Background Whole Foods Market may be a good place to shop for organics but you may not gain organic growth of your investment money. Whole Foods opened its first store in 1980 in Austin, Texas and went public in 1992. By 2005, they were listed as a Fortune 500 company and added to the NASDAQ-100 Index, and opened a flagship store in London in 2007. Whole Foods’ growth has catapulted them to a well-recognized brand, operating 456 stores in the US, Canada, and the UK with sales of $15.7 billion in 2016. John Mackey, co-founder has been in the role of CEO or Co-CEO since the company was still called Safer Way Natural Foods in 1978. Recently, Walter Robb served as Co-CEO stepped down to currently be a senior advisor. Mr. Robb has been with the company since …show more content…
The public perception, has acknowledged the premium products by nicknaming it “Whole Paycheck.” With the American population more focused on being healthier, Whole Foods enjoyed steady growth over the years, but in the first quarter of 2017, announced they were closing 9 stores, something they have never done before. We felt this was just the start due to the same store growth expectation is -2.5-0%. Our prediction is that they will close more stores throughout the year and possible close two stores a year after that because of increased competition from other grocers. In 2015, the same store growth was at a positive 2.5%. Although, there are several stores in different levels of the planning stage we expect a lower number of stores opening every year. The profit margin has also been decreasing over the last 4 years, but it is still above the industry average. During the end of 2016, Whole Foods also took on debt of several million dollars, another first for the company. Whole Foods while they have been repurchasing their stock, also gained a new activist investor in Jana