Whole Foods seeks views of Hillsdale store closure

If you want to comment on Whole Foods' closure of the Hillsdale Wild Oats, there is a $50 gift certificate in it for you. You may also come to your own closure about the, well, closure.

Riley Research Associates is holding a focus group this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Lloyd Center for 15 patrons of the store. Whole Foods has hired the firm to gather comments. Kind of a last minute check-in before checking out, but better late than never.

The store closes this Saturday (20 percent off all wine).

If you want to be part of the group, call 503 222-4179.

I can't make it (I'd love to go), but I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who does.

Whole Foods: Closing your store to better serve you

The cleverly word-crafted sign in front of the Hillsdale Wild Oats store informs customers that the store will close Oct 13 “as we can better serve you through the other Whole Foods Markets and Wild Oats Markets locations.”

Let’s see, to better serve us in Hillsdale, Whole Foods, which recently bought out Wild Oats, closes its store here …. That’s a novel approach to customer service.

Interestingly, Judy Hertz of Hillsdale, concerned about the closing of the store, e-mailed Whole Foods noting that the closure was happening just as senior citizens were moving into the new Watershed housing project 100 yards or so away. (The photo below shows the closure announcement with the new Watershed building in the background)

Hertz urged Whole Foods to reconsider in light of the needs of neighboring seniors.

Instead a Whole Foods PR representative replied that the closure shouldn’t be a problem because Hillsdale customers could shop conveniently at the Whole Foods store in nearby Tanisbourne.

Yes, you read that right: Tanisbourne.

Could this be the old confusion between Hillsboro and Hillsdale? Does Whole Foods even know where Hillsdale is?

Whatever.

Texas-based Whole Foods, which clearly has not a clue about what is convenient for us, may be doing our community a big favor by closing its Hillsdale store and making it available to a more responsive, less geographically challenged occupant.

No news, ghoulish scanners, Spike City

I have some interesting news I’m not going to tell you. I’m saving it for issue #7 of the Hillsdale News, which I will publish tomorrow.

No, I am not sticking out my tongue as I write this. It's just that I don't want to scoop myself.

You can make sure the news is sent to you by going to the Hillsdale News site now and signing up to receive the e-newsletter. Many of you are already among the 171 on its e-mail list.

Of course after I send out the newsletter, you can always just go to the site to find the contents.

Journalists always worry about being scooped by the competition, but until now I’ve never had to worry about scooping myself. The Internet makes such things possible by allowing me to create two (or three or four…) potentially competing “publications.”

Why am I favoring the Hillsdale News over "Red" with this story? This site is generally for opinion. The "News" is for, well, news.

That said, I do have one sliver of news to share: We have a date certain for the closing of the Hillsdale Wild Oats store. A clerk told me tonight that it will be Saturday, Oct 13.

As I talked with her about the store's demise, teams of Whole Foods inventory takers roamed the aisles, ghoulishly scanning the shelves.

Finally, my previous post about last night’s gutless school board meeting was read by a record number of visitors to the Red Electric. At last count, 117. The high volume is because Steve Rawley, who has a popular, civic-minded site, More Hockey Less War, sent my post to the Oregonian's Oregon Live site and then promptly “voted” for it as the day’s hottest "Oregon Reddit" post. A couple of others did the same and, voila, “Red’s” link was right there on Oregon Live for the clicking.

Over three hours at mid-day, I had 76 visitors.

Spike City.

More on the Wild Oats store closure

The big news around here today is that Whole Foods, which now owns Wild Oats, has decided to close our Hillsdale store.

The store is the anchor of the Hillsdale Shopping Center and, really, of the whole Town Center.

I got a little insight into the Whole Foods corporate culture talking with store manager Robert Ostrochovsky. Robert, who has done great things with the store, could say nothing for the record. He referred me to one Denise Caruso, who is the regional PR person for Whole Foods. She was out of the office, according to the answering machine. She had four hours to get back to me and never did. If she ever does, I'll let you know what she knows, if anything.

Anyway, I've talked to several leaders in the Hillsdale community and have put together a story for The Hillsdale News. If you are interested om where all this might go from here (think Hillsdale Community Store), you might want to check out the site.

Since posting the story a half hour ago and sending it to those who have signed up to receive the Hillsdale News as an e-newsletter (you can do that on the web page), I've already received offers to help.

Whole Foods may have just done us all a big favor.

Can Hillsdale keep an anchor grocery store?

Just when I finally broke myself of calling the former Lynch's market "Wild Oats" instead of "Natures, "it is about to become "Whole Foods."

These adjustments become harder with age.

That said, the speculation has already begun over whether, and how, Hillsdale can keep an anchor grocery store.

Eamon Molloy, the Hillsdale Farmers' Market manager and an active Hillsdale resident, notes that the Hillsdale store space is much smaller than either Whole Foods or Wild Oats has built in the last eight years. It is likely too small for New Seasons as well, he says.

Unless there are major lands deals with the school district (something I favor), there simply isn't enough room in the shopping center for a store large enough to attraction any of the prime players.

Eamon suggests Eugene-based Market of Choice or a community-owned store, such as a co-op, might be the best way to go when the Wild Oats lease ends in 2010.