Whole Foods hopes consumers in low-income neighborhoods are willing to shell out a few more dollars for specialty grocery items as the firm moves into new territory in its latest bid to drive growth.
Last month shoppers flocked to the opening of a new store in Chicago’s struggling South Side Englewood neighborhood, with local residents widely praising the arrival of a fresh food and healthful-eating-option grocer, the Wall Street Journal reports.
And for Whole Foods, the growth can’t come fast enough—the firm is struggling after annual increases in comparable-store sales dropped from 7% or more between 2010 and 2013 to 2.5% last year. The company’s stock has fallen 15% this year and analysts wonder whether the firm has hit the ceiling in the crowded organic foods market, but Whole Foods hopes this expansion will prove the ceiling is a long ways off. [WSJ]
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