I was at a Whole Foods market yesterday, and for the first time I really took a good look around and tried to deconstruct my experience. And I realized how much Whole Foods is not just about food — it’s about an idea.
Sure, you can buy food there, and you generally do, but so much more is going on. The lighting, layout, signage, placement of items within the aisles, the checkout experience, everything works together.
The entire time that you shop, you are receiving a well crafted narrative. That narrative is about variety, freshness, cleanliness and eco-friendliness. But it’s also about having an upscale elite experience, a feeling of being pampered within an orderly world where things are taken care of — where you are taken care of.
Sure, it costs more. But that extra amount that you are paying is for a high quality entertainment experience that often leaves you in a better mood than you were in before you entered.
And I say that’s ok. High quality ambience is worth paying for.
For example, high quality ambience is a lot of what you are paying for when you go to a museum. And a museum doesn’t even have food.
Wow, your Whole Foods sounds very, very different than the one in my area. I avoid ours if at all possible.
I wonder what causes the difference between different Whole Foods stores. For example, is it determined by geography, or by who happens to be the store manager?