makes me sad. Everything feels so wrong and disconnected.
I wish WF would have made some attempt to ask its customers what they wanted, instead of applying the corporate 'here's what works for us everywhere else' model.
I had not been in Whole Foods since Greenlife was purchased in May until just a couple of weeks ago. I had heard many of our local producers have lost contracts there and replaced by products from places such as Columbia, South America. I went specifically to see what changes may have occurred. I observed distinct differences: higher prices, less availability of locally produced goods, less organic products or products with less organic ingredients (confirmed by an employee), and baked goods from Atlanta warehouse instead of baked onsite (or at least in Asheville). I am happy that I have not shopped there since May. I do not support Whole Foods and its practices. http://tiny.cc/9qz77 I prefer to support locally produced foods and products when possible by visiting a farm to buy directly, tailgate markets, or locally-owned stores/bakeries, and have continued to be loyal to FBFC and Earth Fare since moving here 15 years ago. When buying imported products, I prefer to support a company I respect.
LOL @ the record store from High Fidelity! That's dead-on accurate.
Great movie though!
With respect to prepared foods, did Greenlife make its stuff in Asheville or at its home store in Chattanooga? Are we now asking questions of Whole Foods because we know they are a big company that we never thought to ask of Greenlife because they were thought to be (and were) small? We should avoid criticizing the New Greenlife (Whole Foods) soley because it is not the Old Greenlife. All businesses change, grow and adapt to market conditions (including raising prices) or they disappear and maybe not all of these changes can be attributed to a change in ownership but instead a change in the economy, local market forces, suppliers, etc.
If as a community we are concerned we should ask all grocery stores (Fresh Mkt, Ingles, Aldo, etc) to provide a standard scorecard of % of goods made, bought, within a 100 (?) mile radius along with other data that the community feels is important like living wage, same-sex benefits, carbon footprint? We may be surprised to find out that as a percentage of total produce, Fresh Market has more organic than Earth Fare or Greenlife (I don't know, I'm just saying lets use data not assumptions)
As a shopper I agree that Earth Fare is better lit and the staff seems to be more professional. I don't want my gorcery store to feel like the record store in High Fidelity. As a late 30's married, professional, homeowner w/ children maybe I am not Whole Foods/Greenlife's target demographic, but if I am not I would be curious to know who is.
Doesn't seem like much as changed as far as attitudes. Moody hipster cashiers and clerks who don't smile and act as if answering a question is an imposition? No thanks. Believe it or not, one can be progressive, support local businesses and locally-made art, and be pro-environment and green *without* wearing the beard and tats uniform. Earth Fare has much better customer service and better food.
I've tried both numerous times over the years and totally support Earth Fare, at least the West Asheville branch. While each store has a price edge on certain items, I find that my usual produce choices are cheaper at Earth Fare and the quality is excellent.
And I second the comment that lmost every Earth Fare staff member is helpful and friendly, and usually knowledgeable.
As others have mentioned, customer service at Greenlife is spotty at best. Not only is the Earth Fare staff friendlier, but they're also much more professional looking, so I don't cringe when thinking about which of them may have prepared my food.
I am a former Greenlife customer… I used to go 2 or 3 times a week in the am for coffee and a muffin and would often would pick up lunch and other groceries. They changed that whole setup and made it less convienent. That, along with the cutout of a local flower farm and the shipped-in prepared foods was enough for me. I will take my money elsewhere and more local. Hell, at this point I would almost consider Ingles more local and they certainly do a lot more for this community.
They did away with the senior discount–one of the justifications for going to and spending more at Greenlife. Lost me as a customer. I get a discount at Earthfare.
Staff at Greenlife are, um, disengaged? Not to be found when needed, not knowledgeable when you do and unhelpful most of the time.
A loss for Asheville.
After the Whole Foods takeover I decided to give Earth Fare a try. I have come to like Earth Fare better. Alot of the products are the same and most of them are about the same price but what keeps me going back to Earth Fare is the customer service. It is light years ahead of Whole Foods/Greenlife! At Greenlife I never could get anyone to stop wallowing in their discontent long enough to acknowledge my existence. At Earth Fare nearly every employee is helpful.
Also, I didn't know they raised the price of the hot/salad bar. That's too bad. That's the one good thing they have going for them. I do also have to say that I like the hot bar at Earth Fare better if for no other reason than it is bigger and there is more variety. I've found the quality of the food of both to be decent enough for the price, but I haven't eaten at the Whole Foods hotbar recently (obviously, since I didn't know they raised the price).
A great deal of the stuff at any Whole Foods Market is shipped in from a central commissary or bakehouse….in the case of Asheville, it mostly comes from Metro Atlanta.
Whole Foods is just another grocery store, nothing really great and nothing really bad…just a grocery store.