Whole Foods Market plans to jettison Wild Oats Market-owned Sun Harvest and Henry's stores if its FTC-contested merger with Wild Oats goes through.
While the merger remains in legal limbo for now, Whole Foods announced yesterday that it plans to sell all 35 Sun Harvest and Henry’s stores, including the two Sun Harvest stores in Austin, to a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based warehouse food retailer Smart & Final, which itself is owned by Apollo Management, LLP.
I’m wary of what often happens to customer service and product quality at companies bought out by private equity firms, but the Sun Harvest in North Austin really has no place to go but up.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
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2 comments:
Agreed. Sun Harvest makes me sad. It has the smell, patina, and vibe of an old-school vitamin shop/health food store. They, like many businesses rely on being the only game in one part of town - being the non-Central Market/Whole Foods place. If anybody came along and offered something comparable that was newer and had decent service, they'd be fucked.
You're right, David. If Trader Joe's came into those areas, they'd clean up.
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