lets show the WalM a little love, please?
Poor Lee Scott.... no matter what the guy does, there's always someone ready to bite at his ankles and call him a Bentonvill thug. And I think he needs a hug.
I've said it before and I will say it again (probably many many more times) but what Scott and WalMart are doing is going to be the biggest thing to ever happen in the marketing of sustainability. Just as he, virtually overnight, got crowned the king of the organic-cotton yoga pants, now he's continuing his battle. And what is the battle? Mr. Scott feels that everyone ought to have access to organic food. Not just the wealthy. And he feels that he has enough power and scale to actually make that happen.
So of course everyone now comes out of the woodwork to say that it is a bad deal for everyone (including the planet? Please...) Even this weeks Business Week has found some organic farmer to interview. The guy is not happy. He has heard all the rumours, and on top of it, he's worried that Walmart will ruin his profit margin. The farmer, by the way, sells to WholeFoods. This is snobbery at it's worse. To begin with, China has new organic standards (that are as good or better than QAI's crap) and can produce more organic produce than all the hippies in California. And the WM does a LOT of business there alreay, right? So they may not want to own every family farm left in America, ya know?
On top of which Mr. Scott is entireley correct! The prices are outlandish for organic food right now and if you happen to be poor you are S.O.L. My last grocery order at WholePaycheque bareley covered anything (and i was raw, so i was buying none of the fancypants Organic Burrito stuffs at all, still two bags were like $75). Now, WFM is the worst offender, tbh, because a similar order from my local coop would have been about $20 lighter (and since i like buying whole foods, i mean real whole foods, like seeds for sprouting and all.... i can actually add that WholeFoods sells less actual whole food than any of the coops i can go to which are smaller but still rock).
I don't mean to bash wholefoods too much, I like that they have made it fun and fashionable to eat organic (and their $80/shares are pretty strong) but i was doing business with them a few years ago and we were a new territory and I saw how they scope out and who they thought was their competitioin, and it was never grandma's hippie organic shop, it was always the most expensive most comfortable more expendable-cash stores around... so um, let them go after the wealthiest top 10% of the pop... and for the rest of us, I say; meet me in a walmart in the organic produce isle, we'll drink fresh smoothies and raise a gladd to good 'ol Lee Scott!
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