Change of concept for Whole Foods in Great Britain

After years of failure with its 7,500 m² store in London, the US American whole food giant is going to change its concept. Whereas Whole Foods successfully operates 288 large-scale supermarkets in the USA and Canada, the expansion it announced as “the big step abroad” in 2007 has failed to take off. Organic-Market.Info reported the opening of the store on 6 June 2007.

Since then, every year we have heard dire news about the company’s losses. According to the publication Lebensmittelzeitung, they amounted to 32 million euros last year – with a turnover of 50 million euros. If the big concern, that has an annual turnover the equivalent of 6 billion euros, had not stood behind it, the store in Kensington High Street would have folded ages ago. It also made huge losses in the previous two years (see our earlier report). (Picture on left: The former Barker building. The basement, ground floor and top floor are used by Whole Foods)
 

One of the problems of the supermarket, that concentrates on natural products, only some of which are really certified organic, is that it does not have its own car park. The reason is that the centre of Kensington (picture), a stone’s throw from the palace of the royals, is a densely built-up area. Doing your shopping soon becomes the problem of how much you can carry. Moreover, Whole Foods focused on fresh food and service, but in the meantime the loss-making fish counter (picture on right), the oyster bar and the champagne bar have been closed.
 

There were other issues too, such as pack sizes typical in America rather than geared to British shoppers who tend buy smaller quantities. Moreover, the style of this eco top-level store is still unusual for the English and so far has not really appealed to them.
 

However, the biggest problem of Whole Foods London was, from the outset, the size of the retail area. Whereas the company in the USA became increasingly known over the last 20 years and its clientele expanded continuously, they wanted to make their mark in London with a store that is more than ten times bigger than the organic supermarkets in the capital. That’s megalomania. And they did this, despite not being familiar with the market in Europe in general and in Britain in particular. (Picture on left: lavishly stocked meat counter to satisfy your every desire)
 

Now the time has come to change the strategy: they would like to expand further in Great Britain and are looking everywhere for retail space, but “only” between 1,850 and 2,850 m² - a size that is certainly realistic. Whereas just a few years ago the company from Texas was talking of 20 outlets in England, since opening the Kensington store they had fallen silent. Now they want to get on with that expansion and are on the lookout for suitable premises in a number of towns in the UK.
 

The big turnaround is the task of John Turner, who a year ago became responsible for the company’s operations in Britain. He has analysed the situation and realised that the Kensington store is too big. Whether this is behind a change to the failed expansion strategy only or will also affect the future of the eco-temple to consumption in Kensington is still not known. (Picture: View from the escalator of the fruit department with self-service fresh convenience counter)