Wal-Mart Organics and Larry's Markets Demise

Intriguing juxtaposition of this story with the big news here in Seattle yesterday that Larry's Markets, a high-end local grocery chain, is closing its doors.

Larry's coulda shoulda woulda been fine if it had understood the movement to green and organic/natural produce. The affluent shoppers that made Larry's such a big hit early on evolved to a more holistic and healthy lifestyle. Larry's did not evolve with them and became a dinosaur. (Note there were management and economies of scale issues as well, but essentially Larry's lost its customer base.)

We just visited the big new Portland Oregon Whole Foods and it was the typical engaging, bustling, exciting experience. Whole Foods is just a fun place to go, besides offering healthy wholesome organic green products. It's turned grocery shopping into a cultural event, despite the fact everyone complains about "Whole Paycheck" pricing.

How will Wal-Mart fare? About the same as Larry's, as I've written before. Unless it shifts its core values to a green-based approach, it will simply help send customers to Whole Foods, Wild Oats, the Puget Consumers Co-op and others while flailing away half-baked on its own product lines in a market it does not understand and cannot cultivate.

-- Paul Andrews, GreenforGood