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Skyline on the roof of Whole Food
By Luke Zhang
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The
flagship store of Whole Foods on 525 North Lamar Boulevard might probably be
considered as a symbol of Austin Liberalism. Surrounded by apartments, office
compounds and hotels, Whole Food is artificially designed as a natural and
welcoming compound for everybody. Its scenery makes sure that the grocery store
not only offers organic products, but also attracts local residents to spend
their leisure time there. Whole Foods therefore becomes a mixture of commerce
and living. Theatrically intended as a family friendly gathering place
where everything is harmonious and laid back, Whole Food seems
to fit in with the liberal aspect of Austin. Yet, as we dig deeper in our observation,
we find its style contradict against the liberal soul of Austin. After
all, we conclude that Whole Foods is just a grocery store trying to
sell its upscale organic products to a limited variety of people.
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Infant Seat
By Luke Zhang
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In order to appear as liberal as
possible, the Whole Foods in Austin’s downtown area tries to impress people by
advocating natural environment and free soul around the store, thus instilling
a sentiment to its customers that they can do whatever they wish here. Picnic
tables can be found all over Whole Foods --- located right next to the
cashiers, up on the second floor, outside of the store, and even on the roof.
To accompany the tables, shades are built to mimic trees and natural scene such
as artificial rocks and fine-looking flowers. To further promote greenness,
smoking-free signs can be seen anywhere in the park, trash is categorized into
as many as six cans. The place is not merely green, but also convenient for
people to spend some quality family time, as it is both animal and baby
friendly. As we observe the store in the park, we see more than five pets
sitting next to their owners and enjoying the afternoon sunshine, while babies
are comfortably napping in the infant seats that Whole Foods provide. Even
better, Whole Foods plays music from its own radio and provides free public
Wi-Fi to its customers, attracting many to spend their leisure time here to do
some work. From first look, all these features would make people feel like
Whole Foods is a liberal place where everybody is warmly invited.
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Tree-Like Shade
By Luke Zhang
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Yet, as we scrutinize this
grocery store more closely, we begin to realize that the core value of Whole
Foods is not too close to the idea of liberalism and even a little fascist.
Even though the corporation tries hard to make it look like a welcoming place
for everybody, it does tend to keep the poorer families out of its store. The
hit brand of Whole Foods, “365 Everyday Value,” promises to produce the most
organic food one can find in a grocery store, giving customers the sense that
by purchasing them, they are eating the healthiest foods. Yet, what many people
neglect is that organic does not necessarily mean healthy. For example, the
“365 Slightly Salted Baked Potato Chips” has been criticized by a reviewer
online as “extremely sugary,” and he suggests that instead of labeling those
chips as “slightly salted,” they should be placed at the cookie aisle and be
called “heavily sugared.” The “365 Everyday Value” is also more expensive than
other ordinary products’. For example, as we go through the snacks section, we
discover that the chips here are often as much as two dollars more expensive
than the common chips brands such as Lays, which can be found in other markets
such as Wal-Mart and HEB but are apparently ignored by Whole Foods. As a
result, customers often find that they only have one choice when buying
products in the store, the pricy “365 Everyday Value” brand. This policy shuts
the door for most of the lower class families as they simply can’t afford to
shop at Whole Foods, which by the way, sells the largest mark-up per product in
grocery business.
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Seat in Shop
By Luke Zhang
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Austin downtown’s Whole Foods
not only lacks liberalism in terms of its narrow choices of products, but also
influences the dynamics of its surroundings. According to our research online,
when Whole Foods enters the scene in populated area such as the downtown of
Austin, it severely affects the neighborhood. Usual consequences include an
increase in the price of nearby hotels and apartments and the closure of
smaller but cheaper convenient stores. Richer people might appreciate the
existence of an organic store, but poorer citizens would not feel lucky and
might even have to move out of the area since now the living cost here has
dramatically increased. Whole Foods Corporation’s inconsistency with Austin’s
Liberalism is not only reflected by its “unfriendliness” towards the lower
income people, but also proven by its lack of diversity in terms of ethnicity.
While we are spending our Sunday afternoon at the picnic table, there is only
one African American walking into the store and two Asian boys doing their
English project. Other than those three, all of the other people are Whites. In
our opinion, Whole Food’s overly natural campaign, including the usage of brown
bags, donation to plant trees, biodegradable packaging, and the advertisement
of a green product line, has made the White urban customers feel like that they
are embracing and saving the nature by simply consuming at the store. More
significantly, the corporation successfully made customers feel good about
themselves for buying healthy yet expensive products. True Austin Liberalism is
not a concept for people to feel good about themselves, just like Richard
Wright’s
Native Son is not written to
make rich white girls feel bad about African Americans.
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Live Music Line-Up
By Luke Zhang
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To some people, Austin’s
Liberalism simply means “a place where groups of hippies gather at a music hall
to enjoy live music and have a sip of beer.” As we quietly listen to Adele and
Stevie Wonder singing on the Whole Food radio and observe this organic store’s
culture, we notice a chalk board listing all the artists who are coming to the
store soon to sing. We are deeply impressed by Whole Food’s effort to make it
appear as liberal as possible. Yet, at the end of the day, we still conclude
that Whole Food, with its limited types of customers and selected brands of
products, does not quite fit with the Liberalism of Austin.
In the late 1800's, Frederick Winslow Taylor developed methods of labor productivity, one of many types of efficiency, called Taylorism. Taylorism was largely accepted by industries seeking to increase profits and reduce waste. Despite looking good initially, this "efficiency" also met a lot of criticism. In the early 1900's the Senate in fact banned Taylor's methods when an investigation found the majority of workers to be hostile towards the amount of control the managers had over them. Similarly, in Taylorism, workers with talent and potential were treated the same as unskilled workers creating a system that catered to drones, not humans. I find this historical context helpful because it is an example of how "efficiency" does not often work well with human nature.
