Interesting

[dancerjodi]

Tisana and I were talking about this at Diesel last Thursday - the moral implications (or not?) of Curves:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/06/19/sweating_with_the_enemy/

And Tisana, the organization I was trying to remember from being super vocal at the March last year was Operation Rescue . . .

Related, I never knew about the Dominos owner and his political leanings. Are there any other large companies in this boat (besides Coors, who the article mentions) that you're aware of?

Comments

[julishka.livejournal.com]

wholefoods has questionable business practices? (i hadn't heard...) i do know they're known to treat their employees very very well.

i think the quality of shaws foods has plummeted since they came into the area. star was way way better.
but that's a discussion on an entirely different topic.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

re shaw's - I totally agree about it being less then Star, but as far as fish goes (and I don't buy fish there for other reasons) they at least try to buy from sustainable supplies (at least as far as Collapse by Jared Diamond goes). Still, I don't see myself ever buying fish from Shaw's.

And whole foods, I think the quality of Bread and Circus was way better. The big beefs with whole foods go with thier desire to say close the co op in central since it competes directly with them and the not so good ways they present some of their in house products (ie letting you think something is organic when it isn't). And they do have a high markup for the same produce as say a shaw's (they have very little organic produce there anymore, which was one of the main reasons I went there)

In general though, I like whole foods, I should have used better wording as some of it may be questionable, but on the whole, they are better then most supermarkets. Especially when it comes to community outreach and employees.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

the markup of wholefoods is huge. but wrt bread and circus vs. wholefoods, just remember that the signage change came way way after wholefoods bought them. b+c were wholefoods-owned at least 5, maybe 6 years before they changed their branding -- before the fresh pond store was built, even.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

good point. hmmm then I wonder when/why the organic produce began to disappear? Now I'm curious.

And the buyout was that long ago? I could have swore it was after the fresh pond store was open, not long after, but after.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

they don't sell organic anymore? wholefoods, that is? i'm confused. or if you're talking shaws, it could be that the change in organic regulations where everything has to be super separate changed things shaws-wide.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

whoefoods. and this predates the new regulations...over say the past 5 years, the amount of "convential" produce has crept up until now I'd say 85+% of the produce is convential (whatever that means). I know the new organic regulations came into affect a little bit ago, but even given that the drop off has been dramatic. Not to mention the confusing signage/story boarding of the local farmers (which, if they using local farmers, then losing the organic tag is ok, simply label the produce as locally grown and I'll be happy (since most local farmers can't afford the fees involved in calling themselves "organic" even if they are. Thank you W).

And if you read the back of some of their prepared stuff, its not looking all that whole and organic to me. Aside from their sausage...cause their meat and fish is first rate.

[slickgothgurl.livejournal.com]

i agree with the meat and fish comment. i can no longer buy meats from star/shaws/stop and shop. it's like eating jerky, it's so tough. wholefoods meats and fish are awesome. and i noticed the same thing about their produce. i mean, i can get the same nectarines at shaws for much cheaper. i should ask my fiance about the produce thing, since he works at the WF at symphony.

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

when you find out, let me know as I'm very curious about that

[slickgothgurl.livejournal.com]

sure, no problem. i'll ask him tonight as he's at work right now.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

i've put in a question to my source at corporate. if he remembers (he's also a musician...you know how they are) to get back to me, he said he'd ask the produce buyer/manager guy there. he asked which wholefoods we were talking about (i mentioned our discussion in the abstract), but since i was thinking of fresh pond and your old abode, i didn't think to mention river street (i always forget about that one). which one do you go to?

[canongrrl.livejournal.com]

fresh pond, river street and prospect. But I think the same holds true for the two in Newton as well.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

maybe it was when star started wild harvest (which was all one thing before the separate stores separated and became wild oats)? it was their direct attempt to have a conventional store w/in the whole food store concept. so yeah, you got your organic this and that, your small farm this and that, but could also grab that bottle of Diet Coke or the basic frozen stuff or some campbells soup. honestly, i thought that concept rocked. was very sad when wild oats phased it out of the pre-existing stores such as the medford one.

now i have to do my shopping at three, maybe four different supermarkets - especially when i'm cooking for others: shaws, wf, w.oats, trader joes.