Expo East: All the News and All the Snooze
After a last minute decision to attend Expo East we left the show happy to see old friends but more and more convinced that the Baltimore show is as exciting as yesterday’s meat loaf left out in the rain. What we mean is that fewer established manufacturers bother to exhibit, (this holds true for the […]
Whole Foods, United Natural, Get Happy–Will Manufacturers Feel the Pain
NBN remembers the old days back when we were the grocery buyer for a small Connecticut independent (actually, in those days all the stores were independent). Cornucopia was our primary distributor but we ordered from Stow Mills and Tree of Life in the Northeast. No doubt increased consolidation offers both retailers and distributors advantages, allowing […]
Wal-Mart’s Organic Ambition Shakes Up The Natural Products Expo
Giant Retailer Rattles Some Nerves, Has Others Dreaming of Gold While we didn’t get to talk to any of the Wal-Mart buyers that were at the show and who everyone was looking for, we do know one thing: Wal-Mart was on everywhere lips at the Expo in Anaheim, spoken with trepidation from some, and excitement […]
Burkle and Cerberus Group Move Closer to Wild Oats Purchase Wild Oats Stock Price Rises Again Amidst News
Wild Oats Stock Price Rises Again Amidst News As regular readers of NBN already know, Ron Burkle, the billionaire head of the Yucaipa Investment Group (and former Ralph’s chief) already controls 14.9% of Wild Oats. Sources at the EXPO told NBN this weekend that Burkle has greatly increased his shares of Wild Oats shares in […]
Slate Magazine Looks at Whole Foods
Article Points Out Image Isn’t Everything and Then Gets It All Wrong In one the better pieces on Whole Foods Market, Slate looks at Whole Foods phenomena and asks the question is WFM really all that wholesome? While we wondered whether the story would be just another snaky complaint about high prices and fancy gourmet […]
Ralph Bigwig Eats His Oats
Is Ron Burkle Just Sewing His Wild Oats Or Is This A Marriage Worth Rooting For? Billionaire grocer and Democratic Party donor Daddy, Ron Burkle, purchased 2.6 million shares or 9.2% of Wild Oats, and according to reports, may start issuing orders to the Oats Board of Directors. Burkle, ranked by Fortune Magazine as 51st […]
Memories of Mrs. Gooch’s
I remember it vividly. My shock and awe at seeing a store like none I had ever seen before. It was huge, bright and packed floor to ceiling with nothing but the natural products that back in the 1980’s were only seen in little 1,000 and 2,000 square foot stores that were often hard to […]
Best Book of the 2005: Generation RX
Read this book and some things start to make sense. Things like those obviously misleading commercials on television and in magazines. You know the ones I’m talking about. Those that tout the latest drug that makes you think that life before treatment was a living hell but after treatment its just one endless dance in […]
Whole Foods battles Wild Oats in Louisville
While the 2nd annual Levine Thanksgiving family reunion was absent of any fights, in fact it was filled with fond reminiscences of old friends, favorite places, family pets and resulted in nothing more harmful than falling asleep in front of the television and some serious overeating (more turkey please…damn that stuffing is good, would you […]
Memo To Congress: Look to Supplements, Stupid
DSEA Study Shows Possible $5 Billion Dollar Savings with Two Supplements A study commissioned by the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance showed that the simple provision of two supplements to seniors, 65 and older would result in a whopping $5 billion dollar savings over 5 years. The supplements studied were, omega-3 fatty acids and a lutein […]