Whole Foods Cutting Prices As Amazon Takes Over

NEW YORK CITY — Whole Foods Market's quality products are about to become more affordable for New Yorkers. In anticipation of Amazon's takeover of Whole Foods, the two companies announced Thursday that Whole Foods is cutting prices starting next week to make "natural and organic food affordable for everyone."

Whole Foods will cut prices Monday on organic bananas, avocados, large brown eggs, salmon and tilapia, baby kale, baby lettuce, ground beef, almond butter, apples and organic rotisserie chickens. The grocery chain has 12 New York City locations — 10 in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn.

“We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone. Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality – we will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market’s long-held commitment to the highest standards,” AmazonWorldwide Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke said in a press release.

Amazon To Slash Prices At Whole Foods; Competitors Are Scared

Whole Foods is often the derided as a grocery store solely for the elite cusp of society, charging exorbitant prices for healthy food, but the company has made efforts to change its reputation. In recent years the chain began opening new lower-cost "365 By Whole Foods" stores and sell Whole Foods 365-branded products in an attempt to lure thriftier shoppers.

Want to check out the new prices Monday? Head to one of these NYC Whole Foods Market stores:

• Harlem: 100 W. 125th St.
• Upper West Side: 808 Columbus Ave.
• Upper East Side: 1551 Third Ave.
• Columbus Circle: 10 Columbus Circle
• Midtown East: 226 E. 57th St.
• Bryant Park: 1095 Sixth Ave.
• Chelsea: 250 Seventh Ave.
• Union Square: 4 Union Square South
• Bowery: 95 E. Houston St.
• Tribeca: 270 Greenwich St.
• Gowanus: 214 Third Ave.
• Williamsburg: 238 Bedford Ave.

As an additional discount, Amazon Prime members will eventually get access to special deals. The two companies first have to integrate Whole Foods' point-of-sale system with the Prime system.

The news that Whole Foods and Amazon will lower the chain's prices took an immediate toll on the grocery store industry. Before the first Whole Foods avocado was marked down, grocery store chains like Kroger, Stop & Shop and Walmart saw their stock priced drop Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission said it would allow Amazon to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The Amazon purchase was first announced in June, and the two companies expect the deal to close by the end of 2017. Whole Foods founder John Mackey will remain CEO of the company, and its headquarters will stay in Austin, Texas.

Patch editor Neal McNamara contributed to this report.

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