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UK: Whole Foods Market Acquires Fresh & Wild
The American natural food supermarket
chain Whole Foods Market is acquiring Fresh & Wild, an organic food
retail chain in the
UK,
for USD 38 million.
Fresh & Wild operates seven organic food
shops in the
UK
and an eighth is scheduled to open in the spring. It is the largest
chain of organic food shops in the
UK
with annual sales of USD 29 million.
Austin-based Whole Foods Market is the
largest organic food retailer in the world, reporting sales of USD 3.1
billion in 2003. The first Whole Foods Market shop opened in 1980 and
there are now 146 retailers in
North America. Whole Foods Market stores
averaging 45,000 square feet dwarf Fresh & Wild stores, which average
5,200 square feet.
The
UK
stores will continue to operate under the Fresh & Wild name, however new
shops will be called Whole Foods Market. It is likely that a number of
new stores will open in the short term as the American retailer
establishes itself in the UK market.
Whole Foods Market is planning to build on
Fresh & Wild’s success in the
UK
market to develop a pan-European presence. There are about 15,000 health
food shops and organic food retailers in
Western Europe
with independently owned family-run outfits comprising the majority.
There are no organic food shops that have a trans-European presence.
Organic Monitor predicts Whole Foods
Market to find it difficult developing a European-wide presence. The
difference in business culture between
USA
and European countries is a major stumbling block for many American
companies.
Horizon Organic, the largest organic food
company in
North America, entered the
UK
market via acquiring a number of dedicated organic dairies in 1999. Like
Whole Foods Market, it planned to use the UK as a platform to the
European market. Almost five years later, Horizon Organic has yet to
develop a presence outside the UK.
Related Article:
Globalisation of the Organic
Food Industry
Posted: January 26th 2004
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