Whole Foods Market slashes prices – internet starts dancing with joy

If you avoided Whole Foods Market because you thought it was too expensive, you may want to drop by.

On Monday, the grocery store chain that bills itself as the America’s Healthiest Grocery Store slashed prices by as much as 43 percent on some items. The Whole Foods Market in Fresno is in the Fig Garden Village shopping center at Palm and Shaw avenues.

The move comes on the heels of Amazon acquiring the grocery store in a $13.7 billion deal that closed Friday.

At one mid-town Manhattan Whole Foods, a dozen eggs tumbled from $4.29 to $3.99, a pound of salmon dropped from $14.99 to $9.99 and a rotisserie chicken is now $9.99, down from $13.99.

Already, the internet was buzzing about the lower prices.

Grocery store analysts have said that prices at Whole Foods Market were a barrier for customers.

“Amazon has demonstrated that it is willing to invest to dominate the categories that it decides to compete in,” said Mark Baum, a senior vice president at the Food Marketing Institute, in a Bloomberg.com article. “Food retailers of all sizes need to look really hard at their pricing strategies, and maybe find some funding sources to build a war chest.”

Additionally, Amazon announced that Whole Food’s private label products, including 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws and Whole Catch, will also be available through Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry and Prime Now.

Amazon Prime members will also receive special savings and in-store benefits.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Whole Foods Market slashes prices – internet starts dancing with joy."