Organic Panache

   

I do not live in one of Denver's toney neighborhoods, but visit upscale Cherry Creek occasionally, to shop. I like the Whole Foods store there. People like me do not  provide Whole Foods with its captive, well-to-do, customer base. Ordinarily I wouldn't give momentary notice to the price the wealthy pay for the panache of organic, gluten-free, grass fed baloney. 
     I shop at Whole Foods despite the "Whole Paycheck" reputation, not because my lifestyle must set me apart from elders shuffling down the aisles of Walmart. It is because Whole Foods spread itself all over Boulder, Colorado, like cage-free eggs on a frat house. Whole Foods promised, at the time, it would bring a more competitive marketplace for organics. In fact, like the invasion of Starbucks, it left virtually no alternatives for consumers.
     Change is upon us, people, and I am ready! Never a hard- core Whole Foods shopper, I welcome Trader Joe to Denver.  As for Whole Foods, its corporate management is determined to disenchant. Now the chain has been fined for cheating California consumers, and some of the price inflating methods have a familiar ring. Here's a link to the Reuters/CNBC coverage:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/101787636#.
     A fine of $80,000 is teensy for Whole Foods, but this incident adds itself to the revelation that Whole Foods uses producers in China for it's 365 Organic brand. Corporate protestations that Whole Foods carefully monitors its Chinese producers weren't comforting. 
       The days of organic exclusivity are numbered. Established companies are trying a new business model resulting in widespread availability of organics. Discount outlets will be carrying organic and some gluten-free cookies. Even better, these rise above the Sawdust Special of bygone years!
   

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. Alan Watts