Wild Oats

[turil.livejournal.com]

Whole Foods just took over the Wild Oats chain of health food stores. They say they will be closing the stores that are underperforming or that are very close to other Whole Foods stores. I have no idea if the Wild Oats back on Rt 16 (just behind Tufts, and just over the border into Medford) is an underperfoming one or may be deemed too close to the Fresh Pond store, but if it does close, that may be an interesting location to put a Trader Joes or maybe a big food coop...

It's currently not that easy to get to from Davis, since there are no public buses that run from Davis to Tufts, but it's within walking distance of Teele Square (about a mile), and is far closer to Davis than any other decent sized whole foods grocery stores.

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it, since it might effect some Davis folks.

Comments

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

Though if ever there was an underperforming store, that Wild Oats is it. I always get a little sad going there, watching them have to throw away the old, unsold produce. Though I'd bet if it was a Whole Foods, traffic would pick up markedly, and the Fresh Pond Whole Foods is overwhelmed as it is, so having another location so close isn't necessarily a bad thing.

As an aside, I think the Wild Oats location is much too big for a TJs.

[ron_newman]

do you think just the unfamiliar chain name keeps people away? It's probably hard to do effective advertising when you have so few stores in the market.

[chumbolly.livejournal.com]

I think it a few things--one being they don't have much visibility, but I also think that location is bad. In theory, it seems good being right on 16, but Wild Oats and it's predecessor in that location have always struggled. Since the store doesn't do much business, its stock doesn't get much turnover, so I almost never buy fish, meet, or produce there. Which means less business, and on and on....

[ron_newman]

what was there before Wild Oats?

[penny-chase.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it was a Wild Harvest and became Wild Oats when Star gave up the stand-alone Wild Harvest stores.

[ariwriter.livejournal.com]

A google search uncovered a Purity supermarket at the location in 1995.

[ron_newman]

Thanks. I vaguely remember the Purity Supreme chain. I think they merged with Stop & Shop at some point. Their Central Square store was so badly kept up that people called it "Poverty Supreme".

[ron_newman]

One problem with the location is that the railroad bridge entirely blocks your view of it from one side. You could walk by the intersection of Route 16 and Boston Ave. for years without knowing this store is a block away.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I never got the impression that they underperformed. Any store that sells produce is going to have a plenty going bad -- it's a loss leader. Perhaps the problem is the way the place is managed, that they don't get rid of effectively enough.

I love Trader Joe's, but I'd much rather keep an all-purpose organic-type place around. TJ's is much cheaper for what they have, but there is too much they don't have for me to use them as my primary grocery. (The space wouldn't be too big for them, either.)