[BCN] great discussion...

[rwbussewitz]

To All,

I just want to add my voice to the discussion of coop vs. whole foods 
as regards price and value, the "nominal" price and of course the 
"hidden" costs which concern all of us. I'm finding this discussion 
very valuable. In particular, the points made about inability of 
Harvest to bring about a more viable membership which might ultimately 
enable the coop to compete better with whole foods. Personally, i solve 
the affordability gap by going to the really low cost produce markets 
in our area, one being Baby Nats on the Am. Legion Hiway the other 
being the Lebanese store (Bob's Pita Bread) in Rosy. Of course that 
means not buying organic in those places. But when it comes to 3 or 4 
dollars a lb. for peppers for example, red or green, it becomes a 
choice of having or not. I also realize not everyone has the option of 
going to several places to get the shopping done. I have some issues 
with whole foods too, some serious ones, but i think they have created 
a culture which is in some ways a model for everyone else. Just for 
example the willingness to answer a customer question, to find 
something, to accomodate in this way, i think it would be far to 
cynical to simply say this is "good for business."

To get to my point. It would be hard to imagine going back to the days 
before Harvest finally came to JP. It's such a shock to learn that it's 
a struggle to make it work at all. I can't believe we who depend on 
this store could allow it to fail, but i also wonder how many have any 
idea of what's going on. So I can only say let's hear more.  I think 
actually the management of the store does owe it to the membership to 
let people know what's behind the seemingly unreasonable prices. When 
one sees they're not "unreasonable" in the greater context it moves one 
to want to know more. There is actually a lot at stake here. It's about 
our lives, our life-style, and in fact the planet isn't it?