Here is another photo from the Whole Foods Market store in New York that I mentioned yesterday. This photo (click on the image for a larger (tastier) version) shows one of the mushroom displays. I say one of as this is not their only range of mushrooms.
I love mushrooms and stood in front of this display in awe of the range they had on offer. If I lived within a reasonable distance I know I’d come to this store for their mushroom range alone. Another shopper nearby commented to me … great range huh? I love their mushrooms.
Whole Foods is like that, I saw evidence of shoppers as evangelists for the business. How valuable is that?!
To me, the display is a message about the value of specialisation. As I mentioned yesterday, the population in New York is quite different to areas we serve but we can cut out cloth accordingly. People will travel for a better range of products they love.
Retailers who represent passion for niche products and areas will benefit from loyalty from shoppers interested in these niche products, like mushrooms.
I love mushrooms.
My husband and I are both avid readers of a range of niche titles related to our hobbies. We have a long history of travelling to ‘good’ newsagents who stock the titles that we buy and who present them well and who seem to be generally as interested in magazines as we are.
This looks fantastic! Is this a supermarket (as we define them) or a food only store like Harris Farm Market?
Before the supermarket retailers were specialists. Now everyone sells everything to make a dollar and we have lost a lot of this.
Some newsagents offer too many goods and services and become so cluttered nothing in particular stands out and we end up looking like junk or corner stores.
When Harris Farm opened near us we offered them newspapers as there was no newsagent near by. Their answer was no as they only sell food. I like shopping there because of that, they specialise in food only and they have a great range of produce and knowledge.
Supermarket Jenny.