| I don't have much to say on the case myself, and I'm not necessarily an 'opponent' of Whole Foods per se. At least not any more than I oppose other national chains on principle, based upon my strong belief in localism. But the fact remains that in many parts of New Jersey, where I grew up and lived for many years before I moved out here to Oregon, Whole Foods was one of the only places in all too many towns where it was possible to eat well. That's true in many parts of America - and even though I have a strong feeling that their presence in these places may discourage potential competitors from even starting up, I can't say that for sure. Their presence in certain communities could be considered an overall plus for the health of the people there.
That being said, their actions re: this case in seeking proprietary information from competitors here in Portland and elsewhere seems to be making the government's case for them; while at the same time exposing some serious flaws in the very structure of the legal proceedings regarding federal antitrust cases.
It's ridiculously obvious to anybody who's ever been to Portland that Whole Foods does not have any sort of monopoly in the natural and organic food market here, but of course that doesn't mean that's the case elsewhere. So why are they allowed to use this case against them to subpoena confidential information from local competitors here that will only help them in their quest to control this market, as well?
It's also worth noting that Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey has personally engaged in internet trolling in order to undermine his competitors, and also that they've already argued that information they receive on competitors should be accessible to not only outside lawyers they've hired in the case, but also to in-house counsel. In other words, members of Whole Foods' management team should be allowed access to, amongst other things -
3. All documents relating to Whole Food's acquisition of Wild Oats, including documents discussing the effect of the merger on you.
4. All documents discussing competition with Whole Foods or Wild Oats, including responses by you to a new Whole Foods or Wild Oats store and responses by you to prices, product selection, quality, or services at Whole Foods or Wild Oats stores.
5. All market studies, strategic plans or competition analyses relating to competition in each Geographic Area, including documents discussing market shares.
6. All market studies, strategic plans or competition analyses relating to the sale of natural and organic products, including the sale of natural and organic products in your stores.
7. All documents relating to your plans to increase the shelf space at your stores allocated to natural and organic products, the number of natural and organic products sold in your stores, or the sales of natural or organic products in your stores.
8. All documents discussing your plans to renovate or improve your stores to sell additional natural and organic products or to open stores emphasizing natural and organic products.
9. Provide documents sufficient to show, or in the alternative submit a spread sheet showing: (a) the store name and address of each of your stores separately in each Geographic Area; and (b) for each store provide the total weekly sales for each week since January 1, 2006 to the current date.
New Seasons CEO Brian Rohter weighs in on the issue at his blog -
I have to believe that any reasonable person would agree that it's really over the top for Whole Foods to be asking for this information, especially since we have nothing to do with their lawsuit. It takes away the level playing field, creates an unnecessary risk for our business and has the potential to have a negative impact on our network of local growers, ranchers and suppliers. It also could permanently damage the fragile regional food system that we've been working to create and, in the end, could reduce options for Portlanders who choose to shop at locally owned stores.
New Seasons Market is a small, locally owned company that competes against large, multi-national chains including Whole Foods. Whole Foods has about 270 stores in cities all over North America and in England. We have 9 stores in the Portland area. Allowing Whole Foods to look through all of our private information about how we operate and what our plans are for the future unfairly adds to their already large size and financial advantage. We've been able to build a successful local business being David against their Goliath, and we're happy to keep doing that, but we do object to having one hand tied behind our back.
Whole Foods says that we should give our information to their lawyers and they claim the lawyers won't let anyone else in the organization see them. That's like trusting the fox to guard the henhouse - and we don't have any faith it's going to work like that.
As does an op-ed in The Oregonian -
Despite the continuing regulatory opposition, as you may have noticed, the merger proceeded. After taking control of Wild Oats, Whole Foods quickly shut down three of the newly acquired stores in the Portland area and renamed the rest.
New Seasons stayed out of all that messiness. CEO Brian Rohter said the chain never expressed any opinion about the merger and obviously, wasn't a party to it.
Yet now, as the rather pointless dispute between the FTC and Whole Foods grinds on, New Seasons is being asked to supply its primary competitor with a raft of private information that would never otherwise be available for outside scrutiny. And Rohter says his lawyers tell him he may actually be forced to comply with the request, although New Seasons has filed its objection to doing so.
Nothing about Whole Foods' behavior so far suggests that this is a benign request for information. Rather, it is a nakedly anticompetitive maneuver intended to hamstring its strongest rival in the Portland area. |
