Great move for Amazon (haven't had many bad ones). Stock in Kroger and WM are down after the announcement. Instant infrastructure for it's online grocery plans.

Damn.......I sold $35 calls on WFM.

I lose.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Damn.......I sold $35 calls on WFM.

I lose.

Mike

Naked calls?

I never go to WF. I don't like wasting my money.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
I can't see it for me, but I'm sure some hipster is going to go on Amazon and order groceries to be delivered by uber...

I have the majority of my groceries delivered via Instacart. And we buy a lot of our non-perishables via Amazon Household. I'm probably the weirdest looking hipster you'll ever see.

I miss Webvan.

Like my description of shopping at Trader Joes... Have you ever been in a store and you see some self absorbed asshole standing in the middle of the isle, their cart blocking everyone's way while they look at who knows what, with obviously no concept or concern that there my be other people in the store or anywhere else in the world for that matter? Picture a whole store full of that person.


What's wrong with Whole Foods? You don't like paying $14 for a free trade, organic non GMO, free ranged non blood tomato?

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Damn.......I sold $35 calls on WFM.

I lose.

Mike

Naked calls?

Naw, covered.

Win some - Lose some

Clicks to bricks? Isn't this backwards?

quote:

Originally posted by jdmb03:
I never go to WF. I don't like wasting my money.

Who cares about the food and prices. It was a great move for investors who had the balls to play it.

quote:

Originally posted by jdmb03:
I never go to WF. I don't like wasting my money.

"Whole Paycheck Market"

quote:

Originally posted by IndyRob:
How does shopping at Whole Foods make buying groceries fun?

Do the employees put on a lil skit as you walk in the door ala Southwest Airlines?

The one in downtown Austin - for example - has escalators that work with the carts, conveyor belt setups that'll move your haul out to the parking area for you, about a dozen different areas to eat inside (pizza bar, sushi bar, bbq area, sandwich shop, chocolate bar, bakery, etc), and so on. It is a vastly superior shopping experience to the vast majority of regular grocery stores. When I live near a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I end up getting maybe 10% of my items from regular grocery stores - shit like paper towels and Heinz Ketchup and super basic things where fancy or natural don't matter much.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:

quote:

Originally posted by IndyRob:
How does shopping at Whole Foods make buying groceries fun?

Do the employees put on a lil skit as you walk in the door ala Southwest Airlines?

The one in downtown Austin - for example - has escalators that work with the carts, conveyor belt setups that'll move your haul out to the parking area for you, about a dozen different areas to eat inside (pizza bar, sushi bar, bbq area, sandwich shop, chocolate bar, bakery, etc), and so on. It is a vastly superior shopping experience to the vast majority of regular grocery stores. When I live near a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I end up getting maybe 10% of my items from regular grocery stores - shit like paper towels and Heinz Ketchup and super basic things where fancy or natural don't matter much.

Yes to all. When I go to Austin, I don't go to the flagship store but go to the one by the Dominion. You loiter by the cheeses and they volunteer to open some and slice some samples. I was in the produce section and looking at all the bizarre mushrooms and said I'd never seen or eaten any of them. The employee hands me ~six small shiitake mushrooms (enough for a sandwich) to try.

And the coolest thing? A few years back, they were taking orders for some heritage-breed turkeys. I ordered one and came up the day of delivery. Well, the truck was going to be waaaayy late, and I explained I lived quite far off. They refunded my money and sent someone to bring up an organic frozen turkey and thanked me for my patience and patronage. It's as fun as grocery shopping can be.

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:
I think it is a brilliant move. They get a place that sells as much locally sourced food as possible that can be used for same day delivery. It sells food at a premium and Amazon doesn't have to build infrastructure, it just gets it.

Yep. Amazon has been in the grocery business but it's still only a small part. I think besides the shared customers, Amazon also gets a ready made network of grocery stocking locations.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:

quote:

Originally posted by IndyRob:
How does shopping at Whole Foods make buying groceries fun?

Do the employees put on a lil skit as you walk in the door ala Southwest Airlines?

The one in downtown Austin - for example - has escalators that work with the carts, conveyor belt setups that'll move your haul out to the parking area for you, about a dozen different areas to eat inside (pizza bar, sushi bar, bbq area, sandwich shop, chocolate bar, bakery, etc), and so on. It is a vastly superior shopping experience to the vast majority of regular grocery stores. When I live near a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I end up getting maybe 10% of my items from regular grocery stores - shit like paper towels and Heinz Ketchup and super basic things where fancy or natural don't matter much.

Shipping for groceries is supposed to be an experience? I'm out of there 10-15 minutes from when I walked in. The last thing I'm concerned with is the "experience."

Yeah, grocery shopping here in Jerkwater is an experience-just not a good one.

Amazon knows people are reluctant to purchase fresh foods such as produce and meats online. That will come later. In the meantime this gives them a share of that part of the market.

The new challenge for the grocery retailers is to get people in the stores. Amazon Pantry and the meal kit services like Blue Apron are gaining traction at a pretty good clip and this is not going unnoticed by the established industry.

Even the large high end grocery stores are seeing less people coming through the door. They continue to add more services in a effort to bring the "I don't want to do anything" consumer through the turnstiles. Some local stores have just recently added produce butchers. These guys will slice, dice or julienne any produce you want in any quantity you want in a matter of seconds.

Dieticians are on hand to shop with you if you have any health issues such as diabetes and need to purchase diabetic foods. That person will spend as long as you need and personally shop the store with you to make sure you are choosing the right foods.
Of course all these things drive up the cost of shopping.

The local brick and mortar stores aren't going to be shutting down any time soon but the industry trends are changing.

quote:

shopping for groceries is supposed to be an experience? I'm out of there 10-15 minutes from when I walked in. The last thing I'm concerned with is the "experience."

No, I don't think it's *supposed* to be anything, but it *is* different from a great many regular stores and the variety of options can be worlds different. I don't know about you, but I don't eat the same thing day after day after week after week. I love variety.

You don't think there's a meaningful difference between, say, a ghetto Walmart and a nice new Safeway or the like with a huge Produce section and excellent Meat counter? Same idea. Better is better, nicer is nicer, more choices are more, none of which is all that subjective. If you don't care, suit yourself.

And I don't spend any extra time there unless I want to - usually when I'm eating lunch or grabbing a snack. I know where things are, get in and out as I need to, but I've been shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's for more than 20yrs in multiple US States, which I supplement with Costco, a rare visit to a non Ghetto Walmart, Asian markets, and regular stores.