Whole Foods will bring its low-price concept store to Houston. It will open a 365 Whole Foods Park near greater Heights on the Yale Street and Loop 610, according to Click2Houston.
The cheaper concept stores' target market are the Millenials and will rival Trader's Joe. Whole Foods also plans to open these in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California; Bellevue, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods Market Inc. reported that its shares fell to 11.6 percent to close at $36.08, on Thursday. This came after it announced a disappointing third-quarter results, where the company's revenue of $3.63 billion fell short of the expected $3.7 billion, as per the report of Time Argus.
The company mentioned several factors holding it back, such price deflations and increased competition. It also highlighted the national media attention following overpricing controversy in their location New York, Market Watch reported.
The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs found out that the stores were overstating the weight of some of its pre-packed products.
Co-Chief Executive Officer of Whole Foods Market Inc. Walter Robb stated that their sales dropped sharply after the New York audit. His co-CEO John Mackey said he didn't think that the company's record was different from others.
"We're not sure why Whole Foods was singled out for this attention, and we don't know why the media ran wild with this," Mackey said.
In a call with investors and analysts, Robb said that there was no magic bullet in restoring the lost trust. He added that when it comes to weight and measurement in a grocery industry, nobody gets it 100 percent right.
Nonetheless, Whole Foods is taking every step to prevent overcharging, including employee trainings and consumer compensations if they discovered they were overcharged.
Whole Foods Management worked with New York Department of Consumer Affairs to understand, address and prevent the issues from happening again.
