Whole Foods

[ZYX]

Awesome news! New construction Whole Foods usually lookpretty cool, so I can't wait to see some renderings.

[rdj]

Sorry, but that link just reinforces that Whole Foods is not going in there because it would not fit. According to the link for that center the main L shaped building is really two buildings that are 18,200 sq ft and 10,475 sq ft respectively. A Whole Foods location runs 35-40,000 square feet.  If Whole Foods is going in at 91st and Yale, it’s going on the SW corner.

I wasn't saying WF was going there.  That is where KEO is going.

[Teatownclown]

WF is going to be facing other competition from the same category.

Wait and we will see.....this new location will alleviate much over crowding on 41st.

Besides, south Tulsa deserves this.

[Kenosha]

SW corner of 91st and Yale?

Precisely.

[SXSW]

Second location.  They were rumored to be heavily considering the former Borders store on the NE corner of 81st & Yale.

That would've been a good use for that building, but the demographics are likely better one mile south plus easy access to the Creek Turnpike.  I wonder if Barnes & Noble be interested?

What else will be going in next to Whole Foods at 91st & Yale?  That is a pretty big piece of land.

[rdj]

The 2 mile radius around 91st & Yale is one of, if not, the wealthiest in the state.

[jacobi]

SO I worked at WF (we called it hoFo) all of the first half of this year.  There were drawing people from the Tulsa store to help open the OKC store and would vaguely intimate that there would be another store out south.  Someday.  With a capitol someday.  It's good that they are anouncing a new store (starting pay is $10/hour which means not slave wage).  I wasn't impressed with them as a company (all green and liberal hype but really just another "EF up and you're fired" kind of place) but hey the rich southie's will eat it up.  And this makes two for us and OKC one.

As per the 41st street expansion, that has been going on for a very long time.  and by going on I mean nothing going on.  the spaces next door remain unrenovated and are used for meeting space and random crap storage.  This was scheduled to be completed while I was still working there.  I quit in june.

None the less, I feel that 'boom goes the dynomite' nails it on the head.

[Conan71]

That would've been a good use for that building, but the demographics are likely better one mile south plus easy access to the Creek Turnpike.  I wonder if Barnes & Noble be interested?

What else will be going in next to Whole Foods at 91st & Yale?  That is a pretty big piece of land.

If Barnes & Noble is smart, they know they don't need to be investing in brick and mortar.  That former Borders location might be the right size for an Aldi but not a Whole Paycheck.

[TulsaGuy]

Jacobi - what do you mean by a "EF up and you're fired kind of place"? 

I don't see the correlation between an anti-green/liberal establishment and that?  I would hope all businesses would not let employees get away with consistently poor performance whether they are liberal or conservative. 

Now, I don't agree with letting people go as soon as they slip up, but if there are performance expectations in place (as there should be) and an employee consistently underperforms, let 'em go.

[Gaspar]

This is indeed good news because when I run out of award winning 3 Guy's Smokin' products, I can just run across the Street to Whole Foods and buy some!

[jacobi]

Jacobi - what do you mean by a "EF up and you're fired kind of place"?  

I don't see the correlation between an anti-green/liberal establishment and that?  I would hope all businesses would not let employees get away with consistently poor performance whether they are liberal or conservative.  

Now, I don't agree with letting people go as soon as they slip up, but if there are performance expectations in place (as there should be) and an employee consistently underperforms, let 'em go.

Let me clairify.  The general store manager almost never compliments anyone.  HE scold people publicly and engenders fear wherever he goes.  He is darth Vader and you don't want to be the random foot soldier that lets the rebels get away.  They pay decently but they treat their employees like crap on other levels as well.  What I meant was more along the lines of "we are watching you.  We want to fire you.We enjoy firing people."  I never was written up (I was chastized heavily a few times) but it was pretttyy rough.  My point is that despite claiming a facade of caring and workers rights (i.e. liberal) they really want you to cower in fear before their might and majesty.

As far as their green efforts go, they are kind of a joke.  is there really anything sustainable about a large building that has AC 24/7?  What about a place who's products (save for a few green onions or beats) are shipped in from long distances?  Really what the sign out front should say is "Appease your white liberal guilt here!".  It's really just a Haute Bourgeoise place that wants to pretend that it is environmentally savvy and cares about it's employees.  It is not.  It is from Texas.  

[RecycleMichael]

As far as their green efforts go, they are kind of a joke.  

I am not a regular shopper at Whole Foods, but they are the greenest store in my opinion. I regularly give "Green Grocery" tours and use Reasor's, Whole Foods and Food Pyramid locations to walk a college class or civic group around. I am actually registered with Whole Foods in order to be able to do these stores.

Whole Foods does ship in many items from far away places, but so do the other stores. I think it is ridiculously stupid to buy bottles water from Fiji, but they all sell it. Whole foods has the best selection of organic foods, reduced packaging foods, and bulk item shopping opportunities. They have a great slection of recycled paper products and green cleaning products.

The store encourages customers to bring their own bags and even offers collection of yogurt containers and hard to recycle products.

They may be bastards to work for and I can sense your bitterness, but they are the greenest grocer in our town, especially after the Farmer's Markets shut down for the season.

[AquaMan]

Let me clairify.  The general store manager almost never compliments anyone.  HE scold people publicly and engenders fear wherever he goes.  He is darth Vader and you don't want to be the random foot soldier that lets the rebels get away.  They pay decently but they treat their employees like crap on other levels as well.  What I meant was more along the lines of "we are watching you.  We want to fire you.We enjoy firing people."  I never was written up (I was chastized heavily a few times) but it was pretttyy rough.  My point is that despite claiming a facade of caring and workers rights (i.e. liberal) they really want you to cower in fear before their might and majesty.  

He's not bitter, he's expressing the reality that few people our age are seeing. Sounds exactly like the job I just left at a big box office supply store. Everything you described was common place in our stores. Learn this if nothing else from your experience: big box/chain retail management has a well deserved bad reputation. It is rare to find store management that has any thing but disdain for their employees.  When I started there it was all about quality product, customer service, respect for employees and sales. By the time I left it was only about warranty sales on cheap products. The idolization of the WalMart way by retail managers has made chain retailing nothing but a way-station job. 

But I'm okay now.

[jacobi]

This is why I go to grad school.  SO that I no longer am a slave.  Oh wait....

[dbacks fan]

He's not bitter, he's expressing the reality that few people our age are seeing. Sounds exactly like the job I just left at a big box office supply store. Everything you described was common place in our stores. Learn this if nothing else from your experience: big box/chain retail management has a well deserved bad reputation. It is rare to find store management that has any thing but disdain for their employees.  When I started there it was all about quality product, customer service, respect for employees and sales. By the time I left it was only about warranty sales on cheap products. The idolization of the WalMart way by retail managers has made chain retailing nothing but a way-station job. 

But I'm okay now.

Sounds a lot like the municipality I used to work for, "We don't need these people who have been here ten years and built the infrastructure, we can contract it out, save money and make ourselves look good!"