My Wallet Votes For Costco and Trader Joe's, Not Whole Foods

Last week, the day before Whole Foods (or as Dr Desert Flower and I call it, "Whole Paycheck") CEO Right Winger John Mackey told Americans that health care reform is not needed, they just need to 'shop at Whole Foods', I went to Costco, and got my favorite Medjool dates, clementine oranges, Mexican mangoes, organic spinach, macadamia nuts, peanuts, cashews, Ketel One Vodka, etc. The smiling, enthusiastic, helpful workers at Costco are consistently friendly and customer centric - I've asked the cashiers upon checkout on several occasions what they think of working at Costco, and universally, they've had very positive responses. It's almost like a cult, but in a good way.

The next day, I get an email from my buddy Matt about Mackey's public statements and previous machinations and then I hear of the fall out from Whole Food's loyal customers, a large percentage of whom are very disillusioned with such anti-progressive, self-serving, CEO comments. Mackey's statements are par for the course, as he tries to prop up his sagging stock, sells off a million dollars of it, and then pisses off his activist customer base. It'll be interesting to see if the activist boycott degrades Whole Foods sales revenue in August & September, or if it's alot of noise without any substance. My money is on Costco and Trader Joe's - where employees are happy and the merchandise is desirable and healthy - and Farmer's Markets. Sprouts is also a good buy, but it's a 8 mile drive for us to get there =\.