Boycott Whole Foods Markets in Orange County

August 14, 2009 Uncategorized 13

Time for Orange County liberals to shop an alternative to Whole Foods for natural and organic produce and products!

Fortunately, our county is home to only two Whole Foods market, in Laguna Beach and in Tustin at the corner of Jamboree and Barranca Parkway, so few conscientious shoppers will be affected by a boycott.

Here’s the deal: in a Wall Street Journal op-ed penned this week by CEO/founder John Mackey, self-servingly titled The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare, this newly-revealed conservative libertarian declared:

“… the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system.”

If that’s not enough, this pseudo-constitutional scholar goes on to pontificate:

“While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?

“… A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This ‘right’ has never existed in America.”

I wonder: does Mr. Mackey realize that the bulk of Whole Foods customers are liberals who actively support both buying organic and earth-friendly products and health care reform?

I also wonder: what does Mr. Mackey think our country’s founders meant when they wrote that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Does Mackey honestly believe that access to the minimums needed to not die don’t constitute “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?” Or does he just not give a damn about his ailing, uninsured neighbor?

We have plenty of amply-stocked Whole Foods alternatives here in Orange County, including Trader Joe’s (18 stores throughout the county) and Irvine-based Henry’s Farmers Market, with stores in Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo and Yorba LInda.

Boycott Whole Foods!

12 Comments

  2. Henry’s is owned by Whole Foods…so if you’re boycotting one, you should follow through with the other.

  4. Howard BMN, Whole Foods merged with Henry’s Markets as of September of 2007. There was talk & a press release that Whole Foods was selling Henry’s to Smart and Final dated 6/29/07, however, as of 8/27/07, Whole Foods was completing the merger with Henry’s by purchasing all of their remaining stoack and taking it off the market.

    Quote from the press release:
    “After purchase of the shares guaranteed for delivery, Whole Foods Market will acquire all of the remaining outstanding shares of Henry’s Markets Markets common stock pursuant to the short-form merger procedure available under Delaware law. In this merger, a subsidiary of Whole Foods Market will merge with and into Henry’s Markets Markets, and Henry’s Markets Markets will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Whole Foods Market.”

    You can see the chain of events on Henry’s own website here: http://www.henrysmarkets.com/h/Merger_with_Whole_Foods/

  6. I knew there was something I liked about Whole Foods! If all of the socialist boycott it will make my shopping less crowded and much more enjoyable!

  7. Mother’s, indeed, is wonderful, Gustavo. Should have included it in this list.

    Misha, Whole Foods acquired Harry’s Farmers Market, not Henry’s Farmers Market. See the company history here:
    http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/history.php#14

    I double-checked that fact before I wrote this post.

    Per Wikpedia, Smart & Final “acquired eight Sun Harvest stores in Texas and twenty-seven Henry’s markets in Southern California” in October 2007.

  9. Until the Renaissance, participation in the polity was thought of primarily in terms of DUTIES to the state or monarch, NOT rights. The Magna Carta of 1215 started the shift in outlook and gave the English nobility & other “freemen” certain “rights.” Then John Locke expressed in 1690 the concept of political rights belonging to citizens. To him, inalienable rights were life, liberty, and the right to own & improve property. Govt. was supposed to secure these rights for its citizens. Our Bill of Rights reflects Lockean principles. Social-action campaigns to extend legal rights and protection have happened throughout US history. (most specifically industrial workers, women’s suffrage, and African-Americans) The health care debate is rooted in several that defy resolution (what’s an “ideal” America). As an “arguing nation,” heated and heathy debate defines us & unites us as Americans. Our ideals are created thru hard-fought experiences. (think Civil War) THAT’s what makes us the freest society in the world. (good read: The 13 American Arguments by Howard Fineman) I, for one, welcome the comments of Mackey and am certain they’ll partially drive that crucial debate so needed and necessary, that’s going on all over the USA. The sarcasm of Ms. White (referring to Mackey as a pseudo-constitutional scholar, etc.) in my humble opinion, reflects poorly on her and is ham-fisted. Great sarcasm has its place in debate, when used effectively. Thanks for the thoughts. I am a first time reader of your blog & was interested in this Whole Foods thing. (former shopper when in Redondo Beach).

  10. Hey y’all, my error was not to check beyond Henry’s own corporate press releases.

    #6 & #7, please read the link I posted in comment #3. It is from Henry’s OWN website. Again, it says that in June of 2007, Smart and Final (controlled by Apollo Management) was to acquire Henry’s.

    Recounting for everyone else, a few months later (August 27, 2007), Henry/Wild Oats announced that they were merging with Whole Foods Markets.

    By October, with completion of the merger, Whole Foods then sold off Henry’s and some of the Wild Oats assets to Smart and Final and Apollo Management (an investment firm with lots of financial problems. For more information on their troubles, look up their Linens & Things acquisition.

    So, yes, Smart and Final does now own Henry’s, however Whole Foods owned 19 Wild Oats stores and reached a settlement with the FTC as late as March of this year on the assets it still owned. If I had drilled through the financials more deeply, I would have discovered the discrepency between the Smart and Final acquisition and the Whole Foods merger…

    I took the information from Henry’s own website which makes no mention of the final Smart and Final sale and doesn’t list anything past August of 2007. The rest of the story is on Whole Foods’ investor relations pages.

  11. I plan to do a lot more shopping at Whole Foods in the coming weeks. Mostly in response to the moronic boycott of the store now gaining momentum on the left.
    Let me see if I have the logic correct here: Whole Foods is consistently ranked among the most employee-friendly places to work in the service industry. In fact, Whole Foods treats employees a hell of a lot better than most liberal activist groups do. The company has strict environmental and humane animal treatment standards about how its food is grown and raised. The company buys local. The store near me is hosting a local tasting event for its regional vendors. Last I saw, the company’s lowest wage earners make $13.15 per hour. They also get to vote on what type of health insurance they want. And they all get health insurance. The company is also constantly raising money for various philanthropic causes. When I was there today, they were taking donations for a school lunch program. In short, Whole Foods is everything leftists talk about when they talk about “corporate responsibility.”
    And yet lefties want to boycott the company because CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed that suggests alternatives to single payer health care? It wasn’t even a nasty or mean-spirited op-ed. Mackey didn’t spread misinformation about death panels, call anyone names, or use ad hominem attacks. He put forth actual ideas and policy proposals, many of them tested and proven during his own experience running a large company. Is this really the state of debate on the left, now? “Agree with us, or we’ll crush you?”
    These people don’t want a dicussion. They don’t want to hear ideas. They want you to shut up and do what they say, or they’re going to punish you.

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