Whole Foods Buys Wild Oats for $565 Million
While here at NBN we’ve been predicting the sale of Wild Oats for more than year, last week, when we wrote “sooner or later some mid-size conventional chain will be more than happy (desperate, really) to buy Oats for top dollar little did we guess that the buyer was going to be none other than […]
Wild Oats Products Hit Price Chopper—Is the Brand Worth More Than The Stores
As regular readers know we have been following Ron Burkle’s interest in the Wild Oats chain closely. So far, despite his nearly 25% ownership and placement of many of his people at the helm, things have remained pretty much the same at Oats. At least so far. More recently we’ve talked to folks who suggest […]
Rethinking Wild Oats
Could It Be Time to Call Your Stock Broker? Recently I had an interesting conversation with an industry friend; one that started out as a debate about Wild Oats and ended up with NBN thinking about the perennial also ran a lot differently. What I noticed is this. So what if Wild Oats is the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Wild Oats Stop and Shop Store Gets Maternal Thumbs Up. Mother Knows Best!
Those of you who read NBN regularly (as you should) know that our mother ship, also known as Levine’s Mom, was given the task of checking out the grand opening of Wild Oat’s second lifestyle boutique in a Stop & Shop store. Well, the initial word from Mom is that the boutique within a store […]
Wild Oats Unveils Second Store in Stop & Shop NBN’s Mother Ship Sent to Investigate
While the new Wild Oats lifestyle boutique that is celebrating its grand opening today isn’t in my mother’s Stop & Shop store, it is in one just a few more miles from her house. The conversation below took place this morning: “Mom, I need you to be a stringer, to do some research for me.” […]
Is Wild Oats All Mixed Up? Conventional Products To Be Added To Shelves
Wild Oats recent decision to add conventional food, household and OTC items to its product mix is a little bit like the girl who put her thumb in the dike. It always feels good to be doing something but it doesn’t necessarily solve the problem at hand. While we understand that the Oats insiders rightly […]
Wild Oats Stock Gains Amidst Analyst Upgrade
Are California Store Sales Enough Reason for Hope? Wild Oats stock rose 7% on Friday on word that RBC Capital Markets graded Whole Foods poor stepsister to outperform based on their expected growth in sales for Southern California stores. Quarterly results will be released August 4th and while NBN hopes that Wild Oats stocks remains […]