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Non-Tech : Whole Foods Market (WFM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Rosen who wrote (206)	10/27/1998 11:06:00 AM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 438

Whole Foods Market to Run 200 Stores By 2003: Bloomberg Forum Bloomberg News October 19, 1998, 1:13 p.m. PT Austin, Texas, Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Whole Foods Market Inc., the No. 1 U.S. chain of natural-food supermarkets, expects to more than double its number of stores in the next four years as the population becomes more health-conscious. Whole Foods said it will add eight to 10 stores next year and 12 to 15 the year after, and expects its chain to include about 200 stores by 2003. The company now operates 87 stores in 20 states and Washington, D.C. The company is rapidly expanding as other supermarket chains are consolidating to cut costs, expand geographically and negotiate discounts from suppliers. Whole Foods is focusing on its niche consumers, people who don't shop at other retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “I don't want to suggest that we don't pay attention to our competition; we certainly do,” President-elect Chris Hitt told the Bloomberg Forum and traditional grocery stores. Whole Foods' stores sell organically grown produce, ecologically safe household products and foods free of additives and preservatives. Those products are different than those sold at traditional supermarkets and discount retailers and therefore attract a different type of consumer, Hitt said. The outgoing president, Peter Roy, said a presentation at the BancBoston Robertson Stephens retail conference last week that Whole Foods' growth reflects a change in U.S. diets and lifestyles. The retailer is expanding to meet the desires of customers to eat healthier food and care about themselves in other ways. General Nutrition Whole Foods shares have fallen 13 percent since Aug. 4, when health-food retailer General Nutrition Cos. said it would have to cut prices on vitamins and nutritional supplements, which would hurt its margins. “GNC's problems were a surprise to us,” Hitt said. He said issues hurting Pittsburgh-based General Nutrition aren't affecting Whole Foods, and the company “isn't having to mess with prices” on those products. The day before General Nutrition's warning, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods said third-quarter earnings rose 34 percent to $11.1 million, or 40 cents a share, from $8.3 million, or 33 cents. “We're seeing good business,” said Hitt. Hitt says the company, which is expected to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Nov. 7, is comfortable with the average estimate of 40 cents by seven analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. He said it's too early to estimate results for the quarter ended Sept. 27. Whole Foods also expects to maintain an 8 percent growth in sales at stores open at least a year for fiscal 1999. The company had an 8 percent same-store sales increase during the fourth quarter. Hitt, 48, was named president of Whole Foods earlier this month, after Roy said he would resign after five years. Hitt is currently president of the company's mid-Atlantic region and will assume his new duties on Jan. 1. The Harvard-educated Hitt has been with the company for nearly 15 years and served as president of the northern California, Southwest, Southeast and Northeast regions.