Jeff, I didn't take your remarks as in any insulting to Texas, or anything like that. I live in San Francisco, so I wouldn't really care very much, anyway. What I was getting at, though, was a deeper question--are there markets in the United States that are not going to be very profitable for stores like Whole Foods?
The last time I was in Texas was fourteen years ago, so things might have changed a lot. But when I was there, there certainly was not the interest in natural foods that I saw in northern California at the same time. I can see Austin being a very good market because it is young and trendy, and I am pretty sure Dallas and Houston probably have enough young, health-conscious professionals to make them viable markets, as well. But where I was, in San Antonio, there were a whole lot of cakes and pastries, and barbecue. Texas is also a place where, culturally, beef is still king. So that was more the nature of my question. Thank you for the information you provided, incidentally. |
