Conventional supermarkets bring in $480 billion a year, but their profits have reached a standstill.
Meanwhile, specialty grocers like Whole Foods have experienced sales growth averages of over 11 percent annually for the past five years, and the organic industry, a $15-billion industry, has grown at least 20 percent a year for the last 15 years.
SmartMoney.com has featured 10 reasons why many consumers may be turning away from their conventional grocery stores in favor of more upscale options, including:
In response, supermarkets are bringing in more organic and natural products and arranging their stores to appeal to shoppers who would otherwise choose Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Wild Oats Markets or other specialty stores.
Safeway grocery chain, for instance, has opened close to 500 Lifestyle stores, including one in Boulder, Colorado that has 600 organic items, a sushi bar, a hot-roasted-nut bar and an open hearth to watch fresh bread being baked. Even Wal-Mart has plans to expand its organic selection across the nation.
With prices the way they are you would certainly benefit by bringing your calculator to the grocery store to confirm that buying in bulk is really less expensive for you, as it may actually be a deceptive ploy.
This and the other techniques are solid information that will help you stretch your grocery budget further. With the savings you can start using it to purchase healthier organic food.
I would strongly encourage you to read Dr. Colleen Huber's article on How Your Family Could be Eating Organic Food for the Same Price or Less, as it is loaded with information that will help you affordably integrate healthier food into your diet.
Fortunately, organic food is becoming more widely available, as the first article clearly documents. I am happy to see this happen.
This reminds me of the gradual acceptance of whole-grain breads. Thirty years ago, the only place you could find them was in the health food store. Now they are available in nearly every grocery store, including many gas stations.
If you carefully examine them, however, you will find that the bulk of them are deceptively packaged. Most are only darkly colored highly processed breads made to look like whole grains, but not provide the benefits of whole-grain nutrition.
One of the easiest ways you can distinguish healthier breads is to pick up the loaf and feel how heavy it is. The better breads are far denser and much heavier.
Please do not accept this as an endorsement to go out and purchase whole-grain breads. I still believe very strongly that at least 75 percent of the population would be best served by avoiding grains until they normalized their insulin dysfunction.
However, there are clearly some people who not only enjoy whole-grain breads, but whose health actually thrives with them. It is just that they are a very small fraction of the population.