Whole Foods, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s – Oh No!
If you’ve been to Rose and Lincoln lately,
you may have noticed that Big Lots is gone. That’s because Whole Foods is
moving in to their store, and the adjoining one now occupied by CVS drug store.
CVS will be moving to the old shoe store, next door, but Big Lots is gone. The
nearest Big Lots is in Culver City at 5587 Sepulveda Blvd.
Some Venetians will be very happy to have a
Whole Foods in Venice, while others will find it unaffordable (hence the
nickname, Whole Paycheck). Likewise, for Trader Joe’s which is rumored to
finally be coming to Venice, at the site of the old Wells Fargo bank on
Washington Blvd. Some will undoubtably call it the Marina (including TJ), but
it’s really Venice.
Less welcome
will be the first Starbucks in the heart of Venice. It’s reported to be a
tenant in the building now under construction at Abbot Kinney Blvd. and Venice
Blvd., an area already well served by coffee
establishments.
All three new arrivals
certainly qualify as chain stores, a development that many Venetians have been
trying to prevent. Whole Foods had 186 stores in 2006 and 88 more (including
Venice) in development. The latest annual report by the Texas-based grocer lists
$5.6 billion in sales, up 19 percent from the previous year.
Starbucks pours tall, grande and venti
coffee at 13,168 stores worldwide. Sales last year at $7.8 billion were only a
couple of billion - give or take - more than Whole Foods. But Starbucks has
grand (or venti) plans. It wants to be the “third place” you go
after home and work.
Joe Coulombe is no
longer part of Trader Joe’s. It’s now owned by a German billionaire,
Theo Albrecht. TJs has been spreading out from Southern California and now has
288 stores. It managed to rake in $5 billion in
2006.
Both Whole Foods and Starbucks
have had well publicized battles with workers attempting to organize a union.
Michael Besancon, the Whole Foods president for its southern pacific region told
the Venice Neighborhood Council, Oct. 17, that if his workers wanted a union, he
would “feel that he had failed in his job.” The store is expecting
to open next June.
Recently in Oakland,
the city’s Planning Commission refused to grant a new Trader Joe’s
store an alcohol permit until it has met with labor
representatives.
Posted: Thu - November 1, 2007 at 02:02 PM